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kpbong
kpbong
Participant
June 11, 2017
Answered

Extremely Frustrated Beginner - Need help with image selection and lasso

  • June 11, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 3003 views

This will seem like an extremely dumb question I am sure but we have tried to research the answer, YouTube videos etc. and just can't figure this out!  Please help!

1) When we import an image (jpeg) into either Illustrator or Animate, we have a problem where we cannot select anything on the image.  We try to use the selection tool but all it does is move the image around.  This must be so basic of a question that there are no answers for this. How do we get the image to hold still so we can select something?

2) We are trying to follow these steps for how to animate a drawing. 

http://www.howdesign.com/web-design-resources-technology/how-to-animate-a-drawing/

We have gotten to Step 6 where you draw a lasso around parts of your drawing but the lasso is not working right.  At first, when we used the lasso, it looked like it was selecting way more than what we selected.  (For example, we selected just a chin to make a mouth move and it selected the chin and much of the rest of the body too).  Then we tried a million different things following random instructions on the internet.  We grouped our drawing so that all the coloring in my daughter did would be preserved and the whole image would move as one but now the lasso tool does not work at all!  It does not seem to select anything.  It is very similar to the problem we are having in number 1 above. 

If you can help us, we would be so grateful!  If you have been in this phase of learning and have any suggestions about how to better learn the Adobe interface I would appreciate it too.  We have been using the Adobe Illustrator CC Classroom in a Book and while we can follow along with the examples in the book when we try to do even the simplest things on our own (like crop a a photo) it becomes a frustrating mess. 

Thanks!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer ClayUUID

The lasso tool cannot select bits and pieces of anything except bare vector shapes. Symbols, text, groups, bitmap instances, and shapes drawn in Object Drawing mode, it will only select the entire thing.

This is what the Break Apart (Ctrl-B) command is for. On a group, it ungroups. On text, it breaks it apart into individual letters, and if used again turns the letters into vector outlines. On an object shape, it removes the shape wrapper and leaves the bare vectors on the stage. On a bitmap, it replaces the bitmap instance with a rectangular vector shape with a bitmap fill applied. This, unlike a bitmap instance, can be chopped up with any of the selection tools.

1 reply

C
ClayUUIDCorrect answer
Legend
June 12, 2017

The lasso tool cannot select bits and pieces of anything except bare vector shapes. Symbols, text, groups, bitmap instances, and shapes drawn in Object Drawing mode, it will only select the entire thing.

This is what the Break Apart (Ctrl-B) command is for. On a group, it ungroups. On text, it breaks it apart into individual letters, and if used again turns the letters into vector outlines. On an object shape, it removes the shape wrapper and leaves the bare vectors on the stage. On a bitmap, it replaces the bitmap instance with a rectangular vector shape with a bitmap fill applied. This, unlike a bitmap instance, can be chopped up with any of the selection tools.

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