Converting masking selections into polygons enables you to quickly create detailed, adjustable selection boundaries in Exposure.
Photo: Michael Gillman
Transcript
Converting Selections
The polygon tool is a great option for any selections you make, because it can easily be refined at any time. Other tools are faster in certain scenarios, such as selecting an object with a complex outline. However, the other tools don’t have the same level of refinement Polygons do once the selection is made. Converting the selection into a Polygon essentially gives you the best of both worlds.
Marker Selections
An example workflow is when the subject has a detailed outline with defined boundaries. Use a Border marker to tell Exposure where to search for edges of the object, and then place an Add Marker on the object. Place more Add markers, or Exclude markers to refine the selection boundaries like usual.
With the selection complete, select the Actions menu and choose Convert to Polygon. Notice all of the markers you used to create the selection have been merged into one detailed polygon. It can be refined by moving or removing points, changing the edge options, and more.
Polygon Selections
Selections made with the Polygon tool can also benefit from being converted into a Polygon. If you use the Polygon tool in freehand mode, by holding Alt, this does not place points along the edge. If you want to go back and adjust the freehand line, you can add points along the line and move them, or a much faster way is to convert the whole thing into another Polygon. This adds loads of vertices that you can control to make sure the selection is just right.
Lasso Selections
The Lasso tool converts into a polygon when you create the selection. You may also need to add markers to clean up edges where the lasso selected too much or too little. Once the selection is refined, you can convert that into a Polygon. This will condense all of the active selection tools into a single Polygon that’s easy to revisit and adjust if needed.
As you can see, converting selections into Polygons is a great way to take command over masking in Exposure.
