Tools Toolbar

The Tools toolbar contains the main tools you need to work in Storyboard Pro. In the default workspace, this toolbar located on the left edge of the application window.

By default, the Tools toolbar hides some of its tools inside pop-up menus. For example, to select the Cutter tool, you must double-click or long-click the Select tool button, and select Cutter in the pop-up menu.

However, it is possible to make the Tools toolbar display each tool as a separate button by enabling the Flat Tools Toolbar preference. This makes the selection of tools quicker.

Tool Name Icon Description

Select

Allows you to select and reposition, scale, rotate and skew brush strokes, pencil lines, shapes and other parts of your artwork.

Cutter

Allows you to cut a part of your artwork, then reposition, scale, rotate and skew it.

Select by Colour

Allows you to quickly select all zones painted with the colour you click on in a single drawing layer.

Contour Editor

Allows you to edit the vector contours of brush strokes, pencil lines and shapes in your artwork. You can add, remove, tweak and move vector points, move the Bezier handles of the vector points as well as deform vector outlines.

Centerline Editor

Allows you to tweak and deform a brush stroke by manipulating the points at the centre of its line rather than its contour.

Perspective

Allows you to deform artwork by applying a perspective effect on it.

Edit Gradient/Texture

Allows you to adjust the position, angle and size of gradients and textures in a colour zone.

Brush

A pressure-sensitive tool for creating a contour shape with a thick and thin line effect, as if created with a paint brush.

Stencil Brush Allows you to paint over existing artwork within the boundaries of that artwork or the boundaries set by selecting the artwork of different layers.

Pencil

A pressure-sensitive tool for drawing outlines. Pencil lines are made of central vector lines, making them easier to tweak and edit than brush strokes.

Text

Allows you to add text and to format it.

Eraser

A pressure-sensitive tool for erasing parts of a drawing.

Paint

Allows you to fill colour zones with a colour or texture.

Paint Unpainted

Allows you to quickly fill empty zones in your artwork with a colour or texture, leaving filled zones unchanged.

Unpaint

Allows you to empty filled colour zones of their colour and texture.

Close Gap

Allows you to close open shapes so that they can be filled with the Paint tool. By drawing a stroke near a small gap in a shape, this tool will create a small invisible stroke connecting the two closest points around the gap.

Line

Draws a straight line segment going from one point to the other.

Rectangle

Draws a rectangle.

Ellipse

Draws an ellipse.

Polyline

Allows you to draw shapes, segmented lines or complex curved lines by clicking to create each point in the sequence of line segments.

Dropper

Allows you to select a colour by clicking on a colour in your artwork.

Hand

Allows you to pan the Stage and Camera views.

Zoom

Allows you zoom in and out of the Stage and Camera views.

Rotate View

Lets you rotate the Stage and Camera views just like with a real animation disc.

Shift and Trace

Allows you to temporarily move drawings so you can trace over them in other drawings using Onion Skin.

3D Navigation

Lets you navigate through a scene in 3D using the following:

  • Left mouse button for rotation.
  • Middle mouse button for panning.
  • Right mouse button for zooming in and out.

3D Flying Navigation

Lets you navigate through a scene in 3D using the following:

  • Use the mouse for rotation.
  • Use the mouse wheel to move forwards or backwards.
  • Use the arrow keys and PgUp/PgDn to move in all six directions.
Layer Transform Allows you to select drawing layers and position, rotate, scale and skew them.

Camera

Allows you to position and rotate the camera, as well as to animate camera movements.

Reframe

Allows you to offset the position of the content of the panels for the entire scene so that it fits in the camera frame you define.

Maintain Size

Keeps the visual scale in the Camera view as you move elements in the Z-axis in the Top or Side views.

Create Layer on Surface

Creates a new layers on top of the surface over which you are hovering with the mouse cursor.