Assistance needed for using the Lasso Tool

[Maggie]

I am trying mightily to "lasso" the Lasso Tool and add it to my store of PDN knowledge. Here is my problem. Things with straight lines, no worries...but when I try using the tool on a more complicated shape, say one with curves, I get something like this:

As you can see, I can't get the line to be precise, and when I accidentally take my finger of the left clicker, argh! The lines connect and I have to start over. I'm so used to my old graphics program (RIP), where you could start-click at any stopping point-start again-and double click when finished. I don't see a way to do this in PDN. Is there and I've just missed it?

 

Is there a better way to use this tool than what I'm doing, or is there any advice you can give to this Newbie?

[toe_head2001]

That image is a prime candidate for Magic Wand tool.

https://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/MagicWand.html

 

Personally, I find the Lasso Select tool very cumbersome to use, so I rarely use it.

[HyReZ]

@Maggie

What is puzzling to me is why you need to use the Lasso Tool on the image that you provided, when it appears that its background is transparent. If the background is not transparent and it is truly a checkerboard; you can use the Wand Tool at ~50% Tolerance to get rid of it.

Check out this video: (The notes are not in English but the technique is well demonstrated)

 

Edited November 6, 2019 by HyReZ

[Maggie]

No, it is a transparent image, sorry-I chose it from my graphics stash for illustration purposes, since it had a lot of fiddly curves. As @toe_head2001 pointed out, I *would* use the Magic Wand too to select this image for a project. As of this time, Lasso is the prime source of my PDN frustration.

 

@HyReZ, the video (thanks for pointing me to it, is that Dutch?)  seems to show the Lasso Tool selecting multiple areas, which then blend together. Does this mean that you can have multiple selections going at one time with Lasso using CTRL and connect them into one cohesive image? And if you mess up and go out of the lines, holding down ALT and selecting with the tool cleans it up? I'll try this with a non-transparent image and see how it goes.

 

Sorry for all these questions. I'm *really* eager to learn.

[HyReZ]

The video shows that the Lasso corrections can be merged into one action.

https://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/SelectionTools.html
The link above will explain how to use the Tools with these options:

Edited November 6, 2019 by HyReZ

[Maggie]

Thanks for your help @HyReZ. It's all much clearer to me now.