From Ver. 5.0, you can use Smart Shape to correct freehand drawn lines into clean curves and shapes without switching brushes while drawing.

 

This feature is useful when you want to straighten lines or draw backgrounds and props while keeping a hand drawn look.

 

In Ver. 5.0 and later, Smart Shape is turned on by default, so you can start using it without any special setup.

 

 

Smart Shape can be used on all devices and UI modes.

It makes adjusting lines easy even when drawing with your fingers on a smartphone, so give it a try.

 

Try using Smart Shape!

Drawing curves and straight lines with Smart Shape

Hold the pen at the end of a stroke

Draw a line with your favorite brush, and keep pressing down without moving the pen at the end of your stroke.

 

Holding

In Smart Shape, the action of keeping the pen or mouse pressed down (long press) without moving it at the end of a stroke is called "holding".

This action automatically corrects the drawn line.

 

 

There is no need to switch to a figure tool while drawing. Simply hold the stroke for a moment to draw clean straight lines or curves with your usual pen.

 

Lines drawn with Smart Shape must be held at the end of the stroke, making it difficult to have tapered lines. If you want to draw lines with a sharp taper, we recommend setting up Starting and ending for your pen or brush.

Please check "I want to apply a taper to Smart Shape lines" for how to set this up.

 

 

Note

You can adjust the position of the end point by dragging while the line is in its corrected state.

 

Drawing shapes with Smart Shape

You can draw circles and quadrilaterals using the same procedure.

Even if the ends are not completely connected, hold the stroke to convert it into a clean shape.

 

Manipulate shapes while holding

Changing the size and angle of the shape

While holding down the pen, drag up, down, left, or right to change the size and angle of the shape.

 

Perfect circles and regular polygons

Press the Shift key while holding the stroke to convert the corrected shape into a regular polygon such as a perfect circle or square.

*If you are using the smartphone or tablet version, use the Edge keyboard to press the Shift key.

Tools that can use Smart Shape

In addition to drawing tools such as Pen, Eraser, Watercolor, Oil paint, and Dot pen, it can also be used with some tools like Selection pen and Balloon pen.

 

Smart Shape cannot be used with the following settings.

・Drawing a straight line while holding the Shift key

・Drawing on a 3D object

・Brushes with Erase on all layers turned on (in Advanced Tool Settings > Erase)

・Drawing while snapping to a ruler or grid (View menu > Turn on Snap)

 

Note:

The only time you can use Smart Shape while snapping to rulers is when using a Symmetrical ruler.

 

Editing a Smart Shape

When you lift the pen after correcting a line, the Smart Shape launcher appears.

Tap the launcher to switch to editing mode.

 

In editing mode, handles appear around the line or shape, and control points (white dots) appear on the line.

Move these to adjust the line or shape to your liking.

 

Handles: Adjust the size and angle

Control points: Adjust the shape

 

If the shape corrected by Smart Shape isn’t what you intended, you can choose a different shape from the options in the launcher.

 

If there are many shape options, you can tap the "..." icon on the far right to see more.

 

Note:

You can select the following shape options: Straight line, Polyline, Curve, Continuous curve, Triangle, Equilateral triangle, Quadrilateral, Rectangle, Square, Ellipse, Circle, Polygon, and Regular Polygon.

 

Confirming the Smart Shape

When you have finished editing, tap the canvas or palette to confirm.

 

Adjusting the hold time

You can set the time in seconds to recognize a Smart Shape hold from Preferences > Tools > Smart Shape > Length of long-press in Studio Mode.

The default time is 0.7 seconds. It can be set between 0.10 ~ 2.00 seconds.

 

The Length of long-press setting applies to both Simple Mode and Studio Mode. Please configure settings for both modes in Studio Mode’s Preferences.

 

Turning off Smart Shape

You can toggle Smart Shape on or off from the following ways.

 

Simple Mode: Preferences > Smart Shape

Studio Mode: Preferences > Tools > Smart Shape

Make the most out of Smart Shape!

Here are some useful ways to combine Smart Shapes with other features and settings.

 

Draw and adjust lines on vector layers

When you want to draw elaborate designs or clean illustrations while retaining a hand drawn feel, use Smart Shape on a vector layer. You can then adjust slightly misaligned or protruding parts later using the Correct line tool or the Vector Eraser.

 

For more details on vector layers, please see the following article.

 

Add tapering to Smart Shape lines

If the tapering or shade at the end of the lines don’t come out the way you want when drawing hair for example, try adjusting the Starting and ending.

 

1. In the Advanced Tool Settings palette > Starting and ending > Starting and ending effect dynamics, check Brush Size.

If you also want to adjust the shade, check Brush density as well.

 

2. Check Ending and adjust the value.

 

Strokes vary depending on the brush type and pen pressure, so try experimenting a few times and adjusting the values to achieve what feels natural to you.

If the tapering is too abrupt or it’s hard to create gradations, increasing the Ending value may resolve the issue.

 

Refer to the following article for more information on the starting and ending.

 

Draw backgrounds in combination with perspective rulers

When drawing backgrounds that require lines in directions different from the reference vanishing point, such as roofs or signboards, combining Smart Shape with perspective rulers will improve your work efficiency.

 

When the snap setting is on, lines snap to the perspective ruler. When off, you can accurately draw lines in the direction you want using Smart Shape without snapping to the perspective ruler.

You don’t need to add a perspective ruler for each direction you want to draw, or switch to the Figure tool.

 

Note: Switching the perspective ruler on and off

You can switch it on and off from the View menu > Snap > Snap to special rulers.

 

For more details on perspective rulers, please check the following article.

 

Create clean strokes with brush textures

When painting flowing subjects like hair or plants using thick paint techniques, you can draw smooth, clean strokes while making the most of the brush texture.

 

Use Smart Shape with brushes that mix colors, such as the Gouache or Oil paint tools, to draw beautiful lines for painterly artwork.

 

Use with speech bubbles and frame borders

Since you can convert lines into clean shapes while utilizing pen pressure, you can get a hand drawn touch without switching tools when creating speech bubbles or frame borders with the Balloon or Frame Border pens.