Photo Clone Tool

This is a tool (on the Photo Tool fly-out) that rapidly and effectively erases objects from images. The Clone Tool allows you to either copy or 'clone' parts of a photo and replace the unwanted objects with the cloned area, effectively erasing the objects.

You can either automatically clone parts of the same photo (by allowing Designer Pro+ to choose the most suitable area of the photo to clone) or manually (by choosing the area from the same or another photo yourself).

In the Clone Tool draw a freehand line around the area you want to erase, which is shown as a 'marching ants' dotted outline surrounded by 8 resize handles.
To automatically clone an area of the same photo to replace this selected area (or 'clone area'), click the Magic erase button in the Clone Tool InfoBar.
Designer Pro+ replaces the clone area with another part of the photo. Drag on the resize handles to increase or decrease the area you want to replace. If you move the mouse pointer over the clone area, the Clone Tool displays an 'M', indicating that you have used Magic erase (which disables the ability to drag on the clone area to choose another portion of photo – see step 5).
If you don't like this replacement, just click the Magic erase button again to see another replacement. You click the Undo button in the standard toolbar (or press "Ctrl + Z") to go back to the replacement you prefer.
To manually clone an area of the same or another photo, in step 2 drag anywhere on the photo outside the clone area to pick the new source for the clone area, which updates to display the portion of the photo you have just dragged on. You can also now drag within the clone area to pick a new part of the photo.

To accept the changes, click anywhere outside the photo in the Clone Tool or select another tool.

Note that as you apply more clones, the new clones are made using the final image that you see on the page, not from the original image. This means once you erase a feature from your photo it won't re-appear in subsequently created clone shapes.

Clone Tool Infobar

	Outlines on or off With outlines on all clone shapes on the selected photo are shown with a dotted outline. The current or selected clone shape is shown with an animated 'marching ants' outline, resize handles and an arrow pointing from the source point.
	Size slider This allows the clone shape to be enlarged or reduced. This is particularly useful if you use a larger feather value (which blends the edge of the clone shape inwards) in that you can compensate by enlarging the clone shape.
	Freehand Smoothing After you've drawn your freehand clone shape, you can adjust the smoothness of the line. This is exactly equivalent to the Freehand tool smoothness control. This is only active immediately after you've drawn the clone shape. If you edit the clone outline using the other tools such as the Shape Editor, this control become disabled.
	Magic Erase Click this button to allow Designer Pro+ to automatically select areas of the same photo to copy and clone into the clone shape. Continue to click to view all other possible automatic replacements.
	Feather Control This pop-up slider adjust the blending of the edges of the selected clone shape. It replicates the main feather tool.

Clone Tool Operation Summary

To erase a part of a photo, select the Clone Tool and draw around the area you want to erase. Then either:

Click the Magic erase button in the Clone Tool InfoBar to allow Designer Pro+ to automatically select areas of the same photo to clone into the clone shape.

Drag outside this area on the same or another photo to set the source point for the copy.

You can switch on or off visible outlines for the clone shapes with this icon on the Clone Tool InfoBar.

You can adjust the feather of the clone shape using the InfoBar's feather control slider and the size of the clone shape by dragging on one of the resize handles.
A click on a clone shape will select it. The selected clone shape is shown with an animated dotted outline (assuming outlines are on using the above control), 8 resize handles and an arrow indicating the source point of the cloned area (if you chose it manually rather than clicking Magic erase). .
You can push the contents of the selected clone by dragging on the clone shape (if you selected the copied/cloned area manually). This is an alternative method of adjusting the fill position or fill source point for manual cloning.
When setting the source point of a clone shape manually, if you drag over another the photo you can copy regions of one photo onto another.
Dragging on the 8 resize handles around the shape will enlarge or reduce the clone shape size
Dragging the feather slider control on the InfoBar, or the main feather control on the top bar, will adjust the edge blend.
You can delete a clone shape by selecting it and pressing the Delete key
The clone copy will always be made from the image you see on the page, including all previously applied clones and other edits already made to the image.
Clicking on the background photo will de-select all clone shapes so allowing you to draw a new clone shape if required.
Clone shapes are normal vector editable shapes, and once selected you can switch into any of the normal line or shape editing tool to make further adjustments of the outline.
A photo with clone edits, is stored as a new 'Photo Group' structure. This acts like a normal photo for many purposes (you can resize it, rotate it, enhance it etc, and it will act as a single photo object). But using 'select inside' (Ctrl+click) or using the Page & Layer Gallery to view the group structure, you can select and edit the individual clone objects within the Photo Group.