Move selection back to starting point

KL
Posted By
keith_leng
Jul 31, 2007
Views
330
Replies
8
Status
Closed
I’m trying to remember a trick that I used to know but cannot, for the life of me, remember.

1. I make a selection at point A with, say the lasso tool.
2. I move that selection somewhere else, point B.

Now, if I hit ctrl-z, the selection outline simply moves back from point B to point A, as expected.

But there is some way of actually moving the pixels back from B to A. I’m pretty sure it’s a fairly simply procedure. You end up hitting ctrl-z and it takes the pixels back. As far as I recall, it doesn’t involve snapshots, or anything complicated with history states.

I’d appreciate it if anyone can help me out.

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EH
Ed_Hannigan
Jul 31, 2007
Now, if I hit ctrl-z, the selection outline simply moves back from point B to point A, as expected.

No. Not for me. It does what you want it to, returns the pixels and selection outline.

What version are you using? In older versions you could change the Undo behavior in Preferences.
KL
keith_leng
Aug 1, 2007
Thanks for the reply.

I’m using cs3.

I can’t understand how it moved the pixels back for you. Are you saying you did this:

1. Make a selection with the lasso.
2. Move the selection to point B.
3. Hit ctrl-z and the pixels from point B overwrite the pixels at point A? (So whatever was at B is now at both B and A)

I can’t see how that would work. As I understood it, the only way you can move pixels within a layer is by using the move tool or holding down ctrl [ctrl-drag to cut, ctrl-alt-drag to copy].

I have it in the back of my mind that the solution I’m looking for has something to do with making the selection at point B into a floating selection, but I can’t remember the details.
C
chrisjbirchall
Aug 1, 2007
Try making the selection using the Patch tool. Its behaviour is very much how you describe except that the transition between the new pixels and the surrounding area are blended.
KL
keith_leng
Aug 1, 2007
Thanks, Chris. The behaviour I’m looking for is, as you say, very similar to to the patch tool. But the key difference, is that you are able to move the selection *exactly* back to the starting point using ctrl-z. There’s no need to manually drag it back.

That’s what makes it so useful. You get a pixel-perfect clone from point B to point A.
EH
Ed_Hannigan
Aug 1, 2007
Keith,

Undo does exactly that; it undoes whatever you did before. Returns it to the previous state. Perhaps I am not understanding the problem.
C
chrisjbirchall
Aug 1, 2007
Keith: I know for a fact the only tool which behaves like this is the Patch Tool. However, as I said, whilst moving the "source" pixels back to the original position, the edges will become blended and there is no way of disabling this "healing" effect.

The word "trick" in your original post got me thinking. I did some experimenting and this (I think) is what you are looking for:

* Draw a selection at position A

* Drag the selection to position B

* Hit Crtl+C (copies the selected pixels to the clipboard)

* Hit Ctrl+Alt+Z (moves the selection back to position A)

* Hit Ctrl+V to paste the contents of the clipboard into position A

Hope that helps.

Chris.
KL
keith_leng
Aug 1, 2007
That’s just what I’m looking for, Chris. Thanks a lot. I don’t think it’s exactly the same method I had before (I now seem to recall I got the other one from a Deke Mcclellend dvd) but your method is every bit as good.

Ed – I guess the last two messages will have cleared things up for you.

Cheers,
Keith
EH
Ed_Hannigan
Aug 1, 2007
I see.

I guess I figured when you said, "moving the pixels back from B to A." that meant you had already moved the pixels from A to B.

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