Hello, my dears! My name is Laura and in this tutorial I would like to show you the ruler functions of Clip Studio Paint and how I use them.

I will discuss all rulers except the perspective ruler. Its use is so extensive that I unfortunately have to refer you to other tutorials if you want to know something about it.

Well then, let's get started!

1. Basics of using rulers in Clip Studio Paint

What types of rulers are available in Clip Studio Paint?

There are rulers, special rulers and the grid. We all look at rulers, for many I give a practical example of how to use the ruler.

 

Where is the ruler tool?

The Create Ruler tool is located at the bottom of the tools panel, on the far left of the standard screen. It is represented by a triangular angle. Clicking on the angle opens the sub-tool panel for the rulers. By default it contains 8 sub-tools.

The top 4 sub-tools (1) “Straight Ruler”, “Curved Ruler”, “Figure Ruler” and “Ruler Pen” are “normal” rulers. You create a vector (path) that the pen automatically “snaps” to when you draw with the pen near the ruler.

The bottom 4 sub-tools (2) are special rulers.

Special rulers are more like “vector tools”. The pen also clicks into these, but they differ in operation from the vector path rulers.

 

 

What does it mean that rulers are vectors?

Vectors are paths (basically just “lines”) whose course is calculated by the computer using nodes. They can be easily manipulated by moving, deleting, changing the nodes, or adding more nodes (3).

All rulers can be edited using the “Object” sub-tool (4) in the “Operation” panel, even after they have been created. The “normal” rulers, which consist of a vector path with nodes, can also be edited using the sub-tools under “Correct Line” (5). This also applies to rulers created on grid layers.

The "Object" sub-tool, which can be used to edit the rulers, is located at the top of the Tools panel. It is represented by a cube with an arrow.

(3): Manipulate the path of a vector path ruler by moving a handle (green dot) of a node point slightly upward. This changes the course of the path (line) in the two segments before and after the moved node.

The vector path with nodes is displayed when the Object tool is selected and the path is then clicked. Nodes and handles can then be moved using drag-and-drop if “Move anchor points” (4) has been set under “Mode” in the sub-tool panel.

The “Correct Line” tool is located at the very bottom of the standard tool panel. It is represented by an arrow pointing to a node (5). The top sub-tool “Anchor Point” (6) offers several sub-tools with which nodes (anchor points) can be moved, added, deleted, and otherwise manipulated (7).

How do you enable or disable snapping to a ruler?

There are three commands in the command bar that control snapping to the ruler:

(1) Align with ruler

(2) Align with special ruler

(3) Align to grid.

In addition, almost every sub-tool has the command “Allow Alignment” (4) under the tool properties in the “Correction” category. If this is disabled, the pen will not snap to the ruler,** even if the Snap to Ruler, Snap to Special Ruler, and Snap to Grid commands are enabled in the command bar.

In the default settings of some tools, “Allow Alignment” is not visible in the tool properties. This can be very irritating if you're trying to draw with a ruler and the pen/tool just won't click into place. In this case you need to click on the little wrench icon in the bottom right corner of the tool properties (5 ).

A panel then opens (Sub-Tool Details (6)), in which you have many more options for selecting the tool settings. On the left side of the menu there is the category “Correction” (7). There you will find the command “Allow alignment” (8). This can be displayed under the tool settings on the main screen using the eye symbol (9).

And if the pen still ignores the ruler?

Then perhaps the distance to the ruler is too great!

A pen tool automatically snaps to the ruler unless the distance to the ruler is too large. Then the pen ignores the ruler, even if Allow Snap is enabled in the sub-tool settings and all Snap to buttons in the command bar are enabled.

The distance at which the pen clicks into place on the ruler is always approximately 7mm real distance, regardless of the display size (zoom) of the canvas (10 blue). If the zoom factor of the canvas is 50%, you can draw freely at a real distance of 7mm from the ruler. If the zoom factor is 25%, the same applies. However, the relative distance (the distance on the screen) to the ruler is smaller at 50% than at 25%. If you zoom in closer to the ruler, you can draw freely closer to it without the pen snapping into the ruler (11 purple).

And if the pen still ignores the ruler?

