Selections are a fundamental part of the AVA software. They are required to complete certain functions in the software but they are also extremely useful in helping you achieve exciting design effects. It is important to master using selections in your working methods to make your work flows more effective.
Existing selections can be made larger or smaller by growing or contracting them. Grow expands the current selection, while Contract shrinks it. Neither function affects the actual design information, they only change the current selection. Grow and Contract are solid additions to the selection. In other words they do not make the edges of the selected area softer, they only expand or reduce the area covered by the selection. They should not be confused with Feather which adds a soft, tonal edge to selections.
Growing selections
- Select an area in the design.
- Go to Edit Menu > Select > Grow.
- Enter the amount to grow the selection by in the units required, and the desired mode in which to grow by. The selection will expand accordingly.
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Original - will cut the corners off square selections, and apply some distortion to oval selections:
The result:
- Growing oval selections with the original mode:
The result;
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Circular - will round off the edges of square selections, and retain the circular form of oval selections. This method should always be used when resizing circular or organically formed selections.
This is the result you can expect when growing rectangular selections with the circular mode:
The result;
Growing oval selections with the circular mode:
The result;
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Square - will round retain the square edges of these selections and should be used when growing square or rectangular selections:
The result;
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Original - will cut the corners off square selections, and apply some distortion to oval selections:
- Once the selection has been grown it can be edited as normal. Expanded selections can be filled with the painting tools, which is useful for making lines and shapes larger.
Contracting selections
- Select an area in the design.
- Go to Edit Menu > Select > Contract.
- Enter the amount to contract the selection by in the units required.
- The selection will contract accordingly.
Tip: Contracted selections can be used to create outlines for Geometric Shapes. By simply pressing the delete key now, the centre of this start will be removed from the active layer, leaving just its outline.
Automation
The growing and contracting of selections can be automated by dragging the handler located in Edit Menu > Select > Grow and Edit Menu > Select > Contract settings window into a Palette.
Being able to automate these functions makes certain workflows such as creating a key line around a motif, or making all lines on an active layer a constant thickness, quick and easy.