Toolbox¶
The vertical strip along the left edge of the window hosts 17 tools, grouped into three accordion sections: Controls, Tools, Shapes. Click any tool to activate it; tools are also bound to single-key shortcuts inspired by Maya's QWERTY conventions.
Controls¶
| Tool | Hotkey | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Select | Q | Pick a placement; drag to box-select |
| Lasso Select | Shift+Q | Freeform drag selection region |
| Paint Select | Ctrl+Shift+Q | Brush-painted selection over many placements |
| Hand | (hold Space) | Pan the canvas without changing selection |
| Move | W | Translate selection |
| Rotate | E | Rotate selection (yaw / pitch / roll on Mesh3D) |
| Scale | R | Scale selection around its pivot |
| Pivot Edit | D-drag or Insert | Move a placement's pivot point |
| Zoom | (mouse wheel) | Magnifier; click-drag, Alt-click for zoom out |
Tools¶
| Tool | Hotkey | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Brush | B | Paint on the selected placement's mask |
| Erase | Shift+B | Erase from the same mask |
| Fill | G | Flood fill / set color_fill on a placement |
| Eyedrop | I | Sample a tileable swatch from an Image and add to brush palette |
| Landmark | L | Pair source ↔ target points for TPS texture transfer |
| Camera Distance | (vertical drag) | Mesh3D mesh_dist adjustment |
Shapes¶
| Tool | Hotkey | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Pen | P | Freehand path: drag to record |
| Bezier | Shift+P | Click-to-add anchors with drag handles |
| Rectangle | M | Drag a rectangle placement |
| Ellipse | F | Drag an ellipse placement |
| Line | / | Drag a line placement |
| Polygon | Shift+M | Click-to-add corner points; double-click to close |
| Region | Ctrl+M | Drag a free region placement (lasso shape) |
Active-tool feedback¶
The currently-active tool's icon highlights with the theme accent color. The cursor changes to match (move arrows, crosshair, brush nib). The Tool Properties dock at the bottom of the screen shows the tool's options live.
Customizing the toolbox¶
File > Preferences > Toolbox lets you:
- Reorder tools within sections.
- Hide tools you do not use.
- Add custom-script tools (developer feature).
Customizations save per-user.
Modifier conventions¶
A few modifiers are consistent across every tool:
| Modifier | Effect |
|---|---|
| Shift | Add to selection / constrain to axis on move / lock aspect on scale |
| Alt | Remove from selection / orbit camera (with Move) / sample on Brush |
| Ctrl | Smaller increment / open context menu / toggle snap on Move |
| Space (held) | Switch to Hand temporarily; release returns to previous tool |
| Esc | Cancel the current tool's in-progress drag |
Tablet and pen¶
When the Designer detects a tablet, the Brush and Erase tools route pressure to size and tilt to rotation by default. The Brush > Touch and dynamics page covers the full mapping.