Maybe the ruler is green? Then it is not active.

Multiple rulers can be created on one layer. Several “normal” rulers (straight ruler, curved ruler, figure ruler and ruler pen) can be active at the same time. Active rulers are purple in color (12 purple).

In contrast, non-active rulers are colored green (13 green). If you want to switch a ruler on or off, you have to check or uncheck “Align” in the tool properties of the ruler (14).

However, 2 special rulers of the same type cannot be active on the same level at the same time. One of them is always automatically deactivated. However, 2 special rulers of different types can be active and used at the same time.

For the example, I created two special focus line rulers and two symmetry rulers on one layer. One of each is automatically deactivated (15 green). However, the other two rulers are active and working (16 purple): As I draw with the Focus Line ruler, the active Symmetry ruler reflects what I'm drawing.

If you want to deactivate an active special ruler, you have to click on it with the “Object” tool. A small blue diamond (17) will then appear to the right below the center point of the ruler (for very long rulers, such as a symmetry ruler, this is the point at which the ruler was created on the canvas). If you click on this diamond, the ruler is switched on or off. If you switch on a special ruler on a level where another switched-on special ruler of the same type already exists, the other one is automatically switched off.

How do you enable or disable the display of rulers?

The display of rulers is set in the levels panel (1). On the standard screen, the Layers panel is at the bottom right.

On the second line of the command bar of the Layers panel, below the layer opacity setting, there is a small ruler icon (2). This controls the display of the rulers that are on the active layer. If you click on the small ruler symbol (2), a drop-down menu opens (3). Here you can select the following display options from top to bottom:

- Show ruler on all levels. If the box in front of it is ticked, the ruler will always be displayed, regardless of which layer is currently being edited and is therefore active.

- Show ruler in same folder. If this point is selected, the ruler will only be displayed if the editing target is a layer that is in the same layer folder as the layer on which the ruler was created.

- Only if show editing target. If this box is checked, the ruler will only be visible if the layer on which the ruler was created is also edited.

(- Connect guide to ruler: Uh... I've never understood what this box does. For me, the ruler just regularly disappears completely when I activate it. So I try not to do that.)

(4) blue: The small icon with the ruler and the cube, the layers or the folder makes visible in the layer panel which display mode has been selected for the rulers on this layer. It changes depending on which mode is selected.

If there is a ruler on a layer, it can be hidden completely if no check is set for a display mode. It will then not be displayed even if the layer is active and being edited. This is indicated by the small ruler symbol being crossed out in red (5). However, the ruler on this layer is still there and can be shown again at any time by choosing one of the display modes described previously.

 

Setting up the display of rulers is easier and quicker if the ruler is created on its own layer. This is also the default setting. This means that the ruler can be shown and hidden by simply showing and hiding the layer using the eye symbol in front of each layer (6). If the ruler is hidden, no tools will snap to it until it is shown again.

And if I still need the ruler on a different level? Do I then have to recreate it?

No, because rulers can also be moved separately from layer to layer in the Layers panel. To do this, simply click on the ruler symbol on the layer with the left mouse button, hold down the mouse button and then drag it up or down away from the layer (7).

If you hold down the Alt key while dragging the ruler from one layer to another, the ruler will not only be moved to the new layer, but will be copied there. This means that it remains at the original level (8).

2. The grid

How do you show or hide the grid?

Under the menu → View (1) you can put a tick in front of the item → Grid (2). The grid will then appear (5). If you remove the hook again, the grid is hidden (4).

Where can I change the grid settings?

Under → View → Grid/Ruler Settings... (3) the origin (6) of the ruler can be changed, as can the distances between the grid lines (7).

Unfortunately, the distance between the vertical and horizontal lines of the grid cannot be set separately. So only square representations are possible.

Example application grid:

For example, tables can be drawn very quickly using the grid if the “Align to grid” button (8) is activated in the command bar:

However, I most often use the grid without snapping, but simply to better estimate distances in drawings.

3. Linear Die

So now let's look at the "normal" rulers, which - as described above in the chapter "What does it mean that rulers are vectors?" - create a vector path with nodes.

