1.0 Introduction to Brush Tools

Transcription

1 1.0 Introduction to Brush Tools In GIMP, you can use different brushes for all kinds of tasks. Since brushes are so versatile ( 多才多藝 ), a whopping one third ( 佔據了三分之一 ) of the tools in the Toolbox are used with a brush. You can do everything from erasing and drawing, to selectively copying and pasting parts of your photo, and even darken or brighten parts of your photo with a brush. Since you can do so much with brushes, this lecture is devoted to a few basic techniques for using those brushes. Some of the tools in Figure below are used with a brush. From left to right they are: The Paintbrush Tool The Pencil Tool The Eraser Tool The Clone Tool ( 模仿工具 ) The Healing Tool ( 癒合工具 ) The Dodge/Burn Tool ( 漂白 / 燻黑工具 ) Each of these tools has its own functions, options, and characteristics. The Paintbrush and Pencil tools are used for painting and drawing, the Eraser deletes pixels, the Clone and Healing tools let you copy one part of a photo and paste it over another part, and the Dodge/Burn Tool makes pixels brighter or darker. Even though the tools do different things, there are a lot of options that are common to all of these brush tools. I'll use the Paintbrush Tool as an example while I describe the brush Tool Options in this lecture. The Paintbrush paints with the Foreground Color from the Toolbox. 1.1 Working with Brushes Regardless of which brush-based tool you use in GIMP, they all have common features and settings that you can use when painting. These settings live in one of three dockable dialogs: Tool Options, Brushes, and Paint Dynamics. By default, the Tool Options dialog is docked with the Toolbox and the Brushes dialog is docked with the tabs in the lower half of the Dock window. You can bring up any of these dialogs from the Windows > Dockable Dialogs menu in the image window. Figure below shows these three dialogs together. The "Brushes" dialog allows the choosing of various brushes and settings that can be Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 1

2 used by the brush tools. The dialog displays all of the brushes available to The GIMP. From left to right, the Tool Options, Brushes, and Paint Dynamics dockable dialogs are the places to go for adjusting brush-based painting tools in GIMP 1.2 Drawing Straight Lines with Paint Tools Using the paint tools in GIMP is as simple as clicking and dragging your mouse in the image window. However, a frequently asked question for users is "How do I draw a straight line?" Many other programs feature a Line tool of some sort for fulfilling this purpose and you may notice that GIMP seems to be missing this particular tool. In fact, GIMP provides a way of drawing straight lines that's much faster and more readily accessible. Rather than having an explicit line tool with its own drawing modes and rules, GIMP allows you to draw straight lines with any of its available paint tools (Pencil, Paintbrush, Eraser, Airbrush, Ink, Clone, Healing, Perspective Clone, Blur/Sharpen, Smudge, and Dodge/Burn). To draw a straight line, first click the image canvas where you want the line to start. This creates a single dot stroke, which indicates the beginning of your line. Now hold down Shift and then move your mouse to the end point of the line. GIMP paints a straight line between those points using the active brush for your paint tool. If you hold Shift + Ctrl, the line is constrained to 15-degree increments about your starting point. This is a great way to get perfectly horizontal or vertical lines. Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 2

3 1.3 The Brush Selection Dialog The Brush Selection Dialog allows the choosing of various brushes and settings that can be used by the brush tools. The dialog displays all of the brushes available to The GIMP. When you click on a brush preview, it becomes the current brush and it gets selected in the brush area of Toolbox and the Brush option of painting tools. You can also click on buttons at the bottom of the dialog to perform various actions. Meaning of the small symbols at the bottom right corner of every brush preview: A blue corner is for brushes in normal size. You can duplicate them. A small cross means that the brush preview is in a reduced size. You can get it in normal size by maintaining left click on it. A red corner is for animated brushes. If you maintain left click on the thumbnail, the animation is played. 1.4 Buttons at the Bottom At the bottom of the dialog you find a slider and some buttons: Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 3

