Seashore 1.9:
Toolbox Basics
Cheat Sheet 20091010

Seashore is a bitmap image editor. The program is open source. If the program is not coöperating, save your work and restart it.

Toolbox Panel

Options Panel

When you click on a tool, its options are displayed in the Options Panel (see below). To see different panels - go to Window - Utility Windows.

Options - change with each tool.
Brushes - used with paintbrush, eraser, clone and smudge. (Spacing affects paintbrush, eraser and clone.)
Textures - used with pencil, paintbrush and paint bucket.

Toolbox Panel (see below):

Some of the tools have the same shortcut key so pay attention when selecting a tool while using the program. (Click on the tool names and icons in the image below to jump to their explanations.)

1. Rectangular Select (M - same shortcut as Elliptical Select) - selects a rectangular part of a layer for copying, drawing, floating or cropping.

Options:

Corner Radius - will round the corners.
Aspect Ratio - forces an aspect ratio on your selection.
Mode - determines whether your selection will be a New Selection or whether your selection will Add to, Subtract from, Intersect or Inverse Intersect other selections.

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2. Elliptical Select (M - same shortcut as Rectangular Select) - selects an elliptical part of a layer for copying, drawing, floating or cropping.

Options:

Aspect Ratio - forces an aspect ratio on your selection.
Mode - determines whether your selection will be a New Selection or whether your selection will Add to, Subtract from, Intersect or Inverse Intersect other selections.

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3. Lasso (L - same shortcut as Polygon Lasso) - lets you trace around a selection. Click and hold at a start point and trace your selection until you want the end point to connect to the start point.

4. Polygon Lasso (L - same shortcut as Lasso) - lets you create a selection by playing connect-the-clicks with your mouse. Click a starting point and keep clicking until you want to click your starting point again. Your clicks define the selection outline.

5. Color Selection (W) - lets you select a single color or a group of similar colors.

6. Pencil (B - same shortcut as Paintbrush) - lets you draw blocks from 1-21 pixels in size. Use for editing pixels or drawing straight lines. (NO anti-aliasing, so the lines will be jagged unless your line is drawn straight and not curved.)

Use with:

Option - turns the Pencil into an eraser.
Shift - will connect a line between two Clicks.
Shift-Control - will draw smooth straight lines or 45º lines.

Options:

Pencil size

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7. Paintbrush (B - same as shortcut Pencil) - lets you draw various brush strokes.

Use with:

Option - turns the Paintbrush into an eraser.
Shift - will connect a line between two Clicks.
Shift-Control - will draw smooth and straight vertical lines, horizontal lines or 45º lines.

Options:

Fade-out - brush stroke will fade depending on setting.
Pressure sensitive - for graphics tablet/stylus pen use (instead of a mouse).
Brush scaling - stroke size and opacity diminish depending on setting.

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NOTE: Look funky? Try un-checking Faster drawing (mouse coalescing) in Preferences.

8. Paint Bucket (G - same shortcut as Gradient) - lets you dump a color into an area. Use with:

Option - floods entire space.
Shift - previews the flood.

Options:

Tolerance - determines which pixels (i.e. area) will be flooded.

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9. Text (T) - lets you add text. Add text on a separate layer and you’ll be happier.

10. Eraser (E) - lets you erase pixels using the different Brushes.

Use with:

Shift - will connect a line between two Clicks.
Shift-Control - will draw smooth and straight vertical lines, horizontal lines or 45º lines every time you click.

Options:

Opacity
Mimic paintbrush fading

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11. Color Sampling (I) - lets you set the foreground color by clicking a color on a layer.

Use with:

Option - sets background color

Options:

Sample size
Use sample from all layers - check if you want the color sampled from all layers combined.

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12. Gradient (G - same shortcut as Paint Bucket) - lets you create a gradual shift in color (foreground to background) by clicking and dragging.

Use with:

Control - will draw straight vertical lines, horizontal lines or 45º lines.

Options:

Gradient style
Repeating pattern

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13. Smudge (O) - lets you smudge part of a layer by clicking and dragging.

Options:

Rate - the higher the rate the bigger the smudge

14. Clone (S) - lets you duplicate an area using the different brushes that you have Shift-Clicked as the source (any layer can contain your source; use different Brushes for size).

Options:

Source
Use sample from all layers - check if you want your source sampled from all layers combined.

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15. Zoom (Z) - click to zoom in closer.

Use with:

Option - to zoom away

Options:

Zoom: percentage level of zoom

16. Position (V) - lets you re-position a selection, a layer or linked layers (use the chain icon next to the eye icon for linking).

Use with:

Shift - to scale a layer or floating section to make it larger or smaller
Control - to rotate a floating section

(See Seashore 1.9: Float, Scale and Rotate Cheat Sheet 20091007)

Options:

Do not anchor floating section - keeps a floating section floating.

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17. Foreground and Background Colors - Click on either of them and the color picker window will open. Opacity is set in that window.

Any questions?

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