Lasso Tool - Any way to "Undo" the last click?

Damo77 wrote in post #13046636
Y'know how I said Dennis was "part" right?

Well, the part he was wrong about was the pen tool. It's a stupid tool

Well, ok then.

I actually bit the bullet not long ago and devoted some serious time to learn the pen tool (I had some prior experience with bezier curves from a video editing program). Definitely worth learning. For some jobs, it is indispensible. For others, masking via a selection tool (along with refine edge) is a better choice. (You do know that you can change the path you create using the pen tool into a selection, right? Paths panel, right click on the path and choose make selection.)

Radtech1 wrote in post #13046369
ARRGH! -

I am working on a composite that requires a good deal of Lasso Tool selections. Is there any way to undo the last click?

As I am selecting away, the "delete" key will undo clicks (anchor points) as I go - so far, so good. The problem is that sometimes I will be following a curve, and be click, click, clicking as I set down anchor points then all of the sudden, PS thinks I have "double clicked" and it prematurely completes the selection - putting in a straight selection line from there back to the start point. This usually cuts my selection in half or worse, depending on how complex it is.

Anyways, when this happens, the "delete" key no longer works the way it should, by deleting the previous anchor point, no, instead it deletes the whole selection along the wrong lines.

Is there any way to undo that final "completing" click and go back to a "selection in progress"? The history is useless because it does not store individual anchor points.

Alternatively, is there any way to disable the "auto complete" of selections?

OK, I'm late in seeing this but nobody has asked about the obvious:

Rad, what happens if you do Ctl-Z, which is Edit/Undo (whatever your last action was)? It should remove the last anchor point, as far as I know.

Also, in the Edit menu there is Shft-Ctl-Z to "Move Forward" and Alt-Ctl-Z to "Move Backwards"...they should incrementally step through your actions.

They should work for any action that was started by clicking and letting up from your mouse button. If they don't, let us know specifically what does happen.

And, are you using a mouse or a tablet? That may make some difference, although I don't see that it would make a lot!

Oh, and hey, guys, go easy on Rad! One of these days I'm liable to wade back into doing some "serious" Photoshop and at best I will have forgotten most of what I ever knew (and lost any skills from practice) but really I only learned a bunch of basics. Some of the stuff that gets talked up here is kind of like reading a foreign language to me!

D Thompson wrote in post #13047786
The polygonal lasso tool is a cluster ****. There is no back up or undo with it. Once you lay a point down, it is there. About the only thing to do is continue and finish with the selection, then use the regular lasso or another method to subtract from the selection. The bad thing is with the polygonal, if you're laying down points too quick, it will auto-complete to the original anchor point.

Hmm, I guess it behaves differently from the Pen tool -- I'm out of practice!

As mentioned by Damo77, if you inadvertently released the mouse button when using the Lasso tool, you can ADD to the selection by holding Shift and continuing your selection.

If you inadvertently selected areas you did not want to, you would hold ALT to remove parts of the selection. When you create a lasso using Alt, think of it as a mask or Venn Diagram - whatever you Alt-Lasso will be removed from the selection.

In your example, it's created multiple selections, so undoing that with either Shift or Alt would take more time than it was worth. If you really want to stick with using the Lasso tool, use the Shift button to create small selections at a time. Then when you make a mistake, an Undo will only Undo a small section.

But yeah, the Pen tool would be much easier to use - easier on your hands/wrist too since you don't have to constantly hold down the mouse button as you would with the Lasso tool. Just click-click along the edges to lay down points and then right-click to turn it into a selection (you mentioned you were getting spirograph-like results using the Pen tool because you were holding down the mouse button and dragging. It's easier to make selections with the Pen tool by just laying down single points - don't click and drag like you're used to with the Lasso tool).

D Thompson wrote in post #13046569
Not off the top of my head. Only thing I can think of would be maybe change your mouse double click speed setting to see if that helps.

Did you try that, & how did it work?

D Thompson wrote in post #13047786
The polygonal lasso tool is a cluster ****. There is no back up or undo with it. Once you lay a point down, it is there.

Yes, there is. At least in my version of PS, the Del key will remove the last anchor point unless you're completed the selection.

I wonder why you can't use the PLT. It works just fine with Alt/Shift for me.

