Transcript:
Hi, and welcome. My name Is Lawrence. Baker and this video is going to be about the Magic Wand Tool. It’s been given a Brad Rapp, including from people like myself as I’ve got used to it over the years. I’ve got to like it a little bit More. It does have its drawbacks, But I still use it now. The magic wand selects areas of common luminance or shared color. It does this on a channel by channel basis, red, green and blue. In other words, it’s an average of the three colour channels. Now the quick selection tool finds errors of lublin transition and paints up those edges so for colors. The quick selection tool is not as good as the Magic Wand, and that’s why I use it. For instance, for selecting skies. Lets press W on the keyboard to go to it. Shift and W will cycle between the quick selection tool and the Magic Wand Magic Wand going now, options bar. We don’t have any tool presets and you’re not likely to for the Magic Wand. It’s not new selection because we have no selections If we had a selection, we could add to it or subtract from it or intersect with it. Sample size 3×3 I think it’s on that by default. If you click down, you’re sampling 3 pixel by 3 pixel area tolerance is normally on 32 That’s a luminance level. So if I clicked down, I will select. 32 Luminance levels runs between 0 for black and 255 for white, so 256 luminance levels normally on 32 as I said. If you want to get to that box quickly, press, return or enter If I forget in this video, I apologize, but that’s the quick way to get to it. Anti-aliasing works like this Z or Z. Am I tick keyboard? And I’m just going to zoom in on this now. This is on a type layer and type by default has got anti-aliasing turned on so press. The spacebar dragged across. That is the anti-aliasing. It’s even got it on the straight edge, the reason. I say that is you definitely need it. When you’re going around a circle or describing an arc because we’re on a pixel grid square, things are fine, but but curves causes problems, so he put these transparent pixels on to make it look good on screen, even though type is vector and resolution independent. You need this to make it. Look, okay on screen. T on my keyboard for the type tool. Click down in the options bar. I can turn the anti-aliasing off to none. Look at it, and that’s why we have anti-aliasing so I’ll put it back on sharp. Get rid of that now! Come on to control 0 f7 fully layers panel. Click on that layer there, so W for the magic wand. That’s what Anti-isi’s is all about. It makes smooth edge transitions by sampling other colors near to the edge and other luminance levels. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work too well, but it works a lot better than it used to contiguous means next door to or adjacent to so if I’m ticket and click in the area there, I’ve also jumped that Magenta Bar. If I take it back on, click down again, It won’t jump that Magenta Bar. That’s what it means. Come on a control. D will always lose a solution sample all layers. Well, if you can see it and it’s four layers down and we’ve got that ticked, you can still sample it simple as that select subject. This is new ish. It’s all about machine learning or artificial intelligence. If you’ve got, let’s say a human inside the picture you can select it quite well. It does work quite well. It’s not for this video select. A mask works like this once. You’ve got your selection you can refine it here. Used to be called refine edge now called select a mask. You need a selection? You know, use it so once you’ve got it, you can refine it there. I do use it a lot, but it’s not for this video because this would take another half an hour. Cancel, right, lets. See it in anger. I’m on it now. I’m on 3×3 average, 32 tolerance, anti Ellis and Contiguous. Click down here. I’ve gone out 32 luminance levels, 32 darker and 32 brighter, not 60 in each side because it’s 32 I’ve got at 32 either side. Let’s turn those markers off, so zoom in a bit there. That’s what I’ve done. I’ve gone out 32 luminous levels, darker and 32 brighter. If I press the return key, actually, obviously to the Magic Wand Press return. I’m going to change that to 64 press return. Click down again. Because once you change that you have to click down again. I’ve gone out 64 luminance levels brighter at 64 darker. That’s how it works, lets. Put the markers back down again. The problem being is some people now would go with a shift key to add to the selection with the ultra option key to take away from it and start clicking away without realizing is still driven by that tolerance setting there. So if I press return and put it on 32 and all depends on where you sample as well, so if I sample over there were 32 shift key pressed to add I only selecting that small area there, so come on to control Zero Z to get rid of that if I click nearby and it have to be quite nearby shift key pressed, I go out 32 luminous levels that way not that way. Did you notice so to do that way shift key again? Come in, close! I have to go out on that side to get 32 luminous levels that side, so it is quite tricky. What I’m saying is always be aware of what tolerance setting you’re on. If you don’t, you’ll get angry and I used to get really angry