How to: Edit an Image

You can use selection tools to define an area of an image that you want to cut, copy, clear, resize, invert, or move. With the Rectangle Selection tool you can define and select a rectangular region of the image. With the Irregular Selection tool you can draw a freehand outline of the area you want to select for the cut, copy, or other operation.

You can also create a custom brush from a selection. For more information, see Creating a Custom Brush.

How To

To edit an image, see how:

To select an image

1. Use the Image Editor toolbar or go to menu Image > Tools and choose the selection tool you want.

2. Move the insertion point to one corner of the image area that you want to select. Cross hairs appear when the insertion point is over the image.

3. Drag the insertion point to the opposite corner of the area you want to select. A rectangle shows which pixels will be selected. All pixels within the rectangle, including those under the rectangle, are included in the selection.

4. Release the mouse button. The selection border encloses the selected area.

To select an entire image

Select the image outside of the current selection. The selection border changes focus and encompasses the whole image once again.

To edit parts of an image

You can perform standard editing operations — cutting, copying, clearing, and moving — on a selection, whether the selection is the entire image or just a part of it. Because the Image Editor uses the Windows Clipboard, you can transfer images between the Image Editor and other applications for Windows.

In addition, you can resize the selection, whether it includes the entire image or just a part.

To cut the current selection and move it to the clipboard

Go to menu Edit > Cut.

To copy the selection

1. Position the pointer inside the selection border or anywhere on it except the sizing handles.

2. Hold down the Ctrl key as you drag the selection to a new location. The area of the original selection is unchanged.

3. To copy the selection into the image at its current location, select outside the selection cursor.

To paste the clipboard contents into an image

1. Go to menu Edit > Paste.

   The clipboard contents, surrounded by the selection border, appear in the upper-left corner of the pane.

2. Position the pointer within the selection border and drag the image to the desired location on the image.

3. To anchor the image at its new location, select outside of the selection border.

To delete the current selection without moving it to the clipboard

Go to menu Edit > Delete.

The original area of the selection is filled with the current background color.

To move the selection

1. Position the pointer inside the selection border or anywhere on it except the sizing handles.

2. Drag the selection to its new location.

3. To anchor the selection in the image at its new location, select outside the selection border.

For more information on drawing with a selection, see Creating a Custom Brush.

To flip an image

You can flip or rotate an image to either create a mirror image of the original, turn the image upside down, or rotate the image to the right 90 degrees at a time.

• To flip the image horizontally (mirror image), go to menu Image > Flip Horizontal.

• To flip the image vertically (turn upside down), go to menu Image > Flip Vertical.

• To rotate the image 90 degrees, go to menu Image > Rotate 90 Degrees.

  Note

  You can also use the accelerator (shortcut) keys for these commands or access the commands from the shortcut menu (select outside the image while in the Image Editor).

To resize an image

The behavior of the Image Editor while resizing an image depends on whether you've selected the entire image or just part of it.

When the selection includes only part of the image, the Image Editor shrinks the selection by deleting rows or columns of pixels and filling the vacated regions with the current background color. It can also stretch the selection by duplicating rows or columns of pixels.

When the selection includes the entire image, the Image Editor either shrinks and stretches the image, or crops and extends it.

There are two mechanisms for resizing an image: the sizing handles and the Properties window. You drag the sizing handles to change the size of all or part of an image. Sizing handles that you can drag are solid. You can't drag handles that are hollow. Use the Properties window to resize the entire image only, not a selected part.

Sizing handles

To resize an entire image using the properties window

1. Open the image whose properties you want to change.

2. In the Width and Height boxes in the Properties window, type the dimensions that you want.

   If you're increasing the size of the image, the Image Editor extends the image to the right, downward, or both, and fills the new region with the current background color. The image isn't stretched.

   If you shorten the size of the image, the Image Editor crops the image on the right or bottom edge, or both.

   Note

   You can use the Width and Height properties to resize only the entire image, not to resize a partial selection.

To crop or extend an entire image

1. Select the entire image.

   If part of the image is currently selected, and you want to select the entire image, select anywhere on the image outside the current selection border.

2. Drag a sizing handle until the image is the right size.

Normally, the Image Editor crops or enlarges an image when you resize it by moving a sizing handle. If you hold down the Shift key as you move a sizing handle, the Image Editor shrinks or stretches the image.

To shrink or stretch an entire image

1. Select the entire image.

   If a part of the image is currently selected and you want to select the entire image, select anywhere on the image outside the current selection border.

2. Hold down the Shift key and drag a sizing handle until the image is the right size.

To shrink or stretch part of an image

1. Select the part of the image you want to resize. For more information, see Selecting an Area of the Image.

2. Drag one of the sizing handles until the selection is the right size.

To edit an image outside of a project

You can open and edit images in the development environment just as you would in any graphics application, for example opening a bitmap for stand-alone editing. The images you work with need not be part of a Visual Studio project.

1. Go to menu File > Open.

2. In the Files of Type box, select All Files.

3. Locate and open the image you want to edit.

To change image properties

You can set or modify properties of an image using the Properties window.

1. Open the image in the Image Editor.

2. In the Properties window, change any or all properties for your image.

   Property	Description
   Colors	Specifies the color scheme for the image. Select Monochrome, 16, or 256, or True Color. If you've already drawn the image with a 16-color palette, selecting Monochrome causes substitutions of black and white for the colors in the image. Contrast is not always maintained: for example, adjacent areas of red and green are both converted to black.
   Filename	Specifies the name of the image file. By default, Visual Studio assigns a base filename created by removing the first four characters ("IDB_") from the default resource identifier (IDB_BITMAP1) and adding the appropriate extension. The file name for the image in this example would be BITMAP1.bmp. You could rename it MYBITMAP1.bmp.
   Height	Sets the height of the image (in pixels). The default value is 48. The image is cropped or blank space is added below the existing image.
   ID	Sets the resource's identifier. For an image, Microsoft Visual Studio, by default, assigns the next available identifier in a series: IDB_BITMAP1, IDB_BITMAP2, and so forth. Similar names are used for icons and cursors.
   Palette	Changes color properties. Double-click to select a color and display the Custom Color Selector dialog box. Define the color by typing RGB or HSL values in the appropriate text boxes.
   SaveCompressed	Indicates whether the image is in a compressed format. This property is read-only. Visual Studio doesn't allow you to save images in a compressed format, so for any images created in Visual Studio, this property will be False. If you open a compressed image (created in another program) in Visual Studio, this property will be True. If you save a compressed image using Visual Studio, it will be uncompressed and this property will revert back to False.
   Width	Sets the width of the image (in pixels). The default value for bitmaps is 48. The image is cropped or blank space is added to the right of the existing image.

Requirements

None

See also

Image Editor for Icons
How to: Create an Icon or Other Image
How to: Use a Drawing Tool
How to: Work with Color
Accelerator Keys