4 Spacing - This slider lets you set the distance between consecutive brush marks when you trace out a brushstroke with the mouse pointer. Spacing is a percentage of the brush width. Edit Brush - This activates the Brush Editor. Pressing the button will open the Editor for any brush. It only works, however, for parametric brushes ( 參數畫筆 ) : for any other type, the Editor will show you the brush but not allow you to do anything with it. Note: A parametric brush is a resizable brush created with the Brush editor. Parametric brushes are grayscale and use the foreground color, much as ordinary brushes do. New Brush - This creates a new parametric brush, initializes it with a small fuzzy round shape, and opens the Brush Editor so that you can modify it. The new brush is automatically saved in your personal brushes folder. Duplicate Brush - This button is only enabled if the currently selected brush is a parametric brush. If so, the brush is duplicated, and the Brush Editor is opened so that you can modify the copy. The result is automatically saved in your personal brushes folder. Delete Brush - This option is active for parametric brushes only. This removes all traces of the brush, both from the dialog and the folder where its file is stored, if you have permission to do so. It asks for confirmation before doing anything. Refresh Brushes - If you add brushes to your personal brushes folder or any other folder in your brush search path, by some means other than the Brush Editor, this button causes the list to be reloaded, so that the new entries will be available in the dialog. 1.5 Common Paint Tool Options No two drawing tools have exactly the same set of options, but most of the options are shared by a number of tools. In this section, we cover all the options that are common to at least two drawing tools. Mode - The Mode option is only usable for tools that can be thought of as adding color to the image: the Pencil, Paintbrush, Airbrush, Ink, and Clone tools. For the other paint tools, the option appears for the sake of consistency but is always grayed out. A list of modes had already been descripted in the previous layer lecture. Opacity - The Opacity slider sets the transparency level for the brush operation. Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 4

5 Size - This option lets you to modify precisely the size of the brush. The keyboard shortcuts for changing brush size are the left and right bracket keys. The left bracket key ( ] ) makes the brush bigger. The right bracket key ( [ ) makes the brush smaller. Aspect Ratio - This determines the ratio between the height and the width of the brush. The slider is scaled from - 20 to 20 with the default value set to If the value is positive, the brush is stretched vertically, and if it's negative, the brush is stretched horizontally. Angle - This option makes the brush turn round its center. It has no effect if the brush is perfectly round. Dynamics - Brush dynamics let you map different brush parameters to several input dynamics. They are mostly used with graphic tablets, but some of them are also usable with a mouse. Some examples of brush dynamics are: let the width of the pencil vary according to the speed of the stylus or the mouse, make the color saturation depending on the stylus pressure, make the color changing as the direction of the brush changes on the canvas, and so on. The dynamics will make some of the behaviors of the drawing tools act more like the physical ("real") tools. This set of options is hidden by default. Dynamics Options - If you click the small triangle to the left of Dynamics Options, the menu expands, and you'll see the following options: - Fade Length affects how the parameters change over the length of a stroke. Any parameter can be set to fade, and the brush fades in or out along the fade length. When Repeat is set to None, the stroke stops changing after reaching the fade length. When it's set to Sawtooth wave or Triangular wave, the effect repeats in various patterns. If Reverse is checked, the way the brush changes as you paint is reversed. - Color Options does not use the foreground color from the Toolbox to paint; it gets its colors from the specified gradient. If you paint with a gradient, you can paint with more than one color. Depending on the gradient you choose, the Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 5

6 brush will start with one color and as you stroke, it will fade into one or more different colors like the bottom line as shown in the figure below. Note: You have to set the dynamics to Color from Gradient first, in order to have the effect works. Apply Jitter - Here brush marks are scattered over a distance you can set with the Amount slider. Makes it look like you're painting with a shaky hand. The higher the number you set for this option the jittery the effect becomes. Smooth Stroke - When this option is checked, two setting areas appear, Quality and Weight. Quality [1 to 100] specifies the stroke's uniformity. Weight [3 to 1000] limits the stroke's minimum diameter. You can change the default values to make the stroke more homogeneous using these two settings. Incremental - With this check box disabled (the default behavior), the maximum strength of any one stroke is no greater than the brush's opacity. This means that if your opacity is set to 30, that's the maximum influence your paint stroke has over pixels no matter how many times you run your mouse over them in a single stroke. However, if you enable this option, the brush's influence is increased each time you paint over those pixels. So even if you have a low opacity, it's possible to get a stroke to 100% by drawing over the same area multiple times in a single stroke. Note: Whether this option is checked, or unchecked, if you unclick your mouse, then paint over your previous strokes, the opacity of the paint or effect will build up. Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 6

