Select > Modify > Contract

[markwill_2112]

No matter what I do, I cannot seem to get Select > Modify > Contract to work. I am trying to contract a gradient fill. I have searched on google and fund several people experiencing similar problems. The contract option remains greyed out. Am I doing soemthing wrong or is it a problem with Photoshop?

[Guest]

That command only applies to Selections.

If there is no active selection it will not work.

[markwill_2112]

I have tried e.g. select all. That activates select and modify, but not contract - that is still greyed out.

[Guest]

It won't do it on Select All – only on a discrete selection outline.

What are you trying to contract? Post an image here so we can see.

[markwill_2112]

I was having a go at this tutorial:

http://www.avivadirectory.com/photoshop/professional-dark-web-button/

[Guest]

Hmm!

IMHO that is not a very well written tutorial and he lost me completely at:

4. Make a gradient just over the middle of the button and go to Select/Modify/Contract and put 1px, then create a New Layer and fill it with any color, press Ctrl + D and change the fill to 0%

There are lots of ready made button styles in Photoshop already and, if you want to make your own, there are simpler methods and better tutorials.

[Noel Carboni]

Adobe changed the way Select - Modify works.

In older versions of Photoshop, you could Select-All, then Select-Modify-Contract.  This would give you a selection of nearly all the image, with some pixels around the edge not selected.

Adobe eliminated that possibility at the same time Select - Modify - Border was introduced.

The good news is that you can get there from here by doing something like this:

1.  Select - All.

2.  Select - Modify - Border, choose twice the number of pixels you would have used for Contract.

3.  Select - Inverse.

I used to use Select-All then Select-Modify-Contract all the time.  I don't know why they changed it, but doubtless someone thought they had a good reason.

-Noel

[Semaphoric]

Note that the tutorial does not use Select All - just a selection in the middle of the image.

Withe CS4, Adobe inexplicably changed the behavior of selections that touch the document bounds.There is a work-around for this: With your selection active, enter Quick Mask mode, and Select > Load Selection, using the Quick Mask channel. If the selection is from Select All, you can just Select All again.

Edit > Stroke, using 'Inside' and the amount you wish to contract by for the width. The color needed for the stroke depends on if you have Quick Mask set for "Indicates masked area" or "Indicates selection". Deselect, and return to Standard Mode. The selection will now be contracted.

Noel: It was probably the same person who thought the tabbed workspace was a good idea.

[Guest]

This script also works for contracting selections that touch the edge of the canvas.

http://morris-photographics.com/photoshop/scripts/contract-selection.html

MTSTUNER