Selection tools

Three tools trace a region out of an image or shape and hand back a frame: an outline that can clip an image, get reshaped, or convert into a permanent object. Quick Select grows outward from a brush stroke using the image's own edges and colors, Lasso follows a freehand drag, and Polygon builds a shape from clicked points.

Quick overview

1. Pick Quick Select, Lasso, or Polygon from the tools group in the left sidebar.
2. Quick Select: click an image, then brush over the area you want. Lasso: click and drag to draw a freehand outline. Polygon: click to place each corner.
3. Finish the shape: Quick Select applies with Enter, Lasso finishes on mouse release, Polygon finishes on a double-click.
4. The traced outline becomes a frame. Drag an image onto it to clip it, or use the right-click menu to merge, reshape, or convert it.

Detailed reference

Quick Select

A brush-based selector that grows outward from your stroke, following the image's own edges and color similarity rather than a fixed brush shape.

Control	Range	Default	Notes
Brush size	5 to 60 px	18	Drag the slider in the floating bar, or press [ / ] to shrink or grow by 3 px
Color tolerance	fixed	moderate	How far a neighboring pixel's color can drift from the brushed area's average before it stops growing
Edge sensitivity	fixed	moderate	Growth stops when it crosses a strong edge in the image, detected once when you first click it
Invert	toggle	off	Flips which of the image's opaque pixels are included, Shift + Ctrl + I

Each stroke adds to the same mask, so multiple brush passes build up one selection. The image is analyzed once at a reduced working resolution (up to 512 px on the long edge) for speed, so large source images select just as fast as small ones.

Refine Edge

Opens from the Refine Edge button on the Quick Select bar while a mask is active. All four sliders preview live on the canvas.

Slider	Range	Default	Effect
Smooth	0 to 10	3	Softens the mask edge with a blur
Feather	0 to 10	1	Adds a second, lighter blur on top of Smooth
Contrast	0 to 100	30	Re-tightens a softened edge back toward solid or empty
Shift Edge	-10 to 10	0	Grows the boundary outward (positive) or shrinks it inward (negative)

Reset restores all four sliders to their defaults. OK closes the panel without discarding your adjustments. Applying the selection (Enter, or the bar's Apply button) runs this pipeline once more, closes small gaps in the mask, traces its outline, and smooths the result into the final frame.

Lasso

Click and drag to draw a freehand outline; releasing the mouse closes it automatically. The drag needs more than 10 recorded points to produce a frame, so a short flick is ignored. The frame follows your exact path with no automatic point reduction, so a slow, deliberate drag gives a cleaner outline than a fast, jittery one.

Polygon

Click to place each corner; a live outline connects them as you go. Double-click to close the shape once you have placed at least 3 points (the extra point the double-click itself adds is discarded automatically). There is no click-near-the-first-point shortcut, closing always happens on double-click.

All three tools work directly over an image, or on empty canvas. Draw over an image and the frame binds to it, following along when the image moves, scales, or rotates. Draw on an empty area and you get a free-floating frame you can drop an image onto later.

Working with a frame

A freshly traced frame appears with a light fill and a dashed outline, and behaves like any other object until you put an image inside it: select it and adjust fill, stroke, or opacity from the properties panel, same as a shape.

Action	Where	What it does
Drag an image onto a frame	Canvas	Clips the image to the frame's outline, scaled to cover
Merge Image into Frame	Right-click, with 1 frame + 1 image selected	Same result as dragging: clips the image and removes the separate frame outline
Release Clip	Right-click a clipped image	Reverses a merge, splitting the image back out
Detach Frame	Right-click a frame that's following an image	Removes the automatic position link, without touching the image
Edit Vertices	Frame's floating bar	Reshapes the outline; see Image editing
Perspective Fit	Frame's floating bar	Warps the frame or its clipped image onto a surface; see Image editing
Convert to Shape	Floating bar or right-click	Turns the frame into a plain fill and stroke object, losing its clipping ability
Convert to Frame	Right-click any shape, image, or text	Traces the object's silhouette into a new frame that replaces it
Punch Out with Frame	Right-click, with 1 free frame + 1 image selected, or Ctrl + Alt + R	Erases the frame's shape from the image's pixels instantly, no model, no upload
Remove Frame	Floating bar	Deletes an unclipped frame
Save to My Shapes	Right-click a converted shape	Adds it to your shape library for reuse

Step by step

Isolate a photo subject with Quick Select, then clip it

1. Add a photo to the canvas and pick Quick Select from the tools group.
2. Click once on the subject, then brush across it in short passes. Each pass grows the pink mask outward, stopping at the strong edges the tool detected on your first click.
3. If a strong edge blocks an area you want, brush again just inside it; if the mask leaked into the background, press Shift + Ctrl + I to invert and check what was captured, then invert back.
4. Click Refine Edge, then nudge Smooth up a little to soften jagged pixels and Shift Edge negative by 1 or 2 to pull the boundary just inside the subject so no background halo remains.
5. Press Enter (or Apply) to turn the mask into a frame. The frame binds to the photo it was traced from.
6. Select the frame and the photo together, right-click, and choose Merge Image into Frame. The photo is now clipped to the subject outline.

