Weird Magic Wand behavior in CS3

DC
Posted By
Dave_Cooperstein
Jun 25, 2007
Views
425
Replies
4
Status
Closed
I’m using CS3 on Windows XP.

Has anyone else noticed really weird behavior with the Magic Wand tool?

I’m working on simple line drawing (in RGB mode). Sometimes I can select three of four contiguous areas, but then when I click the next one it selects the entire canvas. Then I’ll undo, click on the same area, and it works fines.

I’ve messed with the tolerance, and tried it on multiple images, and it’s not behaving like it has in previous versions of Photoshop.

Just curious if anyone else out there is experience this.

Let me know,
Dave.

Master Retouching Hair

Learn how to rescue details, remove flyaways, add volume, and enhance the definition of hair in any photo. We break down every tool and technique in Photoshop to get picture-perfect hair, every time.

JJ
John_Joslin
Jun 25, 2007
Click on the Eyedropper Tool and check the sample size in the Options bar. It should be 3 x 3 or point sample.
DC
Dave_Cooperstein
Jun 25, 2007
Josh,

THANK YOU! The sample size was set to 31 x 31 Average. As soon as I set it to Point Sample, the Magic Wand was back to normal!

My question is: Why does the Eye Dropper setting affect the Magic Wand selection. I’ve been using Photoshop for almost 10 years, and I’ve never noticed this behavior.

Curious,
Dave.
JJ
John_Joslin
Jun 25, 2007
I guess it is the easiest way to regulate the magic wand properties but it sure ain’t intuitive is it?
CK
Christine_Krof_Shock
Jun 29, 2007
3×3 sample looks at a sample area of 9 pixels to base the magic wand selection on…this way you do not select the one white pixel in a sea of black pixels…5X5 looks at 25 pixels, etc.

I use 3×3 for images under 300MB and 5×5 for images over 300MB

Also remember the magic wand selects color values both above and below the set threshold level…so if your threshold is set to 8, photoshop is actually looking at 16 different values to make the selection.

MacBook Pro 16” Mockups 🔥

– in 4 materials (clay versions included)

– 12 scenes

– 48 MacBook Pro 16″ mockups

– 6000 x 4500 px

Related Discussion Topics

Nice and short text about related topics in discussion sections