These are the four rulers this applies to:

The vector path rulers are located in the “Ruler” tool (1). They consist of the “straight ruler” (2), the “curved ruler” (3), the “figure ruler” (4) and the “ruler pen” (5).

3.1 The straight ruler

The “Straight Ruler” creates a straight vector line that consists of exactly two nodes (1).

Tools used with this ruler snap exactly along the line of the ruler. So you can use it to draw exactly a straight line.

 

You're probably asking yourself: why do you need this? Do I really need to draw a ruler for this? You can also draw a straight line in Clip Studio Paint if you press the Shift key while you're drawing or before you start drawing with a pen tool (works on raster layers and vector layers).

 

But the straight ruler has a few special features that I like to use. For example, I can have it scaled (this can also be done later, using the object tool), so I use it a bit like a "real" ruler and let it count units of measurement. I do this by checking the box next to “Scale” in the tool properties (2). Then I click on the small down arrow (3) for the drop-down menu (4). Here I can now choose which value I want to display on the ruler. If I want a specific measurement (e.g. 5mm) I can immediately set the ruler so that it shows me (real!) mm. But I mainly use the straight ruler with the “Even division” setting (5), I’ll show you this now with an example.

Example straight ruler: stair railing

I made a (rudimentary) drawing of a staircase (1):

Now I want to draw a railing that matches my stairs. Instead of complicatedly calculating the distance between the individual railing rods, I draw a straight ruler with the following settings (2):

Under “Scale” I select “Even distribution” (3). And for “Number of divisions” I choose “4” (4). The ruler I draw with it then looks like this (5):

Now I just draw a railing bar under each division and the railing itself at the top, along the ruler (6).

I turned off automatic alignment so that my crooked railing would better fit my crooked stairs. I draw freehand along the ruler.

3.2 The curved ruler

Next, let's look at the curved ruler. It can create rulers with four different types of nodes:

(1) Straight lines that are attached to each other. The nodes that are created are displayed as small squares when I select the ruler with the "Object" tool (a). The nodes can be edited by clicking and moving them.

(2) “Wedge” nodes. The nodes work “with” the creation of the ruler. The computer calculates the shape of the line I want to create based on where my mouse pointer is pointing. So the line moves “by itself”. This takes a little getting used to, but it's definitely my favorite curve. The nodes are represented by small, white-filled circles and can only be edited later by moving them (b).

(3) Square Bezier curve. The nodes that are set while the vector line is being created are no longer visible when the ruler is subsequently edited with the "Object" tool. The “handles” of the nodes are visible as small, red-filled circles (c). They can be dragged and drag the line with them, but they are not on the vector line!

(4) Cubic Bezier curve. Each node (white filled circles) has one or two handles (red filled circles) (d). The course of the line can be influenced either by moving the nodes themselves or by dragging the handles. This is the curve that can be set most precisely, as very precise correction of the line can be made by dragging the handles.

 

The following applies to all vector rulers: To change nodes (from square to round nodes), add or delete them, you can also use the tools under “Correct Line” (5)!

Example Curved Ruler: Paisley Pattern

I want to create a paisley pattern for a background wallpaper decoration. It shouldn't be too complicated. A few paisleys are enough for me.

I first create a curved ruler with “wedge” nodes (1):

I copy the finished ruler with Ctrl+c and Ctrl+v and “mirror” it by dragging one of the side handles of the bouncing box completely from one side of the paisley to the other (2).

I copy both rulers again and move them down (3):

Then I draw along the rulers with different colors (4) with the “Real G-Pen” (5):

The “Allow Alignment” field under the tool properties of the “Real G-Pen” must be activated (6), otherwise the G-Pen will not snap to the ruler.

The finished drawing then looks like this (4A):

I'm going to duplicate this layer now. I will continue to edit the copy and keep the original “as a backup copy” and hide it. To do this, I click on the NAME of the layer with the right mouse button (7).

In the drop-down menu that opens, I select “Duplicate layer” (8). I now have a duplicate of the layer that my pattern is on. I will first delete the ruler from this duplicate. To do this, I right-click on the RULER SYMBOL in front of the layer name (9). From the drop-down menu that appears, I select “Delete ruler” (10).

