Drawing tools
Primitives
| Tool | Key |
|---|---|
| Rectangle | Q |
| Ellipse | Shift + Q |
| Polygon | — |
| Star | — |
| Line Segment | — |
Drag on the canvas to draw. The ToolOptionsBar under the toolbar carries the contextual options for whichever tool is active.
A polygon or a star stays parametric after you draw it: its Polystar section in the Properties panel holds type, points, rotation, radii and roundness, all keyframeable.
Freehand and path tools
| Tool | Key | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Pen | G | Click for corners, drag for Bézier handles |
| Pencil | — | Freehand, converted to a path |
| Brush | — | Pressure-sensitive ink — a real variable-width stroke, not a constant-width path |
| Curvature Pen | — | Click points; curvature is inferred |
| Knife | Shift + K | Drag across a shape to cut its path |
Use Direct Selection (Shift + V) to select individual points and handles on an existing path. The Pen’s flyout also holds Add Vertex, Delete Vertex and Convert Vertex.
The tools without a key can be given one in Customize ▸ Shortcuts.
Direct Selection is Shift + V, not A — bare A is the anchor-point reveal chord in the timeline.
The brush is pressure-sensitive on hardware that reports pressure. If you are drawing with a mouse it behaves as a constant-width stroke.
Fills and strokes
Both live in the Appearance section of the Properties panel.
| Property | Options |
|---|---|
| Fill | Solid colour, or a multi-stop linear or radial gradient |
| Stroke | Same, plus width |
| Stroke style | Solid, dashed, or tapered |
| Corner radius | On rectangles |
Gradients take as many stops as you need, each with its own position and colour.
Boolean path merges
With two or more shape layers selected, merge their paths:
| Operation | Result |
|---|---|
| Union | Everything covered by either |
| Subtract | The first, minus the rest |
| Intersect | Only where they overlap |
| Exclude | Everywhere except the overlap |
Each comes in two forms. The live operation keeps the source shapes editable and recomputes the result; Merge Paths (Bake) replaces them with the merged outline.
Reachable from Layer → Path Operations, the Pathfinder section of the Properties panel (it appears once two shapes are selected), a layer’s right-click Merge Paths menu, and the command palette.
Where to go next
Once a path exists, the interesting work is in the operators — repeater, trim paths, pucker and bloat, twist, zig-zag, round corners. Those are what turn a static shape into motion graphics. See Shape operators.