thanks a lot guys, that is pretty much what I'm after.
just to clarify basically i'm looking to get a silhouette of a character for example for design purposes, so using the lasso like a brush in a way.
basically like the freeform pen but ideally I would want that to work with pixels rather than a shape. I see there is the option in the drop down menu but it is grayed out?
I tried using the tool in shape mode like you suggested with "combine shapes" option, so i dont end up with hundreds of layers. the problem is that the guidelines show up on top and I cant quite see what I'm painting below, if i hide them they re appear the next stroke. (and there would be way too many) is there a way to hide them for good?
the other thing i wanted to be able to switch background and foreground color on the fly with the default shortcut and carry on is this possible at all or i need to click on the fill menu everytime?
thanks a lot, and if anyone knows a way to achieve this functionality via script or any other way i would be interested to hear.