Now I right-click again on the LEVEL NAME of the new layer (11). I then select “Convert Layer...” from the drop-down menu (12).

In the dialog that appears (13), I select the setting “Image material layer” (14) under “Type”. I then confirm with “OK”.

I select the new image material layer with the "Object" tool and select "Tiles" (15) at the bottom of the "Tool Properties" panel and activate the setting furthest to the right (17) in both lines.

My drawing now looks like this (16):

Using the blue handles on the bouncing box (18), I can further scale and adjust the pattern until it fits my wallpaper:

3.3 Figurlineal

The figure ruler enables you to draw geometric “figures”. There are three options (1) under “Figure” (2):

(a) Rectangle

(b) Ellipse

(c) Polygon

If »Rectangle« (a) is selected (3), the »Number of corners« option (4) is grayed out. To do this, you can check the box under “Rounding the corners” (5) and adjust the rounding of the corners of the rectangle using the bar. A fixed ratio of length and width of the rectangle can be set using “aspect types” (6). This ratio can be specified either in pixels or in % (6a).

As an example, three rectangle rulers: All three were created with the “aspect types” W=1.0 and H=1.0. In addition, the first rectangle (7) has no rounding of the corners. The second rectangle (8) has a “rounding of corners” value of 3.6 and the third (9) has a value of 100.

If (b) Ellipse is selected for “Figure” (10), the settings that can be made under “Tool properties” change. “Number of corners” and “roundings of corners” can no longer be selected (11). Values can still be set under “Types of aspect” (12).

Here, too, I put three elliptical rulers next to each other as examples: Ruler (13) was created with the “aspect types” W=0.5 and H=1.0. Ruler (14) with the “aspect types” W=1.0 and H=1.0 and ruler (15) with W=1.0 and H=0.5.

Important: The “Aspect Types” box does not need to be checked to create figure rulers. If it is not activated, you can draw figures freehand. If it is not activated and you also hold down the “Shift” key while creating a ruler, the figure will automatically have the shape W=1.0 and H=1.0. So you can create perfect squares and circles without having to enter the “aspect types”.

 

If »Polygon« is selected under »Figure« (16), the setting options change again. Entries are now possible under “Number of corners” (17), as well as under “Rounding of corners” (18) and also under “Aspect types” (18).

For the polygon examples this time I only change the “number of corners” (17). I don't change anything under "Rounding of corners" and "Aspect types". For Polygon (19) I enter 3 corners, for Polygon (20) 5 corners and for Polygon (21) 9 corners.

Example figure ruler:

For the example of the figure ruler, I choose a classic: I want to create an analog clock for the wall with the picture and the wallpaper pattern from the practical example of the “curved ruler” (under Section 3.2).

So I create a figure ruler on a new (vector) layer with the following settings:

Under “Scale” I select “Even division” and under “Number of divisions” I select “12” (1). For “Figure” I choose “Ellipse” (2). For “aspect types” I choose W=1.0 and H=1.0 (3). I use this to create a ruler that looks like this (4):

I gray out the background a bit so that the ruler is easier to see. Then I select the ruler with the "Object" tool and copy it with Ctrl+c and Ctrl+v so that I have two rulers on the same layer (5). I scale the new ruler using the handles on the bouncing box until it is a little smaller than the original (6 blue).

Then I write the numbers of the clock on the divisions of the figure ruler (7). (To do this, “Allow Alignment” must be disabled in the tool settings.)

And then I draw the shape of the clock along the rulers (8). (To do this, “Allow Alignment” must be reactivated in the G-Pen’s tool settings.)

Now I draw the center point (10) of the clock by drawing two auxiliary lines (9) from the side rulers (see Section 4.7) and sliding them over the divisions of the “12” and the “9”.

I deactivate all rulers, draw in the hands of the clock and color the drawing so that it matches the rest of my drawing (11).

3.4 Ruler pen

The ruler tool “Ruler Pen” (1) allows you to draw a ruler directly with a pen tool.

It has the following setting options:

It can also be scaled (2), similar to the other vector rulers, in mm, cm and other units of measurement (see Section 3.1, especially the example “Straight Ruler”).

