How to copy a selection from one image to another image in GIMP?

Question

Recently I switched from Photoshop to GIMP. I want to copy a selection from one image to another, so that I can fill that selection with color in another image and I can get the shape without recreating it manually. In Photoshop we can copy the layer style, but I can't find that in GIMP. Can anyone help?

Solution 1

It is really as easy as copying the quick mask (the image representation of your selection):

1. Enable quick mask for the image with the selection (Shift+Q or Select → Toggle QuickMask)
2. The quick mask appears as a channel called "Quick Mask" in the Channels dialog
3. Select it and copy to clipboard (Ctrl+C)
4. Enable quick mask for the image that has no selection yet (Shift+Q)
5. Select it in the Channels dialog and paste from clipboard (Ctrl+V)
6. Disable quick mask (Shift+Q) to see the selection as dotted lines.

Most other solutions did not really work for me.

Solution 2

From the first image save the selection into a new channel, copy the content of the channel to the clipboard and then paste it into a fresh channel of the other image. Step by step...

1. Make a new empty channel in the new image.

2. Open the mask channel of the other image where you have saved the selection into a mask channel,

3. Copy the whole thing to the clipboard (Select All then select Copy -> Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C).

4. Go back to the (empty) channel of the new image

5. Paste the clipboard data in this channel (Paste -> Ctrl-V).

6. Select the image data (RGB) and load the channel data as a selection and whola.

Comments

[Admin]

after saving the selection to new channel how can i paste the selection to new image that is another image?

[qubodup]

Thank you, this guide is actually usable by somebody who knows nothing about channels in GIMP (me).

[MERose]

How do I get to the "Channels dialog"? I'm on GIMP 2.10.20.

[felwithe]

It should be noted that this does not produce the selection until after the final step, when you press SHIFT+Q to turn quick masking back off. (I expected it to appear before that step because I assumed that step was ending the tutorial.)