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Fills and strokes

Last updated on 13 January 2022

Use the Paint Bucket tool

The Paint Bucket tool fills an area, that is similar in color value to the pixels you click. You can fill an area with the foreground color or a pattern.

Choose a foreground color.
Select the Paint Bucket tool in the toolbox.
Set options in the Tool Options bar, as desired, and then click the part of the image you want to fill.

Note:

If you don’t want to fill transparent areas in a layer, you can lock the layer’s transparency in the Layers panel.

You can specify any of the following Paint Bucket tool options:

Paint / Pattern

Sets a foreground color (Paint) or a pattern design (Pattern) to use as the fill.

Opacity

Sets the opacity of the paint you apply. A low opacity setting allows pixels under a paint stroke to show through. Drag the slider or enter an opacity value.

Tolerance

Defines how similar in color filled pixels must be. A low tolerance fills pixels with color values very similar to the pixel you click. A high tolerance fills pixels that have a broader range of colors.

Mode

Specifies how the paint that you apply blends with the existing pixels in the image.

All Layers

Fills similar pixels on any visible layer that are within the levels set by the Tolerance and Contiguous options.

Contiguous

Fills similarly colored pixels that are next to each other. Deselect this option to fill all similar pixels in the image, including those that aren’t touching. The Tolerance option defines how similar the colors must be.

Anti‑aliasing

Smoothes the edges of the filled selection.

Fill a layer with a color or pattern

You can use a fill layer to apply a fill or a pattern to your image, instead of using one of the brush tools. The fill layer gives you the added flexibility of changing the fill and pattern properties and editing the fill layer’s mask to limit the gradient to a portion of your image.

Specify a foreground or background color.
Select the area you want to fill. To fill an entire layer, select the layer in the Layers panel.
Choose Edit > Fill Layer, or Edit > Fill Selection .
Set options in the Fill dialog box, and then click OK.

Contents

Choose a color from the Use menu. To select a different color, choose Color, and then select a color from the Color Picker. Choose Pattern to fill with a pattern.

Custom Pattern

Specifies the pattern to use if you choose Pattern from the Use menu. You can use patterns from the pattern libraries or create your own patterns.

Mode

Specifies how the color pattern that you apply blends with the existing pixels in the image.

Opacity

Sets the opacity of the color pattern to apply.

Preserve Transparency

Fills only opaque pixels.

Stroke (outline) objects on a layer

You can use the Stroke command to automatically trace a colored outline around a selection or the content of a layer.

Note:

To add an outline to the background, you must first convert it to a regular layer. The background contains no transparent pixels, so the entire layer is outlined.

Select the area in the image or a layer in the Layers panel.
Choose Edit > Stroke (Outline) Selection.
In the Stroke dialog box, set any of the following options, and then click OK to add the outline:

Width

Specifies the width of the hard-edged outline. Values can range from 1 to 250 pixels.

Color

Sets the color of the outline. Click the color swatch to select a color in the Color Picker.

Location

Specifies whether to place the outline inside, outside, or centered over the selection or layer boundaries.

Mode

Specifies how the paint that you apply blends with the existing pixels in the image.

Opacity

Sets the opacity of the paint you apply. Enter an opacity value or click on the arrow and drag the slider.

Preserve Transparency

Strokes only areas containing opaque pixels on a layer. If your image has no transparency, this option isn’t available.

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