remove excess areas from page

[wab]

I hope someone can help me. I am wanting to remove the excess area outside of a selection. For example if I have a layout 8x10 and import a paper that is 12x12, how do I remove the excess so I am only left with a 8x10 paper. Or even if place a 12x12 paper into a 8x10 layout and then draw out a rectangle with the marquee tool select inverse then delete it looks as if the excess has been deleted but when you move the rectangle with the move tool the excess paper is still there. I am using PSCS2.

[felynn]

Or even if place a 12x12 paper into a 8x10 layout and then draw out a rectangle with the marquee tool select inverse then delete it looks as if the excess has been deleted but when you move the rectangle with the move tool the excess paper is still there. I am using PSCS2.

Use the crop tool instead of the marquee. Or instead of inverse deleting select the area, copy it to a new layer (ctrl J) and then delete the old layer. If you have stuff on other layers with stuff hanging off the edges you do not want to use the crop tool because it crops every layer not just the current layer.

[debbers]

TRIM may be useful for you, this is exactly what I do with it when this happens to me.

It's on the image menu. I find it much more accurate than crop, which depends on me starting at exactly 0,0 pixels and dragging my mouse exactly to 2399,2399. I'm *always* missing by a pixel or two one direction or another.

However, like CROP, it acts on all layers, not just one.

deb

[debbers]

P.S. The other idea would be to select the layer you want, then CTRL A (select all), CTRL C (copy), then CTRL V (paste onto a new layer) and hide/delete the original layer with painted pixels hanging off the sides.

Messy, but NOT as messy as glue!! :)

[felynn]

which depends on me starting at exactly 0,0 pixels and dragging my mouse exactly to 2399,2399. I'm *always* missing by a pixel or two one direction or another.
deb

If you start the crop outside your canvas area you can drag it to the opposite corner it will crop to your canvas size without having to place the cusor exactly

[debbers]

That ALWAYS worked for me in PSP, but PS lets you drag the crop border even further than the viewable area. So you can't even zoom in close and just drag over the edge - it will drag OVER the edge and I've ended up with transparent borders more times than I care to count!

I tried your suggestion of starting outside the window you're working on, but in my version of PS (CS2) crop does nothing unless it starts inside.

Is there a setting somewhere that will force CS2 to stay within the borders of the current image when it crops?

deb

[Leea]

felynn and deb.....the info about the select area, copy, paste onto new layer and then delete the old layer...is this the same as what I learned in the DSP tuturial about making elements? It sounds like it and it's been one of the most fun and rewarding things I've learned so far :) I need to pm the member who wrote that tutorial and thank her...off to do that now :)
Also need to re-read some older posts and thank the member who told me about using Control D to stop those pesky marching ants :)
Leea

[felynn]

That ALWAYS worked for me in PSP, but PS lets you drag the crop border even further than the viewable area. So you can't even zoom in close and just drag over the edge - it will drag OVER the edge and I've ended up with transparent borders more times than I care to count!

I tried your suggestion of starting outside the window you're working on, but in my version of PS (CS2) crop does nothing unless it starts inside.

Is there a setting somewhere that will force CS2 to stay within the borders of the current image when it crops?

deb
Thats so weird I have CS2 and I've been cropping like that since hmm I think PS6. I'm pretty sure my crop settings are default.

Don't start outside the window. Start outside the canvas but inside your document's window. If you're using a transparent background the canvas area is the checkerboard look and outside the canvas but still in the window is a lighter gray then the working area of photoshop (can never remember what that's called)

The crop border will go over the edge if you do it in more than one step. But when I do it all in one motion starting from outside the canvas area it will stop at the opposite corner for me. If I let go before I reach the opposite corner and then try to grab that corner and drag it will go past my canvas area and make a new canvas area (causing transparent borders)

If this still doesn't work for you you could try using the settings up top for the tool. There are some boxes which are labled width height and resolution up at the top if you set those to your desired size the crop tool will automatically make whatever you select with the tool those dimentions. Not terribly helpful when you have cool or precise edge effcts you want to preserve but it would eliminate those tiny one or two pixel mistakes. Keep in mind if you only select half of your page with the tool it will resize that half to fit your parameters

