The Lasso Tool allows us to select content by “drawing” around objects. This can be very useful if you want to manipulate only part of your drawing. By using the Lasso Tool, you can simply select what you want. You can also select symbols with the Lasso Tool.

To begin this tutorial, let’s select the Oval Tool and draw a circle. Once you have done this, select the Lasso Tool and draw a circle around your circle. Once you let go, you will notice the entire circle is now selected.

With the lasso tool you can select entire drawings or multiple drawings with ease.

With this, you can now change the color of the line and fill with one click, move the circle around, or resize it (to learn how to do this, please refer back to the Selection Tool and Free Transform Tool tutorials). We can also select just bits or pieces of objects too. With the Lasso Tool, draw a box from the outer left edge to the enter of the circle. You will notice that only half about half the circle is selected now. Go to the colors box (located just below the Tool bar) and select different colors for the fill and line. Now half of your circle has been modified (for more advanced options in line and colors, refer back to the Line Tool and Color Gradient Transform Tool tutorials).

With half the circle selected, we can edit just half of it.

There are other ways the Lasso Tool can be used too. With the Lasso Tool selected, take notice of the Options box below the Tools bar. You’ll see three icons, two of which look like wands and another that looks like a variation of the lasso.

The options for the Lasso Tool.

The Magic Wand tool (the first one) allows you to select specific parts of a broken bitmap. I will cover this subject in detail in a later, more advanced tutorial. Other than that, it works just like the regular Lasso Tool. The second button allows you to adjust the Magic Wand settings when selecting these bitmaps. The bottom button works like the regular Lasso Tool, with the exception that it uses straight lines to select as opposed to having to draw out the selection. This comes in handy if you want to have straight edges when selecting things (like for instance if you want a straight line going doing that circle we just did).

More tutorials coming at you soon!

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