This tool is used to make fast selections of both flat and tonal areas. It can be used to select specific areas in a design which contains many colours or textures. Wherever you click with the magic wand, information will become selected and the extent of the selection is controlled by the tolerance setting, which can be found in the settings window which opens when this tool is selected.

Setting the tolerance of the Magic Wand Tool

The Magic Wand tolerance is particularly useful for tonal designs and alters the tonal range included within the selection. By adjusting the tolerance bar you can either increase or decrease the amount of tone that is included in a selection.

1. Select the Magic Wand Tool from the Tools Palette or press M on the keyboard to automatically select the tool.
2. Adjust the settings in the window to change the effect of the tool.
   • Tolerance - controls the area that is selected by the Magic Wand Tool. The higher the percentage, the larger the selected area becomes.
   • Visible layers - fills what you can see on screen, regardless of which layers you have selected.
   • Visible spot layers - does the same as the visible layers setting but ignores any images in the file, therefore removing the need to make images invisible. This makes it easier to allocate the right colour to different areas, in particular when separating a design.
   • Selected layers - fills information on the selected layers only.
     
     
3. Click on your design with the Magic Wand Tool. You will see that only a small area is selected.
   
   
4. Select the tolerance again and increase it to a higher percentage, for example 20%.
   
   
5. Click down again with the Magic Wand Tool over the shape and you will see that a larger area is selected.
   
   
   

Adding to and removing from selections using the Magic Wand Tool

You can add to and subtract from selections using the Magic Wand Tool. Doing this makes the creation of complex selections easier, and when combined with the other selection methods in the Select menu, it becomes even more powerful.

1. Make a selection with the Magic Wand Tool.
2. To add to that selection, select the + icon from the tool’s setting window and click on the area of the design you want to add to the existing selection. Alternatively, you can hold down the shift key and click on the areas you wish to add to the selection. This prevents you from having to change the settings in the window above.
3. To remove areas of the selection, select the - icon and click on the area of the selection you want to remove. Alternatively, you can hold down the command key and click on the areas you wish to remove from the selection. This prevents you from having to change the settings in the window above.
   
   

• When you hold down ⇧ (shift key) a ‘+’ symbol appears on the cursor, indicating that the new area will be added to your current selection.
• When you hold down ⌘ (command key) a ‘-‘ symbol appears on the cursor, indicating that the area will be subtracted from your current selection.

Adding a selection to the Brushes

Selections can be automatically added to the Brushes Window. Simply activate one of the select tools (Rectangular Selection Tool, Lasso Tool or the Magic Wand Tool) and create your selection, then click ^ (control key) and choose Add to Brushes.