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Soften the edges of selections



You can smooth the hard edges of a selection by anti-aliasing and by feathering.

Anti-aliasing
Smooths the jagged edges of a selection by softening the color transition between edge pixels and background pixels. Because only the edge pixels change, no detail is lost. Anti-aliasing is useful when cutting, copying, and pasting selections to create composite images.

Anti-aliasing is available for the Lasso tool, the Polygonal Lasso tool, the Magnetic Lasso tool, the Elliptical Marquee tool, and the Magic Wand tool. (Select a tool to display its options bar.)

Note: You must specify this option before using these tools. After a selection is made, you cannot add anti-aliasing.

Feathering
Blurs edges by building a transition boundary between the selection and its surrounding pixels. This blurring can cause some loss of detail at the edge of the selection.

You can define feathering for the Marquee tools, the Lasso tool, the Polygonal Lasso tool, or the Magnetic Lasso tool as you use the tool, or you can add feathering to an existing selection.

Note: Feathering effects become apparent only after you move, cut, copy, or fill the selection.

Select pixels using anti-aliasing

  1. Select the Lasso tool, the Polygonal Lasso tool, the Magnetic Lasso tool, the Elliptical Marquee tool, or the Magic Wand tool.
  2. Select Anti-aliased in the options bar.

Define a feathered edge for a selection tool

  1. Select any of the lasso or marquee tools.
  2. Enter a Feather value in the options bar. This value defines the width of the feathered edge and can range from 0 to 250 pixels.

Define a feathered edge for an existing selection

  1. Choose Select > Modify > Feather.
  2. Enter a value for the Feather Radius, and click OK.
    Note: A small selection made with a large feather radius may be so faint that its edges are invisible and thus not selectable. If you see the message “No pixels are more than 50% selected,” either decrease the feather radius or increase the size of the selection. Or click OK to accept the mask at its current setting and create a selection in which you cannot see the edges.
    Selection without feathering and with feathering.

    A.
    Selection with no feather, same selection filled with pattern

    B.
    Selection with feather, same selection filled with pattern