Erasing Parts of a Drawing

The Eraser tool is pressure sensitive, giving you more precision when erasing parts of a drawing.

To erase with the Eraser tool:

  1. In the Thumbnails or Timeline view, select the panel where you want to erase.

  1. In the Thumbnails or Stage view, select a layer.

  1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Eraser tool or press [Alt]+[E].
  1. In the Stage view, start erasing.
NOTE: When working in vector, you can also use the Select tool to select drawing objects and delete them instead of erasing.
NOTE: The Cutter tool can also be used to select part of a drawing and then hit delete to erase it.

Eraser Tool Properties

When you select the Eraser tool, its properties and options appear in the Tool Properties view. The properties available are different depending on whether you are drawing on a vector or bitmap layer.

To adjust the eraser properties:

In the Tool Properties view, click the arrow button.

The Properties window of the Eraser tool opens.

To adjust eraser properties on bitmap layers:

  1. Do the following:
Maximum/Minimum Size: Defines the minimum and maximum width of the stroke.
Maximum/Minimum Flow: Sets the rate at which colour is applied as you draw a stroke. As you draw over an area, the amount of colour builds up based on the flow rate, up to the maximum flow rate you set.
Spacing: Controls the spacing between the brush marks of a stroke.
Hardness: Controls the size of the brush's hard centre.
Select Texture: Uses a pattern to make strokes—see Drawing with Textured Brushes.
Texture Scale: Determines the size of the texture used in strokes.

To adjust eraser properties on vector layers:

  1. Do the following:
Maximum/Minimum Size: Defines the minimum and maximum width of the stroke.
Smoothing: Defines the number of control points added to the centre line.
Contour Smoothing: Defines the number of control points added to the contour boundaries (around the line). Lower values mean that the line will appear as you draw it (with more control points added along the centre line). Higher values mean that the line will be smoothed out (removing control points from the centre line).
Tip Shape: Lets you select a shape for the tip of the eraser. There are a variety of tips to choose from: round, square, oval, star-shaped and more.

Eraser Presets

The Eraser tool uses the same Brush presets as the Brush tool. Storyboard Pro provides a variety of eraser presets, which you can create and save.It is a good idea to create and save eraser brushes with precise sizes and parameters for drawing and design.

NOTE: If you are working on a vector layer, you can only have a solid eraser. When working on a bitmap layer, you also have texture erasers available.
Selecting an Eraser Style

To select an eraser style:

In the Eraser Tool Properties, select an eraser preset from the Presets section.

Adding an Eraser

To add an eraser style:

  1. Set the properties of the Eraser tool the way you'd like the new preset to be.
  1. Click the Add Brush Style button.

The new eraser style appears at the end of the Brush Styles drop-down menu list.

Renaming an Eraser

Renaming an eraser can make it easier to identify and access the erasers you use most frequently.

To rename an eraser:

  1. In the Tool Properties view, select an eraser to rename.
  1. From the Brush menu, select Rename Brush.
  1. Type in a new name for the eraser.
Deleting an Eraser

To delete an eraser:

  1. Click the arrow button of the Brush Style menu.
  1. Select the eraser you want to delete from the Brush Style list.
  1. Click the Delete Brush Style button.