7 2.0 The Eraser Tool The Eraser tool removes color from the current layer by painting with transparency if the layer has an Alpha channel or with the background color if it does not. Its icon and pointer appear in Figure below. The Eraser tool has fewer options than the Paintbrush tool because it has no mode or color option. Two new options appear, however, that are unique to the Eraser: Hard Edge and Anti Erase. If you need to erase some group of pixels completely, leaving no trace behind of their previous contents, you should check the "Hard edge" box in the Tool Options. Otherwise, you may get partial erasure at the edges of the brush-stroke, even if you use a hard edged brush. To illustrate this tool, we create a simple image filled with green. We add a second transparent layer (which, therefore, has an Alpha channel) and paint a purple blob with the Paintbrush tool and the Hardness 050 brush at size 40. In Figure as shown below, we use the Eraser tool with the same brush. We make the three left strokes with Hard Edge unchecked. Because we use the Hardness 050 brush, the edges are fuzzy. On the right, the Hard Edge option is checked so the full diameter of the brush erases pixels, making the two right strokes appear wider. The Anti Erase option of the Erase tool can un-erase areas of an image. When Anti Erase is checked, the color that was erased appears again. This feature works only on layers with an Alpha channel. 3.0 Transform Tools The Transform tools allow you to alter the size, position, orientation, and perspective of the image and individual layers or selected areas. These features are extremely useful for re-composting images, straightening crooked images ( 矯直彎曲的圖像 ), correcting lens distortion, etc. Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 7

8 3.1. Common Options of Transform Tools Each transform tool has an Option dialog and an Information dialog to set parameters. Some options are shared by several transform tools. We will describe them here. More specific options will be described with their tool. Transform - The first option for the Transform tool, appropriately labeled Transform, where it offers you three buttons which let you select which image element the transform tool will work on. Layer - This first button is the default mode. This means that the tool influences the current active layer. If no selection exists in this layer, the whole layer will be transformed. Selection - If you want to transform the selection contour the marching ants, you need to click this second button. Path - This option allows you to use the Transform tool on the current active path, if one exists. Direction - This option sets which way or direction a layer is transformed: The "Normal (Forward)" mode will transform the image or layer as one might expect. You just use the handles to perform the transformation you want. If you use a grid (see below), the image or layer is transformed according to the shape and position you put the grid into. "Corrective (Backward)" inverts the direction. Primarily used with the Rotation tool to repair digital images that has some geometric errors (a horizon not Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 8

9 horizontal, a wall not vertical...). Interpolation This drop-down list lets you choose the method and thus the quality of the transformation. GIMP offers four different types of interpolation: None - As its name implies, this doesn't interpolate anything. The color of each pixel is copied from its closest neighboring pixel in the original image. This often results in aliasing (the "stair-step" effect) and a coarse image, but it is the fastest method. Linear - The color of each pixel is computed as the average color of the four closest pixels in the original image. This gives a satisfactory result for most images and is a good compromise between speed and quality. Sometimes this method is called "Bilinear". Cubic - The color of each pixel is computed as the average color of the eight closest pixels in the original image. This usually gives a good result, but it naturally takes more time. Sometimes this method is called "Bicubic". Sinc (Lanczos3) - The Lanczos3 method uses the Sinc mathematical function and performs a high quality interpolation. This is usually the best method but if you are not satisfied with the result, you may give "Cubic" a try. Clipping - Often when you transform a layer, the result is larger than the initial layer boundaries. The options in this drop-down menu tell GIMP what to do when this happens. Adjust - This is the default behavior. The layer boundary size is enlarged to accommodate the entire result of your transform operation. Original image Rotation applied with "Adjust" Rotation applied with "Adjust" and canvas enlarged to layer size Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 9

10 Clip - Choose this option to simply trim off any parts of your transformation result that don't fit within the space defined by the original layer dimensions. Note: With Clip, all what exceeds image limits is deleted. Crop to Result - This option is most commonly used when fixing the rotation of a photograph. When you choose this option, GIMP finds the rectangular area of your result that doesn't include any transparent pixels and crops the layer to that space. Rotation 45 with Crop to result Note: If this option is selected, the image is cropped so that the transparent area, created by the transform operation in corners, will not be included in the resulting image. Crop with Aspect - This option does the same thing as Crop to Result, but it also maintains the aspect ratio of the original layer size. If your transformation isn't too drastic, you can use this option and scale the result to match the original layer size. This is especially useful if you're digitally fixing the rotation or perspective of an image. Note: This option works like the one described before, but makes sure, that the aspect ratio is maintained. Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 10