with it, but now I understand it. I don’t get so angry. Let’s show you the problem with it. Come on, a control! D to lose the selection, There go to this type layer and type layers by default. Our anti aliased as we saw now. I’m going to put the sample size on 101 by 101 and the tolerance on 255 The reason being is as we now know. This has got semi-transparent pixels on its edge. I need to pick up those semi-transparent pixels and to prove to you that I’m definitely going to pick them up. I’ve put it on a ridiculous setting in 101 by 101 and 255 If I hang out on 0 you could argue well at 0 you’re not gonna pick it up because 0 or only pick up the black bits, and this is pure blackness. Tex, so let’s click down on it. Let’s go to the channel’s panel and make this selection into an alpha mask. Turn it on, turn those off, Come on a ctrl D to lose the selection. Z to Z of my keyboard, zoom in on one scrubby zoom notice that’s ticked by the way you can see. It looks awful, so it doesn’t work very well back to this. RGB turn that off back to layers command ctrl 0 to fit on screen. So that is the problem with this tool. It doesn’t anti-alias very well, but we have. W Select a mask to work with, so I find it, OK For certain things, especially for selecting block areas of color. I know there are other tools up here like color range, but I still use it, so let’s go to a normal image like this picture. Here, come on a control 0 to fit back on the screen to make sure it’s on my screen. I’m on this layer here. It’s a duplication. I’ve got between it a gradient map. It’s just to show you what’s going on when I eventually mask out this guy now. I’m on the Magic wand. I’m on 101 by 101 I want to be on 3 by 3 or 5 by 5 normally. Tolerance press the return key. I’m going to put it lower than I would normally put it for this. Let’s say 40 luminous levels press return command 0 to fit back on screen. I’m going to click in the top part here with anti aliased ticked and contiguous on if I don’t have contiguous on, it’s probably going to encroach into other areas. So I wanted to stay with the sky now. I’d normally really go on 450 with this. But I want to show you something now. If I start clicking around with the shift key now. I know I’m going to get frustrated, so I’m going to show you something. Now, press return or enter to get into that box. Put it on 10 and then I’m gonna go to select grow and similar now. Growing similar, we’ll make the selection larger by a tolerance setting. You’ve got set here. It doesn’t matter how you got this selection. Let’s say you use the quick selection tool here to it. If I went to select grow and similar to make the selection larger, it is still based on the Magic Wand tolerant setting, so always be aware there at 10 we select and grow. I’m going to grow 10 pixels. More The selection, those grow means adjacent to or contiguous similar means non contiguous or not adjacent to, so I have a danger with similar to go into. Let’s say that water in the foreground or other areas, so I’m going to use grow and it’s done it done. It’s work! I can use it again. Select and grow, select and grow now. It’s getting a bit boring now so return. I’m going to put it on 15 select and grow. That is probably as far as I would go return or press. Enter now! I’m going to drop that tolerance down to about 4 and then I’m going to use the shift key or the ultra option Key shift key, going now to add to the solution. I’m going to probably not. I’m going to take that one away, Actually Alt or option key because that’s part of the cloud. Then Shift key press T. I should be zoomed in. Come on, Zed, on that, I’m gonna drop the Torrance again down to 2 now, cuz I know it’s not gonna work. So click in, Click in, click in try and get rid of that bit there. Forget on it. It’s done it, click in there. Click in there. Click around there a bit more for the flag. Click there, click there. Click there done. It, click down on a very low tolerance setting as you can see. That’s not that bad there there there. I’m not gonna get too fussy there. That will do me now normally. I would go select a mask. Put it on something appropriate my overlay and refine this selection or mask cancel. We don’t have time for that, So what I’m gonna do now is I’m going to add a layer mask by clicking down here. Then I’m going to go to properties with the mast panel. That’s where it is. Now invert the mask like so, so I’m seeing that gradient map and then what I’m going to do is just feather the mask a little bit. This is a parametric change and that means. I can come back and adjust it. That’s what parametric means in Photoshop. It has many meanings that word, but in Photoshop, it means you can come back and change it. Basically, so you can see. I’ve done a pretty reasonable job there without even using, select a mask. All you need to be aware of when you use. This tool is that tolerance setting is right, so when you go to select and grow in similar and that could be available, You know, for any selection, you need to be aware that it’s based on the tolerance setting inside of the magic wand, so don’t. Run this tool down too much. It’s a good tool when used properly. I hope you got some from this guy’s. Thanks very much.