Unable to select a region of a raster

Question

I've been tasked with generating some samples from a larger raster file to use as inputs to a computer model. Since we already have rasters prepared, the hope was that this would just be a matter of opening the file and selecting x by y pixels from the raster using something like the "Select Features" tool. However, none of the selection features are enabled in the menu (see below). How can I select an x by y portion of the raster (ideally in the UI) so that it can be exported to a new raster file?

Answer 1

Those select tools are for vector data. If you want to "cookie cut" out a portion of raster you need to use the Clip raster tool. Of course there is also a Clip vector tool so don't mix them up.

Answer 2

Create shapefiles of your sample areas and use them to clip the raster. Feed the output images to your model. Select features is for vector data and it doesn't work for raster.

Answer 3

The Select tools do not create new data i.e. a copy of a subset of the input data. To do that you can instead perform a clip.

To clip a raster use the Clip tool from the Raster toolset of the Data Management toolbox. That tool:

Cuts out a portion of a raster dataset, mosaic dataset, or image service layer.

and should not be confused with the Clip tool from the Extract toolset of the Analysis toolbox which:

Extracts input features that overlay the clip features.

The second tool clips vector data while the first clips raster data.