“Stabilization” (3) and “post-correction” (4) can also be set. Both values affect the “wobbliness” of lines. If the “Stabilization” and “Post-correction” values are set to high, the course of the lines is recalculated by the computer. They will then become more even. If the values are low, the computer calculates less or not at all. The lines are then wobbly.

You can also have the ruler pen itself “aligned” using other rulers (5).

 

 

Note: With the command »Ruler from Vector« (found under => Layer => Ruler/Panel => Ruler from Vector (6) or by right-clicking on the NAME of the vector layer and then in the drop-down Menu => Ruler/Panel => Ruler from Vector (7)) a ruler can be created from any line drawing created on a vector layer.

4. Die Spezial-Lineale

The special rulers can also be edited using the “Object” tool (1) after they have been created. However, they cannot be adjusted as freely as the vector rulers; instead, only certain adjustments are possible.

4.1 Parallel line

To create a parallel line ruler, you must first select the Ruler tool (1). There the sub-tool “Special Ruler” (2) must be selected and then in the tool properties of the “Special Ruler” in the “Special Ruler” drop-down field (3) the top selection “Parallel Line” must be selected. (4) can be clicked.

Then click once on the layer on which the ruler is to be created and, while holding down the mouse button, drag and determine the course of the ruler (5):

The parallel line ruler can still be edited after it has been created by selecting (clicking) it with the "Object" tool (6). The following edits are possible:

(7): The entire ruler can be moved with the small cross.

(8): The small diamond can be used to switch the ruler on and off.

(9 blue): The direction of the ruler can be changed with the two handles.

 

 

With the parallel line ruler it is possible to draw lines that are parallel to the ruler on the entire canvas. So the distance from the ruler is irrelevant. However, snapping to the ruler must be switched on and off either in the tool properties of the sub-tool with which you are drawing or at the top of the command bar with the command "Snap to special ruler" (see section 1 "How to snap to activated or deactivated with a ruler?").

Example parallel line ruler:

I have a ball and I want it to fly.

So I draw a parallel line ruler (1) and then a few lines behind the ball (2 blue). This creates the illusion that the ball is flying.

4.2 Parallel curve

To create a parallel curve ruler, I select “Parallel Curve” in the tool properties of the special ruler tool (1).

Then I select “Wedge” (2) under “Curve”. This is a personal preference, I prefer to work with the “wedge” curve.

Then I draw a curve ruler by clicking on the canvas once for each node (3):

I finish drawing the ruler by double-clicking on the last node point (works for all curves drawn with nodes). After double-clicking, the computer converts the curve into a ruler (4):

If I now draw lines on the canvas, they run parallel to the ruler (5 blue), but in such a way that the curve becomes straighter as they move away from the ruler, or the angle becomes more acute the further they go move inwards from the ruler (in the illustration at 5 blue downwards).

 

 

You can also edit a parallel curve ruler later by clicking on it with the “Object” tool (6):

(7): You can activate and deactivate the ruler with the small diamond.

(8 blue): You can also move all node points later. (This is because I drew a ruler with “wedge” nodes. For Bezier nodes, you could also move the node handles.)

 

 

Example parallel curve ruler:

I drew a hand with a wall (1):

Next, I want to make it clear that the energy of the blow with which the fist hits the wall passes through the wall.

So I draw a parallel curve ruler at the point where the fist hits (2):

And then draw lines parallel to the ruler with the real G-Pen (3):

4.3 Multiple curves

To create a ruler for multiple curves, I select "Multiple curves" (1) from the drop-down menu in the tool settings of the special ruler tool:

The name Multiple Curves suggests that it is simply an extension of the Parallel Curves ruler, but the Multiple Curves ruler works a little differently.

I first draw a “Multiple Curves” ruler (3 blue) with Bezier nodes (2):

Then I click on the ruler with the “Object” tool (4).

Here you can see the difference to the “parallel curve”: It is the handle (7 ocher). You can move them using the handles of the Bezier nodes (5 blue). The ruler can be activated and deactivated using the small diamond (6). But the handle (7 ocher) does something different.

