Hand

Used to pan the page and colourway objects. Access the Hand Tool when working with other tools such as annotation arrows by holding down the spacebar. This helps you to work quickly, reducing the amount of time you have to spend changing tools.

Magnify

Used for zooming the page and for zooming colourways bigger and smaller. To zoom the page you need to click on the white area. To zoom a colourway you need to click on the colourway.

Origin

Used to select and edit objects in the Layout Window. You must have this tool selected before you can move or resize any object on the page.

Rotate

Used to rotate selected objects including text, geometric shapes and colourways using the track pad. If you do not use a track pad, you can rotate objects using the Rotate option in the Layout Inspector.

Text

Used for adding and editing text in the Layout Window. To learn more about this, click here.

Oval and square tools

• Oval - introduce creative elliptical or circular backdrops for your colourways, or draw custom colour chips to add to your colourway. Once you have drawn and recoloured an ellipse, hold down ^ (control key) and click on the shape to open the contextual menu. Select Make Default for this Shape so each new shape drawn with this tool adopts the current properties. To draw perfect circles hold down ⇧ (shift key)  as you draw the shape.
• Square - similar to the oval, this tool is used to square and rectangular objects on the page, which can be used to embellish your presentation. To draw perfect squares hold down ⇧ (shift key)  as you draw the shape.

Once the shapes are drawn, you can set them to a specific size by clicking on the object to activate it, then go to Layout Menu > Size or by clicking on the Size icon in the toolbar.

You can also set them to be outlines instead of solid shapes by clicking on the object to activate it, opening the Layout Inspector (Layout Menu) and clicking on the Style tab:

The Edge option is used to specify the width of a outline and is perfect from creating frames around colourways and Texture Mapping scenes in the Layout Window.

These shapes can be recoloured in the same way layers are in and the Layers Palette;

• hold down ⌥ (option key) on the keyboard and click on the shape to open to a colour picker or
• double click on the shape to open the active colour file or
• drag a colour from the Swatches Palette, Layers Palette or colour file to the shape

Annotations

Used to annotate your Layout Window. They are easy to apply and present advanced layout opportunities such as precise repeat dimension indicators and precise production notes which could be hidden or shown using Annotation Layers.

• Line - to change the width of a line, make sure it is active (has nodes around it) and use the Edge setting in the Style tab in the Layout Inspector
• Arrow - change the width of an arrow in the same way as you change the line
• Double ended arrow - change the width of a double ended arrow in the same way as you change the line
• Star - when a star shape is active (has nodes around it) additional settings appears in the Style tab of the Layout Inspector which is used to control the opacity and number of points the shape has
• Heart - to change the shape of a heart, drag the nodes until the desired form is achieved
• Speech bubble - the characteristics of speech bubbles are changed in the same way as you edit a heart shape

Change the colour of annotations

Annotations are recoloured in the same way layers are in and the Layers Palette;

• ⌥ (option key) click on the arrow/line to open to a colour picker or
• double click on the arrow/line shape to open the active colour file or
• drag a colour from the Swatches Palette, Layers Palette or colour file to the arrow or line

Saving the properties to use on new shapes

Once you have set up your shape or annotation to the size, shape and colour you want, you can ^ (control key)  click on the shape which reveals the option ‘Make Default for this shape’.  This make the current settings applied to the selected shape or annotation the default settings for that particular shape, meaning each time you draw a new shape of that format, it will adopt all the characteristics as the selected one.