Freehand Drawing

This tool will allow the user to draw both open and closed vector paths in a freehand style which closely mimics the flow of drawing with a physical pencil and really excels at creating quick initial design sketches and organic flourishes.

Optionally paired with a compatible graphics tablet, this tool will enable you to draw your paths with a stylus, giving a more faithful simulated drawing experience.

The resulting image you see on screen still exists as vector information including automatically placed nodes and handles, meaning that you then have the option to use the same shape editing tools as any other path within the software to further edit and manipulate the vectors you have initially created with the Freehand Draw Tool.

Watch this video to see this in action:

Watch tutorial: How to use the Freehand Drawing tool

Basic Usage

With the tool selected then left click and hold within the workspace to place a first point and the path will then follow the direction of your cursor. Whilst active the cursor will change to a Cross-hair and the drawn path will follow it's centre point. Release the left mouse button to place an end point and finalize the path.

Options

Smoothness

This option, controlled by the below slider, controls to what extent smoothing is applied when the Left Mouse Button is released and the path completed

The further the slider is to the left the smaller the amount smoothing that is applied and any angular changes in direction will be retained once the Left Mouse Button is released and the path completed.

The further the slider is to the right the greater the level of the smoothing effect that is applied; Sharp angles are smoothed into curves and the path is simplified with fewer individual nodes created.

Stabilize

The stabilisation setting controls how much small movements with the mouse or stylus will be damped out whilst drawing.

The further the slider is to the left, the less stabilisation is applied when drawing and even small changes in direction from the mouse/stylus will show in the resulting path.

The further the slider is to the right, the more stabilisation is applied and the tool will damp out small jitters in the mouse/stylus movement to produce a smoother path.

When an amount of stabilisation is applied a circle will be shown around the start point of the path when you start drawing and follow the end point of the path. Within the zone of this circle movement of the cursor will not extend the path. The cursor needs to move to the edge of this zone at which point the path will start moving towards the cursor. As cursor movements within this zone do not affect the path it also allows precise sharp changes of direction as you can move the cursor back into this deadzone then off in a different direction easily.

End Vector at Cursor

With this option unchecked; when the left mouse button is released, the end point of the actively drawn path will be placed in the centre of the reticle which appears to indicate the level of stabilisation being applied.

If instead you wish for the end point to be placed in the position of the cross hair cursor when the button is released, you can check the box next to this option. As the end point will remain the same regardless of the level of stabilisation applied, this can lead to greater accuracy in predicting the end of your drawn path.