About Harmony’s drawing tools

This article is about tools that create artwork in Harmony Premium and Advanced. If you would like to read about tools that can edit artwork in Harmony, see About Harmony’s artwork editing tools.

Drawing tools in Harmony Premium and Advanced consist of the following:

• Tools that only create artwork on vector layers
• Tools that create artwork on both vector and bitmap layers

If you would like to know about the difference between bitmap and vector artwork in Harmony, please see About bitmap and vector in Harmony.

Brush tool

Icon:	Properties:
	Vector or Bitmap?: Both
	Pros: Versatile with a more intuitive feeling to the strokes when drawing. Can be used to create artwork on both vector and bitmap layers.
	Restrictions: Can only change the colour after drawing, not the brush preset, texture or overall line size.
	Can be edited with these tools on vector layers:
	Can be edited with these tools on bitmap layers:

Vector Brush Strokes:

When using the Brush tool on a vector layer, a vector or hybrid brush line is characterised by an envelope with points surrounding the stroke. Points on this envelope can be edited and manipulated to create changes in the shape. Colours can also easily be changed after the line is drawn.

Bitmap Brush Strokes:

When using the Brush tool on a bitmap layer, any artwork will be flattened into a single shape and will show a bounding box around the whole artwork when selected. Artwork created on a bitmap layer can only be edited by select editing tools.

Pencil tool

Icon:	Properties:
	Vector or Bitmap?: Vector only.
	Pros: Change the size, texture, and preset of the line after drawing. Lines are controlled and good for clean-up.
	Restrictions: Does not feel as natural or textured as brush strokes.
	Can be edited with these tools on vector layers:

Pencil Strokes:

Pencil lines are vector-only and are characterised by a centreline or spine when it is selected. Points on this spine can be edited and manipulated to create changes in the shape. After drawing a pencil line, you can apply presets directly to the line or even change its overall stroke size. Colours and textures can also be changed.

Shape tools

The Shape tools include the Rectangle tool, the Ellipse tool, the Line tool and the Polyline tool.

Shape tool:		Description:
	Rectangle tool	Creates rectangle or square shapes with 4 points. Can be used on vector and bitmap layers.
	Ellipse tool	Creates oval or circular shapes. Can be used on vector and bitmap layers.
	Line tool	Creates straight or curved lines with 2 points. Can be used on vector and bitmap layers.
	Polyline tool	Creates freeform shapes using a series of joined lines that are curved and/or straight. Can only be used on vector layers.

Shape Tool Properties:

Shape Strokes:

All strokes created by Shape tools are pencil lines, and can be edited with the exact same editing tools and techniques.

This means they have a centreline or spine when selected, and settings like presets, thickness and colours can easily be updated after creation.

The only difference between the Shape and Pencil tools is that some Shape tools can be used on bitmap layers, but the created artwork will immediately be flattened.

Vector layer shapes

Bitmap layer shapes

Stroke tool

Icon:	Properties:
	Vector or Bitmap?: Vector only.
	Pros: Create invisible strokes that you can fill without having lineart.
	Restrictions: Need to have strokes activated to see unfilled shapes.
	Can be edited with these tools on vector layers:

Strokes:

Stroke tool strokes are vector-only and are represented by a blue vector line when activated. When drawing strokes, it is very similar to drawing with the Pencil tool as strokes are defined by a centerline with points.