Using the Heal and Clone Tools

You can use the Repair Tool to remove flaws, such as:

• Skin blemishes
• Telephone wires and other unwanted objects
• Flash flares from snowflakes or windows
• Lens scratches and water drops
• Shadows cast on the sensor by dust

There are two options available for the Repair Tool: the Healing Brush and the Cloning Brush.

When you select the Healing Brush, it copies pixels from one area of a photo to another, but it analyzes the pixels in the source area before copying them. It also analyzes the pixels in the target area, and then blends the pixels of both source and target, to match the surrounding area. This ensures that the lighting and color of the replacement pixels integrate with the surrounding area. The Healing Brush works particularly well with photos that involve complicated textures like skin or fur.

When you select the Cloning Brush, the tool copies the exact pixels from one area of a photo to another, creating an identical image area. The Cloning Brush is more effective for photos that have strong, simple textures or uniform colors, as it is more difficult to identify the copied pixels in the finished photo.

You can save your settings as a preset for future use.

To achieve the best results, perform any geometric operations on your image before using the Healing Brush.

To Remove Flaws from a Photo:

1. In Develop mode, on the Repair tab, in the Repair group, select one of the following:
   
   • Heal: copies the pixels from the source area to the target area, and blends pixels into the surrounding image area.
     
   • Clone: copies the pixels from the source area to the target area.
2. Drag the Nib Width and Feathering sliders as described in the table below.
3. Right-click or control-click the image to set a source location. Pixels will be copied from this location and used in the target location.
   
4. Click and drag over the area that you want to cover. If you selected the healing brush, ACDSee Photo Studio 11 analyzes and replaces the pixels when you release the mouse button. If you selected the blended clone tool, ACDSee Photo Studio 11 analyzes, replaces, and blends the pixels when you release the mouse button.
5. Do one of the following:
   • Click Save As to save your changes as a new file.
   • Click Done to apply your changes and close the tool.
   • Click Cancel to discard all changes and close the tool.

Scroll with your mouse to adjust the brush size as you work, or press the Shift key while you scroll to adjust feathering.

Hold Command while using the brush tool to activate the pan feature.

For the most accurate preview, zoom your image to 100% while healing or cloning.

Red Eye Reduction and selective adjustments, such as the Develop Brush and gradients, are the only adjustments that cannot be healed or cloned.

Repair Tool Options

Nib Width	Sets the width of the brush. The maximum brush width is relative to the size of your image.
Feathering	Sets the amount to feather on the edge of the brush to prevent sharp transitions between the original and healed part of the photo. Feathering is set as a percentage of the nib width, not as a specific number of pixels. This means that you do not have to adjust the feathering when you reset the Nib Width, as it automatically adjusts to a percentage of the new nib width.

To apply your last used Develop settings to images on the fly, control–click one or more thumbnails and select Develop | Apply Last Used. You can also apply any saved develop settings by selecting Develop and clicking a saved preset.