The "Paint Bucket" tool is trying to kill me!!!

[Daft_Wullie]

On top of the animation challenge, a friend and I are starting a webcomic. Photoshop is highly utilized in this endeavor for colouring and making dialogue balloons and such. However...last night as I was finishing the first strip I was trying to insert dialogue balloons under the text by using the Elliptical Marquee tool combined with the Polygonal Lasso Tool when Photoshop literally tried to murder me...by raising my blood pressure to near heart-attack proportions.

If you use the Elliptical Marquee tool, then select the Polygonal Lasso Tool and make another selection while keeping Shift held you can make a nicely shaped dialogue balloon. Nice! No hassle! Easy, peasy, lemon squeezey!

Again, however...

Now that I have a dialogue balloon shape, it is time to fill it with the Paint Bucket tool, so I do this. Aaaaaagh! The elliptical shape fills nicely, but the part added with the lasso doesn't. The fill spills outside of the marquee lines like it's been smudged. I can't figure out how to make hard edges (or I could if I spent time on it and wasn't at work and it still bothered me so I'm going to get fired when I should be working and not complaining about this...whew) within the lasso selection. Somebody, anybody, have any suggestions?

Tanks!

[Terro]

Once you select the eliptical tool, look up for the new options to appear. You can set the eliptical tool to auto fill as you create the balloon.

I for some reason don't like the eliptical tool method, the border it creates is all the same thickness and looks generic. If you have a tablet, you can create better balloons that shows the artist stroke on the outlines. Just practice doing egglike shapes with one stroke. You can then fill them by creating a new layer under your newly handcrafted baloon and painting that white, or what ever color you want with a normal brush. You will most likely paint over the line and thats ok because you are on a layer lower then the line work, so just earase the fill to match the balloon line. Then link the layers and merge, and your all done.

Hope this helps.

[Daft_Wullie]

Thanks for the reply, but I'm not using the elliptical tool...I'm using the Elliptical Marquee tool. I'd show a screen shot, but I'm not at that computer. It's an option under the Rectangle Marquee tool. I don't mind the generic looking balloons because it offsets from the natural strokes of the comic itself. It's a nice contrast, in my opinion.

So, yeah, to sum up:

1. I use the Elliptical Marquee tool (the ellipse made out of a dashed line) along with the Polygonal Lasso (using shift to combine the selection)

2. I use the paint bucket to fill them.

3. The ellipse fills fine, the lasso portion does not.

If anything, I'll post screen shots when I can. Thanks.:)

[bleupencil]

Probably a stupid question, but have you checked the "feathering" option on the lasso tool? If you say it "looks like it's being smudged", that could be it. Make sure the 'feather' is set to 0px and you have the anti-alias box ticked.

Not sure what version of ps your using, but in CS2 it's usually located up the top near the menu bar.

Hope that helps.

[Daft_Wullie]

I'll try that when I can and let you know how it comes out. I just naturally assumed (stupid me) that when an addition is made to a marquee selection that the addition would natually have the same properties as the original selection...did that make sense? Anyway, I'll see if that's the birdy.

Thanks bleu

[Terro]

You shouldn't use the use the Elliptical Marquee tool, thats a selection tool. It only selects an area of the canvas. The only way to achieve what you are trying using the Elliptical Marquee tool, would be to select it, fill it with white then goto layer options and do inner shaddow or glow in black. It's just a bad apprach. Use the Circle tool , it's much easier and thats the one Blue is refering to. It's what it was designed for.

[Daft_Wullie]

This tutorial (http://www.makeshiftmiracle.com/TutWordB.html) explains it so clearly, and it works so easily except for that smudging effect with the Polygon Lasso tool lines. Why is this wrong?

[Terro]

I stand corrected. Thats a pretty nifty tutorial, I like his approach.

[Daft_Wullie]

Your humbleness is humbling. Hopefully the "feathering" option is the answer.

Thanks to both of you!

[bleupencil]

I tried out the tutorial myself (see lame picture below), and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong in the end, so it quite probably is the feathering setting on your lasso tool. I can't think of what else the problem might be.

http://song.rydia.net/junk/20060922sbubbl.jpg

[Daft_Wullie]

Awesome! I'll try it again when I can...they tend not to let me do that at work. It gets in the way of flipping the hamburgers.:D

[Terro]

No prob, I wasn't that much help at all, hehe. BTW, checked out your blog and I seen the preview of the comic, it looks good.

[Daft_Wullie]

Thanks Terro,

That is by no means the finished product, by the way. I think I mentioned that in my blog, too. I will be redoing it better and larger than life. Or, actually, smaller than life since I believe I'm taller in person. I'll definately announce the launch date when we're ready.

Thanks again.

[Daft_Wullie]

Thanks, bleu! It works like a charm now!