$(cpicName) Help - Crop

The crop tool allows you to remove the edges of an image. This tool lets you remove parts of the image which are not wanted. Use this to place focus on key elements in your images. |

Cropping Images The crop tool lets you select a rectangular area of an image to keep. Selections can be made by clicking and dragging.

Using Crop

1. | Open the image in the Image Viewer.
2. | Select Crop from the Image menu. Keyboard shortcut: hit 'C'.
3. | Your cursor will change to the cropping cursor.
4. | Click and drag the mouse to select the area to crop (the area you want to keep).
5. | The cropping rectangle has marks on each side and each corner (eight total). Click and drag these marks to make precise changes.
6. | To perform the crop, click inside the cropping rectangle. To cancel the crop, you may click outside the crop rectangle.

As you perform the above actions, tool tip windows will appear which provide information about the area you are selecting to crop. This information includes the width and height of the cropping rectangle and the coordinates of the upper left and lower right corners.

You're now ready to save your changes.

Advanced Crop Features
The crop function in allows you several advanced ways to manipulate the area to be cropped.

Moving the Cropping Rectangle - You can move the crop rectangle around your image without changing it's size. To move the crop rectangle, hold the CTRL key while clicking inside the crop rectangle, then drag the rectangle to the desired position. You can also move the crop rectangle by clicking on the animated border of the crop rectangle and dragging.

Maintaining Aspect Ratio - To resize the cropping rectangle while maintaining the aspect ratio, hold down the SHIFT key while dragging one of the resize knobs on the crop rectangle.

Cropping a 1:1 Ratio - To size the cropping rectangle to a 1:1 ratio (where the width of the rectangle is the same as the height), hold CTRL+SHIFT while sizing the rectangle.

Reseting the Crop Rectangle - To reset the crop rectangle at any time, click on the image, outside the crop rectangle.

AutoCropping Images The AutoCrop tool automates the process of cropping your images. The AutoCrop tool will use intelligent detection procedures to make a best guess about what to crop. This tool is ideal for cropping such things as border, edges, and fades.

The AutoCrop tool does not automatically crop your image, it only selects the area to be cropped. You must choose to crop or cancel the operation.

Using AutoCrop

1. | Open the image in the Image Viewer.
2. | Select AutoCrop from the Image menu. Keyboard shortcut: hit 'A'.
3. | To perform the crop, click inside the cropping rectangle. To cancel the crop, you may click outside the crop rectangle.

You're now ready to save your changes.

Related Topics:

- Editing Images
- Saving Images
- The Image Viewer
- The Image Viewer Menu