11 Preview - If this is marked, which is the default setting, the transformed image will be visible on top of the original image or layer. There will also be a slider with which you may select the preview opacity. Guides - This is a drop down list where you select the type of guide lines which suits your transforming. All the guides use a frame to mark the image's outline in addition to the lines used by the different selections. No guides - As the name tells you, there are no guides used. Center lines - Uses one vertical line and one horizontal line crossing each other in the center of the image or layer. Rule of thirds - Divides the transforming area in nine equal parts by adding two horizontal lines and two vertical lines equally spaced. According to this rule the most interesting parts of the image should be placed at the intersection points. Rule of fifths - Just as the "Rules of thirds" but divides the area in five by five parts. Golden sections - Also called "The Golden Ratio". This divides the transforming area in nine parts using a mathematical formula proportioning the parts to each other s and to the area to be transformed. Diagonal lines - Divide the transforming area using diagonally lines. Number of lines - Puts a rectangular grid with equal numbers of vertically and horizontally lines. The number of lines is set in the slider popping up when this guide is selected. Line spacing - Puts a rectangular grid on the transforming area using the spacing between the lines set in the slider. 4.0 The Move Tool The Move Tool is used to move your image, layers, selections or guides. It also moves text. The Move tool is a safe tool to select after using any other tools, this will prevent accidental use of a tool, which may corrupt your image. Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 11

12 4.1 The Move Tool Options When you're using the Move Tool from the Toolbox, making sure you choose the right tool options can be pretty important. There are only two options to choose from. If you want to move a guide, make sure the Move Tool Option is set to "Pick a Layer or Guide". Otherwise, when you want to move a layer (including the text layer) the option should be set to "Move the Active Layer". For instance, in the Tool Options Dialog, after choose Move Active Layer. Highlight the layer you want to move in the Layers Dialog. Then just click and drag on the image to move the layer anywhere you like. 4.2 Moving a Selection If the Move Mode is Selection, The Move tool only allows moving the outline of a selection (the marquee) without moving the contents within an image. To move a selected area from one image to another, you have to use the copy and paste functions. Activate the image containing the selection, right-click it to bring up the menu, and go to Edit, Copy. The selection is now in the clipboard. Now activate the image you want to paste the selection into and click Edit, Paste. And then use the Move tool to move the selection to your desired position on your canvas. 5.0 The Crop Tool There are many reasons to crop an image; for example, fitting an image to fill a frame, removing a portion of the background to emphasize the subject, etc. First you click and drag in the Main Window to select a rectangular area of your picture that you want to keep. Like the Rectangle Select tool, the Crop tool can be resized. Click and drag any of the boxes at the corners of the crop area to resize two sides at the same time. Bringing your mouse near any of the edges of the crop area allows you to adjust just that particular edge. If you hold down Shift while making your adjustments, the other sides of the crop box proportionally increase or decrease, maintaining the same aspect ratio. You can also move around the entire crop area by clicking and dragging within it. Once you've determined the portion of the image that you want to keep, press Enter or left-click within the crop area to perform the crop action. Your cropped image appears and the Crop box will close. Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 12

13 If, however, you open the Crop tool and wish to close it without making a crop, simply click in the gray area surrounding your photo. The box will close. 5.1 The Crop Tool Options The Crop tool's Tool Options actually give you complete control over everything that it can do when cropping. The Crop tool has several options. Current Layer Only - This option will make crop affect only the active layer. Allow Growing - This option allows the crop or resize to take place outside the image (or layer), and even the canvas. So, you can give the size you want to the resulting image. Transparency will be used if there is no material to crop. Expand from Center - When this option is checked, the crop rectangle expands from the first pixel you clicked taken for center. You can toggle this option with Ctrl while drawing the crop rectangle. Example for Allow Growing An image on a big canvas. The option is checked. The crop rectangle extends outside the canvas. The resulting image. All the remaining fields Fixed, Position, Size, Highlight, Auto Shrink, Shrink Merged, as well as the use of guides - work in the same way as they do with the Rectangle Select tool, described in lecture The Rotate Tool The rotate tool is often used as the first step to correct an image where the original Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 13