Cut a photo into a precise geometric shape with Polygon

1. Pick Polygon. You can click on empty canvas or directly over a photo.
2. Click each corner of the shape you want, for example five clicks around a badge or a star. A dashed outline connects the points and a thin guide line trails the cursor.
3. Double-click to close the shape once you have at least three points.
4. If you drew on empty canvas, drag a photo from the media library onto the new frame to clip it. If you drew over a photo, select the frame plus that photo and right-click Merge Image into Frame.

Trace a freehand cutout with Lasso

1. Pick Lasso and position the cursor over the photo.
2. Press and hold, then drag slowly all the way around the region you want, keeping a steady hand for a clean edge.
3. Release to close the outline automatically. A frame appears, bound to the photo underneath.
4. To fine-tune the rough outline before committing, use Edit Vertices on the frame's floating bar (see Image editing), then merge the photo in.

Turn an existing shape or word into a frame

1. Select any shape, icon, image, or text object on the canvas.
2. Right-click and choose Convert to Frame. The editor traces the object's filled silhouette (including interior holes, like the counter of an "O") and replaces it with a matching frame.
3. Drag a photo onto the frame to fill the silhouette with the picture, a quick way to build text or shape masks.

Common tasks

Goal	Recipe
Keep the background instead of the subject	Quick Select the subject, then Shift + Ctrl + I to invert before you apply
Reuse a cutout outline on other designs	Convert to Shape, then right-click and Save to My Shapes (My shapes)
Make a mask that stays put when the photo moves	Draw over the photo so the frame binds to it; it follows the photo's move, scale, and rotate
Free a bound frame so it stops following	Right-click the frame and choose Detach Frame
Reshape a traced outline	Edit Vertices on the frame's floating bar
Cookie-cutter a hole through a photo	Draw a free frame on empty canvas, select it plus the photo, then Ctrl + Alt + R

Troubleshooting

Quick Select over-fills or stops too early

Color tolerance and edge sensitivity are fixed, and the edge map is computed once from the first click. On a low-contrast boundary the detected edge is weak, so the fill leaks into the background; on a busy, high-detail area it stops short. Brush in smaller passes, then use Refine Edge (raise Contrast to re-tighten, use Shift Edge to grow or shrink) rather than one big stroke.

"Click on an image" keeps appearing

Quick Select must start on a real photo. It ignores QR codes, charts, and objects that are already frames. Lasso and Polygon do not have this restriction, they also work on empty canvas.

A frame drawn over a photo does not change the photo by itself

Tracing only creates the outline. To actually clip the picture, drag an image onto the frame, or select the frame plus the image and right-click Merge Image into Frame. Until then the frame is just a dashed shape sitting on top.

Punch Out needs a free frame

Ctrl + Alt + R and Punch Out with Frame only fire when the frame is free (not clipping an image and not bound to one). A frame you drew over a photo is bound to it, so Detach Frame first, or draw the frame on empty canvas, then select the free frame plus the image.

Other gotchas grounded in how the tools behave:

• A quick flick with Lasso produces nothing. The drag has to record more than 10 points; a single click or a tiny flick is discarded.
• Polygon will not close on the first point. There is no click-to-close; place at least three points and double-click.
• Fine detail like hair looks approximate. Quick Select analyzes the image at up to 512 px on its long edge, so very fine edges are smoothed. Clean them up afterward with the manual eraser in Image editing.
• Edit Vertices and Convert to Shape vanish from the bar after merging. Those actions apply only to an unclipped frame. Release the clip (right-click the image, Release Clip) to get them back.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Esc	Cancel the current selection and exit the tool
Enter	Apply the active Quick Select mask
Shift + Ctrl + I	Invert the Quick Select mask
[ / ]	Shrink or grow the Quick Select brush by 3 px
Ctrl + Alt + R	Punch Out with Frame

The three selectors are activated from the tools group in the left sidebar, not from a letter key. The shortcuts above fire while a selector is already active.

Tips

Choose by source

Quick Select is fastest for a photo subject with clear edges. Lasso suits a quick, irregular freehand area. Polygon is the most precise for a geometric cutout like a badge or a star.

Selections don't need an image

Lasso and Polygon both work on empty canvas. Trace a shape first, then drag an image onto the resulting frame whenever you have one ready.

Related

• Pen tools for precise vector paths as an alternative to freehand selection
• Paint and fill for another path from a painted stroke to a frame
• Image editing for vertex edit, perspective fit, and background removal on the objects these tools create
• My shapes for saving a converted shape for reuse