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Rulers

These two rulers to help with drawing lines, cirles, and ellipses.

Straight edge ruler | Elliptical ruler
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Only one can be used at a time. They can be accessed through hotkeys, R for the straight ruler and E for the elliptical. Before painting, the rulers displays guidelines; however, once you start painting, they disappear. Once you finish painting, they reappear. The last location of a ruler is saved, so that the next time you access a ruler it appears at the same place.

When a ruler is activated, at the top of the canvas, a hub appears. It provides the X and Y positional coordinates, along with the angle of rotation. The elliptical ruler contains additional A and B coordinates for the distance of each side from the center of the ellipse. As changes are made to the rulers, these values update.

Showing/hiding a straight edge ruler

Click here to watch a demo.

1. Select a brush and color.
2. Press the hotkey R to access the straight ruler.
3. To position it, click:
   - an outer handle to pivot the ruler using the opposite handle as the pivot point.
   - the middle handle to move the ruler anywhere around the canvas.
   - double-click any outer handle to reposition the ruler horizontally or vertically.
4. Sketch anywhere on the canvas. The stroke snaps to the ruler, creating a straight line of the length you sketched.
5. To hide the ruler, click the close handle .

Showing/hiding an elliptical ruler

Click here to watch a demo.

Use the elliptical ruler to make circles for car wheels or buttons on electronic products or the ellipse for creating curves for character lines on products.

1. Select a brush and color.
2. Press the hotkey E to bring up the elliptical ruler.
3. To position it, click-drag:
   - the square handle in the middle to move the ellipse around the canvas.
   - the rotate handle to rotate the ellipse around its center.
   - the proportional scale handle to equally scale the ellipse in all directions.
   - the non-proportional scale handle to scale the ellipse in one direction.
   - double-click any scale handle to change the ellipse to a circle.
4. Sketch using a circular motion close to or on the ellipse. The stroke doesn’t have to be perfect, since it snaps to the ellipse.
   NoteFor optimal results, use a stylus. With the mouse, the results may not be as accurate. If using a mouse, drawing slowly will reduce problems.
5. To hide the ruler, click the close handle .