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Quickstart: layers#

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Keep what you drew in order: name layers, group them, restack them, and edit a selection in the Properties panel. Layers and the Properties panel has the full detail.

1. Show the Layers panel#

Ctrl + L shows or hides it; so does Layers > Hide Layers Panel and the toolbar button that opens it.

2. Draw, and watch the rows#

Draw two or three strokes. Every new element gets its own layer, named after the tool that drew it - Brush 1, Brush 2 - and the panel lists the top of the stack first.

3. Pick rows#

  1. Click a row to make it the active layer; its marks are selected on the canvas, and selecting on the canvas lights the rows the marks are on.
  2. Ctrl-click adds a row or takes it out; Shift-click takes every row between the last one and this one.

4. Rename a layer#

Press F2, or double-click the row, type the name and press Enter.

5. Group and ungroup#

  1. Light two or more rows and press Ctrl + G: they go into a new group, which folds and opens with the caret beside its name.
  2. Ctrl + Shift + G ungroups the active group.

6. Clip with a shape#

  1. Draw a filled rectangle, then a circle over it, and select both.
  2. Press Ctrl + 7, or choose Layers > Clipping Mask > Make: the two go into a Clip Group, and the rectangle shows only inside the circle, which paints nothing while it clips.
  3. Ctrl + Alt + 7 releases it: the rectangle shows all of itself again, and the circle with it.

7. Restack#

  1. Ctrl + ] moves the lit rows up the stack, Ctrl + [ down; Ctrl + Shift + ] and Ctrl + Shift + [ take them to the top or the bottom of their group, and Alt + ] and Alt + [ select the row above or below.
  2. Or drag a row: between two rows to move it there, onto a group row to put it inside.

8. Hide, lock and fade#

Each row has an eye to hide the layer and a lock to keep it from being drawn on or selected; the slider under the list sets the active layer's opacity.

9. Edit in the Properties panel#

Ctrl + P opens the Properties panel for the selection: its position and size in any unit, its fill and gradient, and its outline's width and style.

Where next#