D Thompson wrote in post #13053305
While you are correct about using shift & alt with the Lasso tool, the Polygonal Lasso tool which Rad was using doesn't work that way. Using the Lasso tool and the shift/alt keys is a good way for doing some selections.

Again, you seem so certain that this is true that I wonder if there's something set in your Preferences that might have disabled that function?

Rad, I don't think that there's a cure for that weird auto complete selection that you showed us. Sometimes it's just easier to start again.
If I'm selecting something complex, I'll save the first part of the selection in Channels & then add the rest to it. Then I'll save again & subtract areas like windows that I need to remove from the selection.

PhotosGuy wrote in post #13053481
Rad, I don't think that there's a cure for that weird auto complete selection that you showed us.... If I'm selecting something complex, I'll save the first part of the selection in Channels & then add the rest to it. Then I'll save again & subtract areas like windows that I need to remove from the selection.

For the time being, DThompson set me on the right path by simply changing the double click sensitivity in windows. Go figure.

Channels would be a thought as well, I will look into that and see how comfortably it fits into my work flow.

I am actually a little surprised by the overall loathing of the Poly Lasso tool. I have always found it to be a rather obvious choice for selections. So much so, I never really tried any other method. What I like about it is the ability to adjust the "feather" of the selection. I learned very early on that one way to guarantee a paste job will look fake is if the selection has a sharper edge than the focus. By setting the feather to 1 or 2 pixels, I get a soft edge selection that matches the softness of the shot.

If you want to see the final result, here it is: https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1088735

Rad

PhotosGuy wrote in post #13053481
Did you try that, & how did it work?

No I didn't. It was just a thought that since the PLT completes on a double click that it might help.

I use CS5 and went back after reading this. As I don't normally use the PLT, I was trying some things to try to help Rad. The delete key will work, but for some reason it only starts working on the 2nd click of it. So, my bad for not checking more completely. I will edit my posts and remove my ignorance.

Yes, you are correct that it can be used that way after the selection is completed to add or remove from.

Evidently I need sleep . On the way to edit my stupidity.

Me, too. It's my first choice for something with hard edges.
Selecting areas in PS.

And while the Pen Tool is more "elegant", it's a PITA even when people take the time to get past the learning curve but don't use it every day. I've taught CS, & still prefer the PLT for fast work & it's very accurate at 300%.

It's not as if you're the first to mis-remember something about PS? So many tools & options... so little time!

Radtech1 wrote in post #13053538
For the time being, DThompson set me on the right path by simply changing the double click sensitivity in windows. Go figure.

Great! Good call on his part.

You can see the Channel masks, which are just saved selections, here: Need to remove a background from something?

Radtech1 wrote in post #13053538
I am actually a little surprised by the overall loathing of the Poly Lasso tool.

Probably because you need to keep clicking the mouse to keep adding selection "points", and you can only make hard corners and straight lines. Paths have neither of these problems.

Radtech1 wrote in post #13053538
I have always found it to be a rather obvious choice for selections. So much so, I never really tried any other method.

You should. If only to have more options
If you have the regular lasso tool selected, pressing Alt will turn it into the PLT.
Letting go of alt will close the selection. That's the only version of the PLT I ever use.

Radtech1 wrote in post #13053538
What I like about it is the ability to adjust the "feather" of the selection.

Any selection tool will allow that. Paths as well. In PSCS4+ you can add a feather to an entire layer mask on the fly. And it's undo-able. (But smallest radius is 1 pixel, which is too much on occasion.
Another way would be to add a gaussian blur to a mask (to soften), then adjust contrast to expand or contract (or harden)

Radtech1 wrote in post #13053538
I learned very early on that one way to guarantee a paste job will look fake is if the selection has a sharper edge than the focus. By setting the feather to 1 or 2 pixels, I get a soft edge selection that matches the softness of the shot.

Yes, but what if parts of the shot are in different focus then the rest?

René Damkot wrote in post #13057779
You should. If only to have more options
If you have the regular lasso tool selected, pressing Alt will turn it into the PLT.
Letting go of alt will close the selection. That's the only version of the PLT I ever use.

This is how I've always used it. Works great. But I second the pen tool for selections.