Shape Tool

The Shape Tool allows you to create any pre-made geometric shapes.

It is located inside the Toolbar (on the left side of the canvas) and will give you access to different shape options in the context menu, such as:

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‍Rectangle | To activate it, click the Rectangle button or press the ~key~ R ~key~ key on the keyboard. When selected, you can change the roundness of the corners of your object.‍

Polygon | Slide to alter the number of sides in the object.‍

Oval | To activate the circle shape, click the Rectangle button or press the ~key~ O ~key~ key on the keyboard. Holding the Shift Key while drawing your shape allows you to create a perfect circle.‍

Star | Slide to define the number of points contained in the star shape.‍

Line | To activate the line shape, click on the Line icon or press the ~key~ L ~key~ key on the keyboard.‍

Spiral | Slide up and down to alter the decay of the Spiral shape.

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To add any kind of pre-made Shape to your document, you can click and drag anywhere on the canvas.

Pro Tip – Hold the ~key~ ⇧ ~key~ button to keep a 1:1 aspect ratio of your shape while dragging it onto the canvas. This is pretty useful if you want to draw a square or circle.

How to Draw Premade Shapes

To draw a premade shape on the Canvas, select one of the Shapes in the Shape Tool menu and click and drag anywhere on the canvas. If you want to create a square instead of a rectangle, hold shift while clicking and dragging on the canvas. The same technique is applicable to the Oval Tool.

Select the Oval Tool, hold shift while clicking and dragging on the canvas and you will get a circle shape instead of an oval shape. When you drag the Oval Shape Tool or the Rectangle Shape Tool from left to right on the canvas, the position of the cursor will be the top left corner of your shape.

Polygon Shapes and Star Shapes will be automatically drawn from the center of the shape.

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Pro Tip – Depending on the direction you drag, the top of the shape takes that direction. I drag up, the point is up and vice versa

How to Edit the Corner Radius

Any corner point of a vector shape can have sharp or rounded corners. In Vectornator you can use the Corner Radius Slider to adjust the corner radius of a shape. To change the radius of the corners of your shape, click and drag on the Corner Radius Slider inside the Style Inspector (Appearance section) while your shape is selected.

If you want to change only a single corner point of your shape, select only one corner point of your shape by using the Node Tool. Then click and drag along the Corner Radius slider to adjust it.

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How to Change the Number of Sides

There are two different ways for you to change the number of sides in your shape, including:

1 – Using the Slider to the right of the Polygon Tool:

To the right of the Polygon Tool, you’ll find a slider that allows you to control the number of sides in your polygon. Slide to change the value or click to enter the value using the keypad.

2 – Using the Slider inside the Style Inspector:

After you draw a shape, you can still change the number of sides by using the slider that appears automatically in the Polygon Content Aware Options at the top of the Style Inspector while you have the shape selected.

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How to Draw Straight Lines

Activate the Line Tool by selecting the Line icon in the Toolbar or by pressing the L shortcut. Click on the canvas where you want the line to begin, and then drag it to where you want the line to end. Hold down shift to let your line snap at 45° increments.

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The Star Tool

Creating stars in Vectornator can be easily done by using the Star Tool.

To activate it, simply click on the Shape tool inside the Toolbar (8th from the top) and then select the Star.

To the right of the Star Tool, you’ll find a slider (2) that allows you to control the number of points in your star shape. The number displayed in the slider corresponds to the number of points. The same slider will appear at the top of the Inspector as Content Aware Options (3).

Star Tool Shortcuts

When drawing with the Star Tool, you can modify the shape of your star by using shortcuts that will help you to modify the points of your shape and their direction.

• If you hold down ~key~⇧~key~ while you are creating your star, you can change how sharp or soft the angle of each spike will be.
• You can also change the direction of the spikes by clicking & dragging up or down to switch the orientation of your Star Shape.

How to Draw Spirals

Creating spirals in Vectornator can be easily done by using the Spiral Tool. To activate it, simply click the Spiral Icon inside the Toolbar (the bottom one). To the right of the Spiral Tool, you can control its decay value (2).

The Decay specifies the amount by which each wind of the spiral should decrease relative to the previous wind.

To draw a new spiral, click and drag anywhere on the canvas. Click on the canvas, where you want the Spiral line to begin, and then drag from bottom to up or vice versa or left to right or vice versa to set its direction.

How to Edit a Shape Precisely

At the very top of the Inspector, you can change the shape's position, rotation angle, and other options. To enter a value manually, click into the number field (W, H) and enter the value. To keep the proportions of your original shape, click the Padlock between the Width and Height numeric fields.

Now when you know all the shapes, check out the geometric graphic design topic and get inspired!

Video Recap

In the video below, we will recap the main building blocks of any creative project in Vectornator - the basic shapes. We’ll show you how to use the different Tools and we’ll explain all the gestures, tips, and tricks of the different shape options.