6. Tools
6.1. Keyboard Shortcuts
Most tools can be activated using single key shortcuts (i.e., no modifier). To find out the shortcut for a particular tool, hover over its icon in the toolbar and wait for the tooltip to appear.
6.2. Tips
If you like to create multiple shapes in succession, press Shift when activating a tool and it will continue staying activated.
6.3. Select Tool
The select tool is the most basic tool in the app, allowing you to adjust the selection by clicking on the shapes in the canvas.
If you have another tool selected, you can always press Escape to activate the Select tool.
6.4. Pan Tool
The pan tool allows you to pan using the mouse. It can operate in two modes:
- Hold: Press and hold Space. While the key is pressed, the Pan tool will be active and when you release it, the previously selected tool will be restored.
- Active: Activate the Pan tool using the mouse or by just pressing the Space key (without holding). To go back to the previous tool, press Space again.
6.5. Rect, Text, Surface Tools
The Rect, Text and Surface tools all create the same type of shape - a rectangular shape, the only difference are the default values.
If you add text content to the shape (from the sidebar), you can close the popover by pressing Command-Enter.
6.5.1. Anchor Position
The anchor position defines the position of the rectangle relative to the anchor. For example, you can think of the position of the rect defined as “the top-right edge of the rect is attached to point X in shape Y”.
The rect can also be offset by an arbitrary amount which becomes useful when attaching to lines.
6.6. Diamond Tool
The diamond tool allows you to create symmetric diamonds.
6.7. Line Tool
The line tool can be used to link shapes. There are five different types of lines:
- Diagram (Orthogonal): Uses an automatic pathfinding algorithm to connect any two shapes. There’s no control over the number of segments or segment directions.
- Automatic (Orthogonal): The user controls the number of segments while the segment directions are automatically inferred.
- Manual (Orthogonal): The user controls both the number of segments and segment directions. You can adjust the direction of a particular segment via the contextual menu (right-click on the segment itself).
- Step: Uses a series of vertical and horizontal lines to connect any two points.
- Staggered: Uses a series of diagonal, vertical and horizontal steps to connect its two end points. You can only have a start and end point, no midpoints.
You can add midpoints to a line by right-clicking on it and selecting “Add Midpoint”.
6.8. Image Tool
The image tool can be used to overlay images in the canvas for easier tracing.
6.9. Pencil Tool
The pencil tool can be used to provide custom content for all shapes. It can also work as an eraser by using the right mouse button instead of the left.
6.10. Bucket Fill Tool
The Bucket Fill tool will fill a connected area in a particular shape.
6.11. Picker Tool
The picker can be used to set the current pencil character by picking a character from the canvas.
6.12. Eraser Tool
The eraser tool can be used to erase any custom content.