7 Magic Wand
Used for selecting
areas
Found at #18 in the Toolbar diagram at left
This tool selects all pixels that are the same color as the one you click on. How precisely similar the color must be to be included is set in the tool’s option bar [see below] before the selection is made.
Frequently, after the initial click, additions are made to that selection by holding down the Shift key, and clicking repeatedly on any additional shades that did not get selected.
Note that the magic wand does not work on 1 bit Bitmap mode images.
This tool is useful if you have clearly defined, evenly colored objects. It is particularly good when working with line art, or cartoon style pictures. For photographic images, Quick mask or Select > Color Range almost always work better than the magic wand.
Right-clicking on your document with this tool will get you a menu of
several selection options.
The keyboard shortcut for this tool is the letter W.
The illustration below is the magic wand’s options bar. To find any tool presets that have been made for this tool, click on the tool’s thumbnail at the left end of the options bar. To reset the tool to its default settings, right-click on the tool’s thumbnail and choose Reset Tool from the menu that appears.
The Tolerance value sets how much variation in the clicked-on color will be included in the selection. A low number allows less variation; a high number allows more. Values may be from 0 to 255. Anti-aliasing softens the jagged [pixel] edges on curvy portions of the selection. Check the Contiguous box if you only want to select pixels adjoining the original spot that was clicked. Same colored pixels elsewhere in the image will not be selected.
The second illustration below is a numbered, larger scale version
of the buttons from the left end of the options bar which determine how
the selection you make will interact with any existing, active selections.
They are:
1) make a new selection (no interaction)
2) add to an existing selection
3) subtract from an existing selection
4) select only the overlapping area in this new selection, and an existing
selection
If you have doodled with a tool’s options and want to get back to the default settings, right-click that tool’s icon at the far left end of its options bar (in Photoshop 6, left-click). Choose either Reset Tool to reset only the current tool, or Reset All Tools to restore default settings to every tool.
Please note that all descriptions, and illustrations featured refer to files which are in Photoshop’s .psd format, and which are in RGB color mode. Other file formats, and color modes may generate different options. Some Photoshop features are not available for images not in .psd format, or RGB color mode. To find what color mode your image is in, choose Image > Mode.
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