A Big Problem with Photoshop’s Magic Wand Tool

[@Crasterius]

Even an expert has doubts, but you always help us. Thank you.

[@pixeljammer]

It seems like there are a couple of things going on here. One is that Photoshop uses UnPremultiplied, or Straight alpha for making masks. And the other is that you're using a magic wand to select a single color on a transparent background. There is nothing to blend towards, as you would have if it was black-on-white., so of course you get a ragged edge. That's because you're not making a vector mask. If you turn off AA, and use Point Sample, then sampling from the vector or sampling from a vector merged with a solid makes identical masks.

[@timelapsebydk]

yeah the alpha is the problem, I think I have encountered this somewhere other than in photoshop

[@DE-signYourLife]

But the developer can fix that im sure

[@thirdsky]

Thank you for all your efforts! Your Videos are always so clean and have nothing distracting or confusing in them!

[@myronachtman4304]

Note that if you had started with a flattened image of the bird on a white background, and THEN used the Magic Wand tool (with its default settings), your mask would have been fine. So, the Magic Wand tool works as it was originally intended (and engineered) to work. It is NOT intended to work on layers with surrounding transparency. For layers with transparency, clicking on the layer thumbnail is the correct method.

[@JuniorDjjrMixMods]

I was waiting for you to talk about the method, when the image is black and white (without a transparent background, it took me a while to notice that the problem you mentioned is about images with a transparent background), you can create an empty mask, copy the layer image, Alt+Click on the mask, pastes the image, Alt+Click to return, and it will have a mask based on the black and white image of the logo, that is 100% non-destructible.

[@machtroua]

Thanks! I'm a bit surprised you didn't mention the CRTL+ALT+2 to select the B&W bird, which is a fast way to select these kind of element

[@bassemhosny2442]

What about feathering the selection?

[@Misutoslope]

It can help, that's essentially what selecting all layers is doing. Results can differ depending on the subject

[@manav.033]

It would make the sharp edges rounded, but maybe can give it a try

[@LasTCursE69]

I personally almost never found this a problem.. it does save a lot of time and gives me higher precision on isolating objects from the canvas, so it is a worthwhile trade..

[@25DeathsHead]

Thank you Mr.Curves!

[@DE-signYourLife]

Damn yes, he is!

[@fikarkars]

simple yet educating. thank you

[@johnmatchett3548]

You identify an ongoing issue with Magic Wand which has been mysteriously unchanged for 20+ years. Personally, I set up an Action on my F2 key years ago which I use regularly on any selection which is less than perfect. When the selection is active: Select > Contract 2, Select > Feather 2, Select > Invert, Delete > Delete. (Yes, surprisingly, the second Delete does improve the finish...). If you set this up as an Action it instantly smooths the edges. If you're using a layer mask you can make up a variant of this (Ctrl F2 on my workstations) that effectively does the same Action non-destructively: the last part of the Action becomes Select > Invert > Edit > Fill with black. Depending on your image size, you can do the same Action with just a 1-pixel contract/feather/delete effect for lower resolution images. Once you have it working the way you like it, just save it as a keyboard shortcut. Ideally, practice generating your clipping paths with the pen tool and a tablet where possible, then you will quickly have perfect edges in the first place! JM.

[@Knee_Boy64]

Your tutorials on Photoshop are incredible, Unmesh. Would you consider doing a series on Illustrator?

[@Fibrokot]

My favorite in all videos "Hold-Alt-key-or-option-key" )

[@kumada84]

"on the lefthand side"

[@kdee1428]

Instead of selecting multiple times untick "contagious" and select once it will select all the white or the color you selected at once 1:52

[@ahmedtalat33]

Thank you for all your efforts! Your Videos are always so clean and have nothing distracting or confusing in them! 7 رد

[@rafikhaizal]

The sample all layers trick makes sense since the antialiased pixels are semi-transparent and would include all things on all layers within the pixels' bounds

[@WaterShowsProd]

Exactly what I thought when he mentioned it. Sampling only the top layer was bounding pixels within that layer, regardless of transparency, while sampling all layers was looking at the colour values of those pixels and adjusting the strength of the mask accordingly.

[@seangray4512]

Should try the "select subject" option from the Contexual task bar for comparison as well?

[@parsashafiee3157]

If you selecting logos , use illustrator image trace

[@lakindudesilva7251]

Thankyou so much very helpful 😇❤️❤️

[@manav.033]

Only today I was working with a dog paw, it was in solid color and I had to remove the background, I used the tragic wand and ended up getting those jagged edges, I thought the image itself is having some issue and I had to use a different image instead.

[@ganesh1254]

I wish they fix the paint bucket tool too. It leaves edge around the fill as you know. Or atleast they could provide a option to expand the fill by some pixels. I wish the devs would atleast consider to fix it.

[@jeffreypostma6832]

Other software solved this problem long time ago, so PS developers just don't care about this problem.

[@mhtnk]

@@jeffreypostma6832 and gladly so, who uses paint bucket in 2024? do you ride horseback to work too?