The cross (8 ocher) moves the handle (9 ocher). It is also the center of the rotation axis of (9 ocher).

If (9 ocher) is moved, the entire ruler twists as if it were a flat ribbon (10 ocher):

I'll use an example to show what effects this has. For (11) I drew lines along the ruler with a vertical handle. The lines run parallel to each other. At (12) I moved the handle to the right. The lines now converge on the right side.

Example multiple curve ruler:

I want to draw a simple drawing of a waterfall. Then I want to draw the same waterfall again, but from a slightly different perspective.

I start the first drawing by drawing a multi-curve ruler with the following settings:

(1): I select “Multiple Curves” in the “Special Ruler” drop-down menu.

(2): I select "Wedge" for the type of "curve" I want to create.

(3): I want anchor points (“junction points”) to be created with each click while drawing, so I enable “Add/Delete Anchor Points”.

Then I draw the following multiple curve ruler (4) and draw the first lines on another layer (5 blue). To do this, I have to activate the “Show on all layers” or “Show only in the same folder” function in the ruler settings in the Layers panel (see Section 1: “How do you activate or deactivate the display of rulers?”).

Then I deactivate the ruler and draw the “decoration” (stones, spray cloud, flow lines) (7) (6).

Then I duplicate the layer that the ruler is on and move the ruler on the canvas (8). I also correct the handle of the ruler further to the right (8 blue).

Then, again on a new layer, I draw the lines for the new course of the waterfall (9).

I hide the layer with the ruler (which automatically deactivates it) and transfer the "decoration" from the other drawing, although here I also have to adjust the perspective a bit so that it fits the changed waterfall (10). I'll draw the "decoration" on a new layer and reduce the opacity of the layer with the new waterfall lines so you can see better what I'm drawing.

4.4 Focus line

To create a focus line ruler, I select “Focus Line” in the “Special Ruler” drop-down menu in the tool properties of the special ruler tool (1) (2).

Then I click once on the location of the canvas where I want to create the focus line ruler (3). The ruler immediately appears as a circle of lines converging on a center point:

And that's exactly what the ruler does: It ensures that all lines drawn in its surroundings converge directly on the center of the ruler (4).

There are not many setting options that you can use once the ruler has been created (5):

When I click on the ruler with the "Object" tool, I have the following options to influence the focus line ruler:

(6) The small, light blue diamond activates or deactivates the ruler.

(7) If I click on the cross and hold down the mouse button (or press the pen on the canvas) I can move the focus line ruler.

Example focus line ruler:

I drew a money bag (1). Now I would like to draw attention to this.

So I draw a focus line ruler with the following settings:

(2) Under “Special ruler” I select “Focus line” from the drop-down box.

(3) I check the box next to “Create at editing level”. If I don't do this, the ruler is always created on a layer at the bottom of the layers panel and I then scroll for a long time with large files. I create the “focus line ruler” on a new layer so that I can edit the lines later independently of the drawing of the bag.

I add the focus line ruler by clicking on the approximate middle of the purse (4). Then I draw freehand lines around the bag to draw attention to that point (5 blue).

4.5 Focuscurve

To create a focus curve ruler, I call up the "Ruler" tool (1) and select "Focus curve" (2) from the drop-down menu under "Special ruler".

With the “Focus Curve” ruler I also have the option of choosing between “Straight Line”, “Wedge Line” and “Bezier Line” (3). I also usually enable Add/Delete Anchor Points so that I have more control over the shape of the curve (4).

To draw the ruler, I click on the canvas several times along the curve (5). After I confirm the ruler by double-clicking on the last anchor point, the computer automatically turns it into a “focus curve” ruler (6). It takes the first point that I clicked as the center of the “focus line” and the other points as the curve.

What the "Focus Curve" ruler does when you draw with it is this: It focuses the lines drawn near it to the center of the "Focus Line" ruler, with the path of each line following the path of the curve (7):

If you click on a “focus curve” ruler after it has been created with the “object” tool, you have the following options for changing the ruler afterwards:

(8): You can turn the ruler on and off with the small diamond.

(9 ocher): You can use the cross to move the entire ruler.

