Page 361 - Xara Designer Pro X17

Photo Handling 361

Cropping photos

The easiest way to crop a photo is to just drag on one of the smart photo
adjustment handles (on page 370) which appear when you select a photo using
the Photo tool or the Selector Tool. Simply hover over one of the handles to see a
function information flag.
For more advanced cropping control, select the CLIP BUTTON on the PHOTO TOOL
flyout bar which provides aspect ratio control and precise numeric clipping control.

This also provides an Un-clip button that will remove any clip rectangle and restore the
original image.

One important feature is that this crop feature is really a dynamic clip, in other words it's
a non-destructive crop, and you can adjust the crop boundary afterwards to reveal
hidden parts of the photo. If you want to really crop - i.e. make this a destructive crop,
that really removes the invisible parts of an image then use the Optimize Photo feature.

Cropping photos with the Eraser Tool
The ERASER TOOL (on page 420) lets you crop a photo by dragging a nib over it. If you do
this with the softness setting set to 0 (hard erase), the crop is permanent, just as when
using the clip tool discussed above. Although you can put back erased parts of the image
using the SHAPE PAINTER TOOL (on page 159).

If you use a soft nib with the erase tool you get soft edges wherever you erase.

Technical note: This is achieved by applying an Opacity Mask to the image – see the
Transparency Tool Chapter for information on Opacity Masks.

Cropping photos with a mask
If you want to make non-rectangular photo shapes or cut pieces out of a photo, use a
mask. First select the photo and then choose the MASK PAINTER TOOL from the Mask
tools flyout bar.

Use the MASK PAINTER TOOL to paint around the section of photo you wish to crop.

Switch to the SELECTOR TOOL and select the photo underneath the mask, or clear the
selection (press "Esc"). Now if you copy ("Ctrl + C") you will copy just the unmasked part
of the photo to the paste buffer. Hit "Delete" and you'll delete the unmasked part. Or
press "Ctrl + X" to cut it. You can also use the mask to apply "ARRANGE" > "COMBINE"
shapes operations with it.

See the Photo Regions and Masks chapter for more information on using masks.