Pen Tool & Paths

Draftila provides two drawing tools for creating vector paths.

Pen Tool

Press P to activate the pen tool. Click on the canvas to place nodes one at a time.
  • Click to place a corner node (sharp point)
  • Click and drag to place a smooth node with Bezier curve handles
  • Click on the first node to close the path
  • Double-click or press Enter to finish an open path

Node Types

TypeBehavior
CornerSharp point, no curve handles
SmoothCurve handles are aligned (opposite directions)
SymmetricCurve handles are mirrored (same length and direction)

Pencil Tool

Press Shift + P to activate the pencil tool. Click and drag to draw freehand paths. The path is automatically simplified into clean curves when you release.
You can also hold Alt while using any tool to temporarily switch to freehand drawing.

Node Editing

Select a path and press Enter (or N) to enter node editing mode.
  • Drag nodes to reposition them
  • Drag handles to adjust curves
  • Delete or Backspace to remove the selected node
  • Escape to exit node editing

Path Properties

PropertyDescription
Vector nodesArray of nodes with positions and curve handles
Fill ruleNonzero or Evenodd (affects how overlapping areas are filled)
FillsSame fill options as other shapes
StrokesSame stroke options as other shapes

Boolean Operations

Select two or more overlapping shapes and apply a boolean operation to combine them:

OperationResult
UnionCombines all shapes into one
SubtractRemoves the overlapping area of top shapes from the bottom shape
IntersectKeeps only the overlapping area
ExcludeKeeps only the non-overlapping areas

The result is a new path shape. The original shapes are removed.