Can I modify rectangular selection?

[marksibly]

Hi,

 

I frequently use the rectangular selection tool to select part of an image, usually just for cropping.

 

I generally just 'wing it' when I do this  and aren't too worried if I catch a few extra pixels around (but not inside!) the border, but I was wondering if there's a better way to do this, eg: by somehow modifying the selection after you've made it and not having to start selecting from scratch again.

 

ChatGPT seems to think 'handles' will automatically appear after making a selection but this isn't happening, and I can't find anything in the menus about modifying the selection.

 

Is there a way to do this?

 

And thanks for paint.net, it's not perfect but it usually does the job!

 

Bye!

Mark

[toe_head2001]

You can modify the selection with the Move Selection tool.

https://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/MoveTools.html#5

[Ego Eram Reputo]

^this.

 

Make the selection & hit the M key twice to enter "modify-the-selection-mode". Click & drag the nubs and/or rotate the selection border the until you have the perfect alignment of the selection rectangle. Press M once more to revert to normal "Move" mode so you can drag/rotate/resize the image region.

 

Or, if you want to modify the selection border on the fly.....

 

Hold down the second mouse button (in addition to the first)! The selection border can be dragged around as you are making the selection. In this mode, the keyboard arrow keys move the selection border by one pixel (or 10 pixels if the CTRL key is also held down) for pixel-perfect placement.

[Tactilis]

Welcome to the forum @marksibly

 

ChatGPT is not a accurate source of information, nor an efficient means of finding out how to do things in paint.net.

I had to prompt it several times in different ways on how to adjust the size of, or move the position of a selection, before it eventually generated any reference to using a Move tool - and even then its response contained incorrect and incomplete information:
 

Quote

• Using the Move Selected Pixels tool:

  • Select the "Move Selected Pixels" tool from the toolbar. It looks like a crosshair icon.
  • Click and drag within the selection to move it to a new location.
     

• Using the Move Selection tool (if available):

  • Select the "Move Selection" tool from the toolbar. It looks like a crosshair icon with a dotted outline.
  • Click and drag within the selection to move it to a new location.

@toe_head2001 has pointed you to the relevant page of the paint.net Documentation, which answers your immediate question.

But as you were unaware of the Move tools, I suspect there is much else you have yet to discover. So I would urge to spend some time working your way through the whole of the well written Documentation; you'll learn a lot.
 

Click the Help icon top right in paint.net or just press F1 to take you straight there.