(10 blue): If you move the node points (anchor points), you can change the course of the curve afterwards. The curve can also be edited using the tools under “Correct Line”.

 

 

Example focus curve ruler:

I draw a focus curve ruler with the following settings:

(1): I select “Focus Curve” in the drop-down menu.

(2): I select “Wedge” for the type of curve.

 

I have already carried out the following steps:

I drew a rectangle panel (4) with the panel tool (3). The settings (5) are quite clear. I want the panel to have its own folder (5a) and for it to be a rectangle panel (5b). The outline should also be drawn (5c). Then I pull up my panel (6 blue). The rest of the canvas is automatically masked (7 blue) so I can only draw in the panel.

I created a drawing in the panel (8 blue):

I now place the focus curve ruler (9) over this drawing and draw the lines (10 blue):

To make it even clearer that the person looking at the wine bottle is drunk, I'm combining all the layers of my drawing into a single grid layer. I then apply the “Liquify” tool (11) to this raster layer with the following settings:

(12): Brush size is 30 (I use mm as the unit of measurement. If you want to switch between px and mm, you can set this under File → Preferences → Ruler/Unit → Unit → Length unit.). The brush size should capture as much of the wine bottle and glass as possible.

(13): Distortion clockwise (the same direction as the lines on my ruler).

(14): Strength = 43, Hardness = 29.

(15): I check the box “Editing area only”.

Then I apply the “Liquify” tool to the drawing very briefly. The result then looks like this:

4.6 Concentric circle

To create a “Concentric Circle” special ruler, I select “Concentric Circle” under “Special Ruler” in the tool settings of the “Special Ruler” tool (1) (2).

I want to create a ruler with a fixed aspect ratio (3). And I tick the box “Adjust angle after fixing” (4).

This does the following: I draw the ruler to the size I want it to be (5).

Then I release the mouse button or take the pen off the canvas. Now I can adjust the angle of the ruler by moving the cursor up and down (6).

When I lower the pen back to the canvas (click the mouse), it assumes the angle that the ruler has and the ruler is created (7). (This only works if the checkbox for “Adjust angle after fixing” is checked. Otherwise a horizontal circle is created, but the angle can be edited later using the “Object” tool.)

If the check mark is set at “Angle step” (8 blue), the circle only snaps into place at certain angles. Which angles these are can be set using the bar or the number field under “Angle step” (9 ocher).

Once the ruler is created and clicked with the Objet tool, the following editing options are available:

(10): The small cross can be used to move the ruler along the central axis.

(11): The diamond can be used to switch the ruler on and off.

(12 ocher): To move the entire ruler, you have to click and drag on the circle. If you hold down the shift key, the ruler snaps into place along the horizontal and vertical axes.

(13 blue): The ruler can be scaled using the round handles on the arc.

(14 green): The central axis can be tilted using the small round handles along the central axis.

Example concentric circle ruler:

I want to draw a magical archway. I have already drawn the background (1) and transferred it to a panel:

Now I draw a concentric circle ruler with the following settings:

(2): I select “Concentric Circle” in the “Special Ruler” drop-down box.

(3): I check the box “Maintain aspect ratio” and select W=1.0 and H=1.0. So I create a perfect circle.

The result looks like this:

Using the ruler (4), I have already drawn two concentric circles (5 blue), which will now serve as a goal.

I add some lineart as "magic characters" and give the characters and the archway a bit of glow by duplicating the layers, moving them below their originals and applying a Gaussian Blur with a value of 15 to the copies. Then I use a texture brush to draw a cloud through which the background shimmers through a little:

4.7 Guideline

The last special ruler is the auxiliary line.

It can be created by selecting "Guide Line" (4) in the "Special Ruler" tool (1), in the "Special Ruler" drop-down box (3). But it also has its own “Guide Line” tool (2 light blue), which is in the “Create Ruler” tool in the default setting just below the “Special Ruler”.

The only setting option for the guide line is to tick the “Create on editing layer” option (5). If the check mark is not set, a new layer is created for the guide lines (for all guide lines in the document) at the very bottom of the layers panel, which is called "Guide line" (6) and has the property under "Set display area for ruler" (7). »Show on all levels« (8 light blue).