[felynn]

felynn and deb.....the info about the select area, copy, paste onto new layer and then delete the old layer...is this the same as what I learned in the DSP tuturial about making elements? It sounds like it and it's been one of the most fun and rewarding things I've learned so far :) I need to pm the member who wrote that tutorial and thank her...off to do that now :)
Also need to re-read some older posts and thank the member who told me about using Control D to stop those pesky marching ants :)
Leea

I'm not sure because I don't know which tutorial you mean but I am positve the author will appreciate any thanks you have to offer :)

All these little tricks are just great. There is always a new shortcut to learn in PS no matter how long you've been using it :p

[debbers]

Thats so weird I have CS2 and I've been cropping like that since hmm I think PS6. I'm pretty sure my crop settings are default.

Don't start outside the window. Start outside the canvas but inside your document's window. If you're using a transparent background the canvas area is the checkerboard look and outside the canvas but still in the window is a lighter gray then the working area of photoshop (can never remember what that's called)

The crop border will go over the edge if you do it in more than one step. But when I do it all in one motion starting from outside the canvas area it will stop at the opposite corner for me. If I let go before I reach the opposite corner and then try to grab that corner and drag it will go past my canvas area and make a new canvas area (causing transparent borders)

If this still doesn't work for you you could try using the settings up top for the tool. There are some boxes which are labled width height and resolution up at the top if you set those to your desired size the crop tool will automatically make whatever you select with the tool those dimentions. Not terribly helpful when you have cool or precise edge effcts you want to preserve but it would eliminate those tiny one or two pixel mistakes. Keep in mind if you only select half of your page with the tool it will resize that half to fit your parameters

Well, I call the little canvases of each individual image a window. It has a bar, I can drag it around inside the PS screen/workspace, so I figured it was a window :)

So I THINK we're talking about the same thing. Hang on! Let me get a screen shot.

I've attached my screen shot here in this message (link at the bottom).

Spot 1 = "outside the window for me" and I cannot get any kind of crop selection at all. [the colored X marks the approx spot I started my crop at]

Spot 2 = "in the rulers" and it gives me some crosshairs, but I think that's about guides or something ... nothing seems to happen when I pull the crosshairs out with the crop tool selected

Spot 3 = "top pixels of image" and is the only spot where I can draw a crop selection (or whatever it is called, I know it's not really selecting....). but positioning here SUCKS.

I'd just love to know some automatic way to get an exact position on the crop that agrees with the window/canvas size.

In the meanwhile, I've been making do with Trim.

deb

[omio]

Debbers, I have CS3 and can crop starting outside the canvas. (Thanks for that, felynn, since lost pixels have always been a problem for me.) My setting should be default -- haven't changed anything as far as I know. I use a Mac -- could that be a difference?

[debbers]

Mine is CS2 - maybe that's the difference?!

I'll go examine my preferences, maybe there's something in there.

deb

[felynn]

No that is not the right area that is outside the document's window.

Zoom out until you can see all four edges of your document. The gray area around your canvas while zoomed out is the area I am talking about. I'll grab a screenshot in a few minutes PS takes a bit to open on this computer :)

I don't have rulers on in this shot but that won't effect it. Just zoom out till you can see all 4 sides and start the crop in the light gray area.

[Lisa Carter]

I hope someone can help me. I am wanting to remove the excess area outside of a selection. For example if I have a layout 8x10 and import a paper that is 12x12, how do I remove the excess so I am only left with a 8x10 paper. Or even if place a 12x12 paper into a 8x10 layout and then draw out a rectangle with the marquee tool select inverse then delete it looks as if the excess has been deleted but when you move the rectangle with the move tool the excess paper is still there. I am using PSCS2.


If you are trying to cut your paper out into a shape. Instead of deleting the excess just copy. So say you bring in your paper and you want it to be a 4x6 rectangle. Make your selection then just CTRL+J to copy then you can delete the original paper.

If you bring in a paper for the "background" (aren't cutting it into shape) then you can do like i do and just leave it OR you can grab your marquee tool and draw out the shape to include your entire canvas then hit CTRL+J to duplicate the layer then delete the old one.