Trying to flip selection on GIMP

Question

I am having trouble flipping a selection on GIMP. I use the lasso tool to select the part of the image I want to select. I then click tools > transform tools > flip but only the outline of my selection is flipped not the contents itself! How do I fix this?

Answer 1

There are many ways to do this in GIMP. Here are two methods:

Option 1

Make your selection, switch to the Flip tool Shift+F in the toolbox, click inside your selection with the tool to flip horizontally or hold down Ctrl before you click to flip vertically.

This will cut it from the existing layer (leaving a hole), and turn it into a floating selection. From here you can either hit the anchor button (in the layers panel) to anchor it to the existing layer, or hit the new layer button (in the layers panel) to promote it to a new layer.

Option 2

Make a selection. Ctrl+C to copy it, and do Edit > Paste as > New Layer. Then do Layer > Transform > Flip vertical/horizontal

This is probably the best way if you don't want to leave a hole in the original layer, or mess around with the anchor/new layer buttons.

Answer 2

If only the selection outline is flipped it is probably because you are in Transform: Selection mode and not in Transform: Layer.

Note that when you use Transform: Layer and there is a selection, the transformed part of the layer is made a "Floating selection"and should be either anchored back in the source layer [Ctrl-H] or made a new layer of its own [Ctrl-Shift-N].