If I have selected “Guide line” in the “Special ruler”, I have to do the following to create a guide line:

First click on the canvas with the mouse (place the pen on the canvas), then hold down the mouse button (9) and drag (with the pen on the canvas) in the direction in which the auxiliary line should run. Note: Only vertical and horizontal guides can be created. To finally create the guide line, the mouse button must be released (the pen must be removed from the canvas) (10 light blue).

Second way to create a guide:

The auxiliary lines can also be pulled out of the side rulers (11) when the rulers are displayed. To do this, simply click on the ruler (12 light blue) and “pull out” the line while holding down the mouse button. The line remains red until it is released. Only then will the auxiliary line be created. Note: This method ALWAYS creates a separate layer for the guides at the bottom of the Layers panel.

Once a guide line has been created, it is selected with the “Object” tool, there are only two setting options:

(13): You can move the auxiliary line with the cross.

(14 light blue): You can use the diamond to switch the guide line on and off.

 

 

Example guide line:

I actually use the guide most often in its red state when I pull it out from the side rulers of the canvas to quickly measure whether things in the drawing are parallel to each other. I push the auxiliary line back into the ruler without releasing the mouse button, so the auxiliary line is not created and I still have a quick tool at hand to measure alignments:

Here in the example, I quickly pulled out a guide line from the top ruler to measure whether the two angles of the door openings in my background from the “Concentric Circle” ruler example are at the same height. They're pretty much at the same height, that's enough for me.

5. The perspective ruler

The operation of the perspective ruler is so extensive that it would go beyond the scope of this tutorial. There are already many – some very good – tutorials on the perspective ruler on the Clip Studio TIPS page. Simply enter “perspective ruler” in the search field at the top and you’ll get a lot of good hits.

I'm really sorry I can't provide any more help with the perspective ruler, but the plain text of this tutorial is already over 6000 words, that's 20 paperback pages. I'm afraid I've already overshot the mark.

6. The Symmetrical Ruler

The last ruler I will introduce is the “Symmetrical Ruler” (2). You can find it at the bottom of the sub-tools in the “Create ruler” tool (1).

The »Symmetric Ruler« has the following setting options:

(3): You can set the number of lines to be mirrored. 2-16 lines are possible. If you enter “2” here, you get 1 line. The specification “1” is not possible.

(4): If there are an even number of lines, you can also check “Line symmetry”. Then it is mirrored along the ruler lines. If you select an odd number of lines under “Number of lines”, this point will be grayed out. If the check mark for line symmetry is not set for a line (“2” under “Number of lines”), the mirroring will not be line-symmetrical (4a). For comparison, I draw the same line again with a mirrored line symmetry (4b blue). The purple line (4c ochre) is the center of the ruler (the one from which the ruler was created when clicking on the canvas (the small cross at 7 light blue)).

(5): If you check the box next to "Angle step", you can only create the ruler at a certain angle. What angle that is can be set on the bar and the number field.

(6): If the checkbox is checked here, the ruler will be created on the selected level. Otherwise it will be created on a new layer at the bottom of the Layers panel.

 

To create the ruler, I do the following: After selecting my settings, I click on the canvas and hold down the mouse button, thus selecting the angle at which I want the ruler to be created (7 light blue). If the checkbox is checked for “Angle step”, only certain angles are possible. The ruler is only created when I release the mouse button (8).

If you click on the created symmetry ruler with the “Object” tool, you get the following setting options:

(9): The diamond can be used to turn the ruler on and off.

(10 light blue): The ruler can be rotated using the round handles on the ruler lines.

(11 ochre): If you click on the ruler at any other point and hold down the mouse button, you can move the ruler.

 

Example symmetrical ruler:

I would like to draw the simple figure of an owl. I create a symmetrical ruler with a line (1) and line symmetry (2):

Then I draw half of the owl on one side of the ruler (3 blue). The lines are automatically mirrored to the other side (4).

7. Conclusion

Thank you if you have read this far! You have read more than 20 paperback pages of pure text and almost 49 A4 pages of text with illustrations (or so my word processing program says). I hope the information in this tutorial helps you create great drawings!