Draw (Pen)
Draw Bezier paths by clicking to place anchor points and dragging to add handles.
The Draw tool (sometimes called the Pen tool) builds vector paths point by point. Click to place an anchor with no handles, click-and-drag to place an anchor with outgoing handles for a curve.
Activate
- Hotkey:
Ctrl+L - Toolbar: Creation Toolbar
How to use
- Click to place the first anchor.
- For a straight segment, click again where you want the next anchor.
- For a curve, click and drag, the drag creates the outgoing handle. The handle mirrors onto the next anchor's incoming handle automatically.
- Continue placing anchors.
- Double-click or press Esc to finalize the path.
- Or click within ~8 pixels of the starting anchor to close the path.
Modifiers and interactions
- Shift + click: constrain the new segment's direction to 45° increments.
- Backspace: remove the last placed anchor.
- Esc: finalize the current path.
- Double-click: finalize the current path (the click that double-fires is removed).
Drags shorter than 0.5 mm are discarded
A short or jittery drag is treated as a click without handles. This prevents accidental tiny handles from creating bumps in straight-segment paths.
Close detection
Clicking within 8 screen pixels of the starting anchor closes the path. A close-indicator highlight appears as you near the start.
What gets created
A Path (vector_path) object on the active layer with the SVG path data of your clicks, and a closed flag if you closed it.
Result on the canvas
The path appears with the active layer's color and stroke. To edit individual nodes, switch to the Node tool.
Related
- Node tool: edit existing paths
- Trim tool: split paths
- Shape Properties panel: see the path object after creation
- Cuts / Layers panel: set the layer's mode