Moving selections

[caddzooks]

Hi all.

Just tried Paint.NET for the first time and was very impressed, with one small exception.

I can't seem to select a part of an image, and then move it to another area.

When I try to do that, the selected pixels are stretched rather than moved.

Is this normal or perhaps a bug?

Same problem when pasting a selection from the clipboard, it can't be moved (with the move selected pixels tool selected), only stretched.

That doesn't seem to make sense.

[pyrochild]

You are dragging one of the nubs. The nubs are exclusively for resizing. If you want to move the selection, you have to click and drag either in the middle of the selection, or (if the selection is too small to click inside) outside of it, not on a nub.

[caddzooks]

Thanks for the answer.

The problem is that I"m not dragging one of the nubs, I'm simply putting the cursor inside the selection (over nothing, and not even close to the selection boundary), and it is still stretching the selection. After checking this further, my image is small (its a 16x16 pixel bitmap), and the selection is only a few pixels in size, which I created using the lasso tool. In a larger image, the problem doesn't happen.

You are dragging one of the nubs. The nubs are exclusively for resizing. If you want to move the selection, you have to click and drag either in the middle of the selection, or (if the selection is too small to click inside) outside of it, not on a nub.

[ciberman_11]

I've had this problem before, just like you. It seems that the selection is so small, that you are still dragging one of the nubs by accident. Try and look if your cursor is like this when you're dragging it. It should be like this: (but without the cross and black arrow). Is there a smilie for this cursor? I couldn't find it.

If the selection is so small that you cannot make the cursor change, try moving the selection with the arrow keys, since your image size is 16x16, it should be quick enough.

Hope this helps.

*EDIT*

I just went ahead and took a screenshot of the cursor, so you know what I'm talking about. Your cursor should look like this: . Remember, sometimes the selection is so small, that it's impossible to make it change. In that case, use the arrow keys to move the selection.

[silverhammer]

This was one of the most confusing things for me when I first got Paint.NET

The trick is that when you have an area selected use the tool and click and drag anywhere on the canvas in order to move the selection. You don't actually have to click and drag inside the selection like in MS Paint.

[ciberman_11]

@silverhammer:

The trick is that when you have an area selected use the tool and click and drag anywhere on the canvas in order to move the selection. You don't actually have to click and drag inside the selection like in MS Paint.

Man, that is awesome, I didn't know that! This makes it reaally easy to deal with very small selections!

Thanks for the tip!

[skrybe]

I signed up just so I could ask this same question, love the app otherwise but that problem was driving me nuts. Gotta say it's counter-intuitive but now that I know it does the job. Thanks.