Figure 8.12.
Select by Color tool icon in the Toolbox
The Select by Color tool is designed to select areas of an image
based on color similarity. It works a lot like the Fuzzy Select
tool ("Magic Wand"). The main difference between them is that the
Magic Wand selects contiguous regions, with
all parts connected to the starting point by paths containing no
large gaps; while the Select by Color tool selects all pixels that
are sufficiently similar in color to the pixel you click on,
regardless of where they are located. Also, clicking and dragging
in the image has no effect on the Select by Color tool.
2.6.1.
How to Activate
The Select By Color Tool can be activated from an image
menu as
Tools->Selection Tools->Select by Color;
from the Toolbox by clicking on the tool icon
;
or from the keyboard using the shortcut Shift
-Ctrl-C
2.6.2.
Key modifiers (Defaults)
The select by color tool does not have any special key modifiers,
only the ones that affect all selection tools in the same way.
See Selection Tools for
help with these.
2.6.3.
Options
Figure 8.13.
Tool Options for the Select by Color tool
Note
See Selection Tools for
help with options that are common to all these tools. Only
options that are specific to the Select by Color tool are
explained here. Note that they are the same options as the
Magic Wand tool has.
Finding Similar Colors
These options affect the way the Select by Color tool expands the
selection out from the initial point.
Select Transparent Areas.
This option gives the Select by Color tool the ability to
select areas that are completely transparent. If this option
is not checked, transparent areas will never be
included in the selection.
Sample Merged.
This option becomes relevant when you have several
layers in your image, and the active layer is either
semi-transparent or is set to another Layer Mode than
Normal. If this is the case, the colors present in the
layer will be different from the colors in the
composite image. If the "Sample Merged" option is
unchecked, the Select by Color tool will only react to
the color in the active layer when it creates a
selection. If it is checked it will react to the
composite color of all visible layers. For further
information, see the glossary entry Sample Merged.
Threshold.
This slider determines the range of colors that will
be selected: the higher the threshold, the larger the
resulting selection.
Note
Regarding moving selection, this tool does'nt work like others:
when selection by color is created, you can move it only if you
select another selection tool...
Published under the terms of the GNU General Public License
![[Note]](../images/note.png)
