Introduction

I use Clip Studio Paint as a freelance animator working in Japanese animation.

Clip has tons of useful rulers that make complex things like perspective digestable for everyone! In this tutorial I will explain the rulers I mostly use for anime work.

 

 

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If you prefer, there is a video version of this tutorial with timelapses and narration:

The Ruler Tool

By clicking the rulers’ tool icon, you can see all the different rulers Clip has.

Symmetrical Ruler

First, I’ll talk about the symmetrical ruler. There are many shots where the character is in front of the camera, looking straight up to it. The symmetry ruler is super useful because I can draw only one side, and the other side will be drawn automatically.

Tool Properties For the Symmetrical Ruler

- The number of lines I use is the minimum, which is two, most characters have only two symmetrical sides.

- Line symmetry has to be checked, this is going to mirror the image along the vertical axis like we want to.

- I don’t check the snap angle box because pressing shift on your keyboard while making the ruler will do that.

- And for all types of rulers, you can create it on the current layer or in a new one.

 

 

Placing the Ruler

To place the ruler: Click on the canvas, drag, press shift to make it a 90-degree angle, and let go, your ruler will appear, and you may start drawing your character!

 

 

To Draw Asymmetrical Details:

To draw the hair or details that are not symmetrical in the character, you can turn the ruler off by pressing shift and clicking the icon next to the layer. This will disable it until we enable it again by clicking that same icon. And so you can continue drawing, turning the ruler on and off to use only when needed.

Additional Tips

You can copy the symmetrical ruler by selecting it, pressing alt on your keyboard, and dropping it in a new layer. This way, you can use the same ruler for different layers. Another way to switch between using symmetry or not, could be adding a new layer for the asymmetrical details and switching between layers instead of turning on and off the ruler.

Why Do Animators In Anime Need Rulers?

Animators in Japanese animation not only move the characters and make the FX but also make the layout. The layout is the background. It doesn’t have to be too detailed; it could be the general design as long as it provides good enough information, and the first step to achieve this is perspective. This will also determine how we draw the character.

Perspective rulers make my job not only possible considering the time constraints but also enjoyable!

Perspective Ruler

One-point, two-point, and three-point perspectives are the most common. I’ve used it since I started working in anime, and I don’t know what I’d do without it.

Creating the Perspective Ruler

You could create the perspective ruler with the ruler tool. Then select perspective ruler.

However I prefer another method: Go to the layer menu, then choose “ruler/frame” and then “create perspective ruler”, a pop up menu will ask which type of perspective you want.

This ruler will affect not only its corresponding layer but also other layers we add. This is convenient because we can add as many layers as we need, and the ruler will work.

The other reason I prefer this method is that I don’t have to make the vanishing points manually; I always move the lines around to edit them, so this way, I go straight to that.

Editing the Perspective Ruler

To move and edit your ruler, we have to choose the object tool. Then click on any line of the ruler, and some small icons will appear. Each of them moves different parts of the ruler. The cross with arrows moves the ruler as a whole. You can click the vanishing point and move it. In the vanishing lines, you can click the bigger circle in the middle to move the line individually.

The other two smaller circles move the line together with the vanishing point; this is useful because sometimes your vanishing points are very far away from the canvas, but you can still edit them through the vanishing lines.

Move the ruler around to set up your perspective, I recommend having a rough sketch or a photo reference to guide you. And as soon as the ruler is ready you can start drawing with confidence!

Enable/Disable Parts of the Ruler

The rhomboid icons enable or disable the ruler or parts of the ruler. All the lines, for example, they will turn a green color when disabled, and the strokes no longer snap to the perspective. It’s also possible to disable individual vanishing points; this is useful because while drawing, the program guesses which vanishing point you want, and this way, we can activate only the desired one.

Additional Tool Properties

If “fix eye level” is enabled, moving the vanishing points doesn’t affect the horizon line. If the horizon line tilts, you can open that checkbox and click horizontalize to make it horizontal.

One of the most useful things perspective rulers have are the grids. I particularly love the grid on the XZ plane because it places a floor. And suddenly, we’re grounded in a place. As a beginner, this grid helps you visualize perspective very clearly.

One-point Perspective Layout Example

Two-point Perspective Layout Example

Three-point Perspective Layout Example

Rulers to Draw Circles In Perspective

The last rulers that I use are for a specific purpose: drawing circles in perspective. As you can see in the previous examples, sometimes layouts may have circular objects. Circles in perspective are more difficult than squared things. Luckily, Clip has tools that help us.

Before drawing ellipses, I need to place some squared guides following my current perspective, the ellipses will roughly follow the squares. It may seem that I’m tracing a lot of guides, but the perspective ruler makes this very easy, and it’s even fun.

You need to know a bit of perspective theory to draw this guides, but it’s the basics!

In my case, I was only a character animator; it wasn't until I started working in anime that I had to draw more backgrounds than I had ever drawn before. So, if you only have the basic theory, that is more than enough to start; together with the rulers’ help, you’re good to go!

Figure Ruler - Ellipse

To draw the ellipse I most often use the figure ruler with the ellipse option. And I follow the square from one corner to the opposite corner. With the object tool, I can modify the ellipse.

There are different transform modes: control points with scale and rotation or only control points and the usual modes available when transforming. I regularly use free transform because I can match the points in the ruler with the square guide I drew. When that the ruler is in place, you can simply draw the ellipse and your line will follow it!

Special Ruler - Concentric circle

This ruler allows us to make infinite parallel ellipses.

It is a very powerful ruler. However, its transform options are more limited than the figure ruler; we cannot free transform it, skew or distort it, or any other options. We can only rotate its angle or squish and stretch the ellipses’ sides. This limits do not allow us to place the ellipse correctly in perspective, but there’s a trick we can do:

First, we place a figure ruler, transform it by following the square guides, and draw the ellipse. This ellipse has the same properties the concentric circles ruler has—two axes, one longer than the other, and an inclination.

So what we can do is use this circle as a guide for the concentric ruler; this way, we know how to place it. And you can draw as many ellipses as you need in perspective!

Conclusion

In conclusion, these are the rulers that I mostly use:

I’ve used the radial and parallel rulers a couple of times, so it’s worth checking them all out because the occasion to use them may arrive. But for now, with these four rulers you’re good to start constructing layouts for animation!