14 Artwork has been misaligned on a scanner, or where a digital camera has not been held level when taking the photo. To select the Rotate Tool, click its icon in the Toolbox. Almost all of its options have been discussed previously. Only one option is specific to this tool: the 15 Degrees checkbox, which you can toggle by pressing Ctrl key. When active, this option forces the rotation angle to be a multiple of 15. After selecting the tool, click the image. The Rotate dialog (see Figure on the right) pops up. The rotation center is initially the center of the object being rotated, but you can change it by clicking and dragging. You can change the angle in three ways: Drag the object in the Image window; move the slider in the dialog; or adjust the number displayed in the Angle field by typing, using the mouse wheel, or clicking the small arrows. Click the Rotate button to finalize the rotation. If a selection is active, only its content is affected by the transformation tools. Figure as shown below on the left shows a rotation in progress: Only the region of the portrait layer within the selection is being rotated. The result is shown below on the right. 6.1 To Straighten an Image An image might be horizontally or vertically tilted. It's really easy to use the Rotate Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 14

15 Tool in GIMP to straighten up your photo. Here is an example to show you how to do so. 1. Open an image by going to the menu at the top of the screen, File > Open. 2. Go to the Toolbox and click on the Rotate Tool. 3. In the Rotate Tool options, set the following: Under Direction, select Corrective (Backward). (Optional) For Interpolation choose Cubic or Sinc (Lanczos3). Under Clipping, select Crop to result. Under Guides: Number of lines for grid, select 15. You may find you want more or less lines in your grid. 4. Click on the image. The grid is on top of the image, as you can see in Figure below. 5. In the Rotate dialog, adjust the slider to line up the horizon with the grid. See Figure below. Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 15

16 6. When you line up your image to the grid, click the Rotate Button on the Rotate Dialog. 7. The image is corrected but it has empty space around the edge (see Figure below). 8. To remove the empty space around the image, go to Image > Autocrop Image. (see Figure below). Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 16

17 7.0 The Scale Tool The Scale Tool ( 縮放工具 ) is used to scale layers, selections or paths (the Object). Click on the image with the Scale Tool and a 'Scale' dialog box opens. This box enables you to change the Width and Height of an image. A grid is superimposed on the image. The grid has handles on each corner and on each side; you can click and drag to change the dimensions. The center of the scaled area is marked by with a small circle at the center of the grid and a cross. To maintain the aspect ratio, click and drag the grid by the corner handles. Click and drag any other part of the selection or layer to adjust the scaling amount. In the Scale Tool Dialog box, you can set Width and Height of the image. The default unit of measurement is pixel. You can change it by using the drop-down list. These values are also automatically changed when you drag handles in the image. If the linking chain is broken, you can change Width and Height separately. 8.0 The Shear Tool Shear tool ( 切變工具 ) is used to tilt ( 傾斜 ) an image in one direction yet tilt another part of the image in a different direction forming a basic parallelogram shape. For example, the upper part of the image may be tilted to the right but the bottom tilted downwards. The image is not rotated (as with the Rotation tool) but deformed. See the example image as shown on the right. The Shear tool may also be used to distort a layer, a selection, or a path. Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 17

18 It's impossible to shear both vertically and horizontally at the same time. Shearing produces a relative X or Y displacement, resulting in a sort of leaning effect, as seen in Figure Clicking and dragging up or down (vertical movement) along a grid line of an image changes the Y (vertical) magnitude of the shearing effect, while dragging horizontally (horizontal movement) tilt the image left or right changes the X displacement. Positive numbers create a clockwise tilt. Negative numbers create a counter-clockwise tilt. You can, of course, set X and Y dialog to create the complete shear effect without activating the tool twice. Figure below shows the transformation in progress. The preview is opacity but in the figure, the opacity of the layer being sheared was reduced to 50%. The selection that's acted on by this tool becomes the current selection, and any previous selection is dismissed. A little practice and you'll understand how this tool works. 9.0 The Perspective Tool The Perspective Tool ( 透視工具 ) is used to change the "perspective" of the active layer content. When you click on the image, according to the Preview type you have selected, a rectangular frame or a grid pops up around the selection (or around the Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 18

