Drawing Tools
Every drawing tool is reachable from the Add (+) menu in the toolbar. Pick a tool, draw on the canvas, and the tool stays active until you switch away or press Esc.
Shapes
Add ▸ Shapes offers eight shapes:
| Shape | Notes |
|---|---|
| Rectangle | |
| Rounded Rectangle | Corner radius is adjustable |
| Ellipse | |
| Line | Drawn with the line tool; see below |
| Arrow | Drawn with the line tool; has an arrowhead at the end |
| Triangle | |
| Star | Inner radius is adjustable |
| Polygon | Vertex count is adjustable |
Drag on the canvas to draw. Hold ⇧ while dragging to constrain the proportions — a square instead of a rectangle, a circle instead of an ellipse — and to snap the line and arrow tools to 15° increments.
Shape options
While a shape is selected — or while the shape tool is active — the inspector's Shape section exposes the parameters that apply to it:
- Corner radius for rounded rectangles
- Vertex count for polygons, from 3 to 64
- Star inner radius for stars, from 0 (spikes) to 1 (a regular polygon)
Lines and arrows
Lines and arrows are drawn the same way — drag from the start point to the end point. An arrow is a line whose end has an arrowhead; you can change the arrowheads on any line afterwards in the Stroke section, so the two tools differ only in what they set up for you.
Pencil
The Pencil draws a freehand curve: drag and the path follows your pointer. The result is a normal path, so you can edit its vertices afterwards by double-clicking it with the Select tool.
Pen
The Pen builds a path one point at a time.
- Click to place the first node.
- Keep clicking to add more nodes.
- Double-click to finish the path.
Once a path exists, double-click it with the Select tool to edit it: drag its nodes to reshape the curve. Press Esc to leave editing.
Text
The Text tool adds a text object: click on the canvas and start typing. Press Return to commit, or Esc to finish. See Text for everything you can do with it once it exists.
Eraser
The Eraser deletes objects. Click an object to delete it, or drag across several to delete them all at once. It removes whole objects — it does not erase pixels, and it does not erase part of a path.
Because the eraser deletes rather than hides, it is easy to remove more than you meant to. ⌘Z undoes it.
Effects
Add ▸ Pixelate, Blur and Magnifier place a region effect rather than a shape. Drag to mark out the area, and the objects underneath show through with that effect applied:
| Effect | What it does |
|---|---|
| Pixelate | Pixelates what is behind it |
| Blur | Blurs what is behind it |
| Magnifier | Enlarges what is behind it |
A pixelate region is drawn as a rectangle, a blur as a rounded rectangle and a magnifier as an ellipse, but all three can be reshaped like any other object. Their strength and radius are in the inspector's Background Effects section; see Styling.
Inserting an image
Add ▸ Image… (also the photo button in the toolbar) opens a file picker and places the chosen image on the canvas as an object. Once placed it behaves like any other object: move, resize, rotate and layer it freely. To change the image itself, use the inspector's Image section.