Help Using the Polygon Lasso

[bubbles780]

Hi,

Can someone help using the polygon Lasso. The problem that I am having is that when I am using the lasso and going around the image at a point it automatically just goes accross and joins the start point.

Its so frustarting as I have to press undo and then all the work I have done is gone and i have to start again. This keeps happening, can someone explain what I may be doing for it to just go to the start point half way through. Also is their anyway to undo the last move without having to start from scratch.

Would be very helpful if someone can give me tips on using the polygon lasso and what I may be doing wrong to have the above problem.

Thanks

Sonia

[JulieM]

Hi Sonia:

That does sound really frustrating! The polygonal lasso should not complete it's selection until you click at the point your cursor joins back to the start (when cursor shows an "o"). You might try to reset the preferences and see if that takes care of the problem. Here is the info from PSE Help on resetting preferences:

To Restore Default Preferences:
Preference settings control how Photoshop Elements displays images, cursors, and transparencies; saves files; uses plug-ins and scratch disks, and so on. If the preferences cause unexpected behavior, the preferences file may be damaged. You can restore all preferences to their defaults.
Press and hold Alt+Control+Shift immediately after Photoshop Elements begins launching. Click Yes to delete the Adobe Photoshop Elements settings file.

Please post again if you are still having problems and I'm sure someone else will be able to help.

[Juergen D]

The problem that I am having is that when I am using the lasso and going around the image at a point it automatically just goes accross and joins the start point.

Sonia,
It happens when you double click. Be careful to only click once when setting the anchor points.

Juergen

[snidely]

Hi Sonia,
If you always have your Lasso tools set to "add to selection" you can start a selection and when it goes nuts, just keep going and not throw away all your work. You can start selecting again wherever the lasso went insane and just ignore the line back to your starting point. There's also "subtract from selection".

You can undo the last move by hitting the "delete" key. This works for the "magnetic" lasso also.

HTH,
Steve

[douglas m scott]

Sonia,
If you have PSE5 - CTRL+Z = undo CTRL+Y+ redo
If you have PSE3 or PSE4 there are undo and redo arrows at top.
doug

[Rusty]

As Steve indicated, you can undo the steps (clicks) sequentially with the delete key. Depending on which keystroke may be "easier" for you, you can do the same thing with Backspace.

Rusty