19 whole layer if there is no selection), with a handle on each of the four corners. By moving these handles by click-and-drag, you can modify the perspective. At the same time, "Transformation information" pops up which lets you valid the transformation. At the center of the element, a circle lets you move the element by click-and-drag. 9.1 Fixing Perspective: Leaning Buildings Use the Perspective Tool to correct a photo that has leaning buildings or towers or power poles etc. Here is an example. The following exercise shows you how to straighten an image. Once you have completed the exercise, feel free try different options in the tool. To straighten a leaning building, follow these steps: 1. Open your image in GIMP. 2. Click on the Perspective Tool located in the Toolbox. 3. Below the Toolbox are the Tool Options for the Perspective Tool. Select the following Tool Options: Direction: Corrective (Backward) Interpolation: Sinc (Lanczos3) - optional Clipping: Crop to result Preview: Image Guides: Number of lines, try Click on the image to activate the Perspective Tool. A grid will appear over the image and a pop-up dialog box will appear, as shown in Figure below. Move the dialog box off the image so you can see what you are doing. Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 19

20 5. Move the grid with your mouse, so that it lines up with vertical lines on your image. 6. Click on Transform in the dialog box. If you re not happy with the result, you can go back a step in your Undo History or click Ctrl+Z on your keyboard. 7. Your image will have a hatched border down two sides. This is because "Crop to result" was selected to give your image clean, straight edges. 8. To remove this blank space, go to Image > Autocrop Image. 9. To save your image, go to File > Export and save your image as a JPG or TIF. Or click File > Save to save your image in GIMP's native file format which is XCF The Flip Tool The Flip tool ( 翻轉工具 ) provides the ability to flip layers or selections either horizontally or vertically. When a selection is flipped, a new layer with a Floating Selection is created. You can also use this tool to create reflections. Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 20

21 The Flip Tool options 10.1 Flip Tool Actions The 'Horizontal flip' is very simple: Click on the 'Flip' tool, select 'Horizontal' from the 'Flip type' and click on the image. The image will flip horizontally. See below. You will see only one flipped image. Before After Vertical Flip works in exactly the same way, except the image flips up or down. Here you use the 'Vertical Flip' to help you create a reflection in the water of a pool. 1. Load any photo with water and people into GIMP. Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 21

22 2. Click on the 'Rectangle Selection Tool' icon in the Toolbox. Click-and-drag the tool through the umbrellas and down to the lower edge of the island. Click in the rectangle to make a selection (marching ants). 3. Now hit Ctrl + C keys followed by Ctrl + V. You have a copy of your selection. 4. Select the 'Flip' tool and click on the 'Vertical' option. Now, click on the selection to flip the top selection. 5. Click on the 'Move' tool. Drag the selection it into position. Go to the Layer Panel. Look for the 'Opacity' slider. Set the Opacity to 40 or less. There is your basic reflection as a selection. 6. Also in the Layer panel you'll see a layer named 'Floating Selection (Pasted layer)'. Click on this layer. Now click the tiny Anchor icon at the bottom of the Layer panel. 7. Your reflection layer has been merged into the photo. Close the photo without saving The Cage Transform Tool The Cage tool is a special transforming tool allowing you to select the transforming area by setting anchor points by free hand drawing similar to the way you do it with Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 22

23 the Free Selection (Lasso) tool. A cage is a polygon built around a target portion of the image. Drag the corners (anchor points) of the cage around in the image and even outside it to distort the picture. The transforming starts when you release the mouse button. The tool adds nothing to the image until you confirm the transformation by pressing the Enter key. Cage Transform Tool options 11.1 Demonstration of Using the Cage Transform Tool The image below shows the image I started with. My goal was just to make some basic modifications to this image to demonstrate the tool. After selecting the Cage Transformation tool you can see three tool options below. The first option 'Create or adjust the cage' will be selected automatically and must be used first. Next, left click around the object or area you want transform. More points will allow you to add more detail to your transformation. Complete the outline shape by clicking back to your first point. to Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 23

24 After you've draw a complete shape around your object you will see the 'Deform the cage to deform the image' option become selected in the Tool Options area of the toolbox. Now you can select points around your object that will transform the adjacent part of the object while stretching the surrounding points to fit the adjustments. Selected points are shown with a square surrounding them. In the image below you can see I've selected multiple points around the cage outline. Do this by clicking and dragging a square around multiple points or by pressing the Shift key while selecting them. Move some of the selection points to stretch or squash part of your image. Here is a look at a modification I made to the head of the camel without breaking or distorting the image too much. Use the eraser tool to clean up the image as shown above and the final result of the camel image as before and after for comparison after transformation is as shown below. Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 24

25 Before After Compiled by K.T. NG Aug 2018, Rev 1.0 Page 25