[@ganesh1254]

@@mhtnk Paint bucket tool definitely has its uses in art and drawing. The main reason no one uses the paint bucket tool is due to the fact that it leaves an edge around the fill. Otherwise, paint bucket is better to fill shapes than to select the area and fill it manually.

[@JamesBrownPhotographics]

Thank you! Interesting how the Quick Selection tool doesn't have the same issues as the 'tragic wand' tool.

[@michaellaumusic]

Thanks, this is a great tip. Very annoying. Hey...can you do something on the Crop Tool? It's so confusing and in recent versions it doesn't work like it used to. I mean trying to crop just on side seems impossible.

[@beauhom]

As mentioned elsewhere, selections on transparent backgrounds are the culprit here. Making a mask from a merged copy (background colour of choice) is what I do.

[@FactoidFiesta]

Just apply a little blur to the mask then, apply level adjustment it will.fix this. I am already using this

[@oshomaigemoh4226]

Pls I have an issue. When I work on a design, save and export, the colour looks very different when sent to my phone. I don't know how to fix it. Please help. Thanks

[@TheTimeProphet]

You are a photoshop legend.

[@mohemmedilham3854]

Thats very informative ❤ 🙌

[@dianatwix5104]

Very helpful! Thanks!

[@PostColorGear]

A member of the Photoshop team at Adobe actually pointed this out? That's interesting

[@RickPMandel]

If it's a layer by itself, I don't bother with the mask. I just use the "Load Selection" option, and off you go. It seems much smoother than using a mask.

[@sumbodee3]

with all the wonderful selection tools I have no idea why you would want to use Magic Wand

[@jamesheller9185]

I think they didn't update the Magic Wand tool since decades Because computers were slow back then, people either worked with low resolution images most of the time to speed up the workflow and if they used higher res , photoshop automatically worked with lower res so the computer doesn't slow down too much or crash while selecting with the wand tool

[@godliker.]

Sometimes medain filter also works.

[@mhvaliant]

I use it Its Awesome 😊

[@alirax4058]

Thank you

[@photoshop.1993]

Thanks sir

[@rky10000]

Love you Bro

[@lana_talant]

Wow thanks a lot

[@aartimaurya4309]

Please someone help, I want a solution for rotating or transforming an object in nearest neighbour mode without disturbing the edges of the object. 😢

[@scatterbug]

I honestly can't remember the last time I used the Magic Wand, for this exact reason.

[@ayyaaayyaaa0707]

thank yoiu

[@alanm.6096]

Makes you wonder if the time-consuming pen tool would resolve the issue?

[@silkyvanillaskies]

Adobe needs to Fix that. ALSO, we want "SHAKE REDUCTION" back

[@mhtnk]

why are you lying and speaking for others? i dont want share reduction ever again, Adobe! even tho you never gonna see this comment. listen to me! not him

[@silkyvanillaskies]

@@mhtnk hahaha amator

[@rickgordon9289]

This definitely does not make all the sense.😉 Thanks for the video!

[@daedaluxe]

I've always just feathered the selection by 1px and then blacked the mask out 3-4 times.

[@flytetime7637]

Or use the Pen tool. It will take it longer but it'll be more accurate.

[@immortalii]

Thank you for this tip.

[@danielkitura]

Tragic wand, DAMN, that cracked me up 😂😂😂

[@durbek9811]

lekin men unchalik ham farqni ko'rmadim

[@mariosbar9892]

Isn't this since Photoshop 1?

[@SanjayKumar-qy5kl]

Nic sir ❤

[@Nahidul7612]

Big fiends ❤

[@erfanjamshidi6228]

3:35 "Just remeber to watch in 4k or 1080p so its visible to you" me watching in 240p 😐

[@ChrisKortjohn-w9z]

Photoshop can't distinguish just 50%. Gray from a 100% black Or white when you're using the magic wand tool. One tool on 1 tolerance and that's 1 out of 255. It can't figure it out for the life of it. It'll just randomly select little bits of NON DISTINCT yet uniform values everywhere and it's the reason why I don't always pay for photoshop. I mean, I usually would say it's because I don't have money in my account. But that's so stupid. 1 tolerance is the lowest you can go and it can't distinguish from 50% Gray if it's happening through any effect. or flat? And you still have sample all layers?😊 so it shouldn't matter? It'll still do it. Also, watch out for trees..

[@b.m.kamrulislam1054]

i like you

[@anhphan7855]

Man wake up and decide to bash Adobe Photoshop

[@glennfordsolinap8606]

yooooo, tragic wand??? 💀💀💀

[@MojrimMojrim-tl5ed]

انا عربي اول تعليق من عندي 😂

[@LargeSheesh]

:)

[@birilol]

Magic wand tool is utter trash

[@vnshinesolutions4907]

U r very slow 👎🏻

[@jared2000ad]

though your dealing wiht pixels so it will always be jaget its not a veture and pixels can only be so small?