The polygonal lasso issues are incredibly problematic and need to be addressed

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
December 16, 2019
5 replies
1351 views

I am losing hours of work daily due to the polygonal lasso tool constantly freezing Photoshop to an unrecoverable state. In a production settings this is extraordinarily bad for one of the most basic tools. Is there any ETA on getting this problem fixed? Simple cutout masking is basic functionality and should not be a consistently app-breaking process. Feels like this has been a problem for months.

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Correct answer Conrad_C

If there is a problem with the polygonal lasso tool, it might not be affecting the majority of users because it isn't widely reported. Because it is not widely reported, there is no quick answer. However, some users have reported it on the Photoshop Feedback site, and you should add your vote and your system details to that page:

Photoshop: Polygonal Lasso Tool Freezing

You'll want to post more details there about the system you use, to help them narrow it down. For example, the page above has reports of polygonal lasso crashes from users on Windows 10, using Wacom tablets, etc. That would help Adobe figure out if the problem you have is related to the other reports, or if your problem has different causes.

The reason you should add your report there rather than here, is that this Adobe Community forum is mostly just user-to-user discussions. On the Photoshop Feedback forum, specific issues can be voted on so Adobe can get a sense of how widespread the problem is, and actual Adobe tech staff are known to enter the discussions there. If a problem is resolved, Adobe staff typically post there to let you know which version fixed it.

However, in the end I think Barb Binder gave very good advice: In a production environment where you need speed and especially precision, polygonal selections are typically faster to make by clicking straight path segments with the Pen tool, and then converting to a selection. It's much easier and faster to precisely correct mistakes on a path than on a selection, and much harder to accidentally "drop" a selection.

sharp_hands16B8

Community Expert

I never, in all the years it's been part of Photoshop, had an issue of it freezing or even chugging when working. What are some of the specs/conditions in which this is showing as an issue?

Super large files?

Complex selections?
Lots of layers?

Is the issue replicable? Does it do this regardless of the image file? Like, can you create a new document 500px by 500px and start drawing around and it crashes or lags? If your machine is older, is it trying to use the GPU in preferences and that causes the issue? If you change scratch disk settings does it have any impact?

davescm

Community Expert

I rarely use that tool as I can achieve everything it does, and more, with the pen tool. However , after seeing your issue, I've been trying to make it fail and cannot replicate any issue using v21.0.2 on Windows 10.

You gave no system details, can you go to Help > System Info and press Copy. Then paste the info here.

Dave

Conrad_C

Correct answer

Community Expert

If there is a problem with the polygonal lasso tool, it might not be affecting the majority of users because it isn't widely reported. Because it is not widely reported, there is no quick answer. However, some users have reported it on the Photoshop Feedback site, and you should add your vote and your system details to that page:

Photoshop: Polygonal Lasso Tool Freezing

You'll want to post more details there about the system you use, to help them narrow it down. For example, the page above has reports of polygonal lasso crashes from users on Windows 10, using Wacom tablets, etc. That would help Adobe figure out if the problem you have is related to the other reports, or if your problem has different causes.

The reason you should add your report there rather than here, is that this Adobe Community forum is mostly just user-to-user discussions. On the Photoshop Feedback forum, specific issues can be voted on so Adobe can get a sense of how widespread the problem is, and actual Adobe tech staff are known to enter the discussions there. If a problem is resolved, Adobe staff typically post there to let you know which version fixed it.

However, in the end I think Barb Binder gave very good advice: In a production environment where you need speed and especially precision, polygonal selections are typically faster to make by clicking straight path segments with the Pen tool, and then converting to a selection. It's much easier and faster to precisely correct mistakes on a path than on a selection, and much harder to accidentally "drop" a selection.

jaker10241035Author

Participant

I'm aware of other selection methods - that's not really relevant to the problem I'm highlighting: that basic functionality of the Polygonal lasso is causing freezes. I will take it elsewhere as advised.

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Hi Jake:

The reason we use the Polygonal Lasso is to make straight-line selections. Another way to accomplish the same task (and the bonus is that you can easily edit it with the Direct Selection Tool) is to draw the path with the Pen tool and then convert the path to a selection. In the example below, after converting to a selection, I convert it back to a path, edit the path, and reconvert to a selection again. Once you have a selection, it's on to your normal masking workflow.