Pencil Tool Properties

The Pencil tool allows you to draw simple contour lines that are defined by their centerline and their thickness.

When you select the Pencil tool, the Tool Properties view displays the different Pencil modes that control how the pencil line is drawn.

NOTE For tasks related to this tool, see About the Pencil Tool.

Pencil Properties

The following properties affect the pencil's size, smoothing, shape and other properties for the drawing style of your pencil. Those properties can be saved into pencil presets for later use.

Property	Description
Preview Area	The Preview area lets you see a preview of the stroke your drawing tool will make.
Pencil Properties Dialog	The arrow button right of the preview area opens the Pencil Properties dialog. While the Tool Properties view only gives you access to a few of the pencil properties, a list of pencil presets and other drawing options, the Pencil Properties dialog gives you access to all the available options for your pencil's shape and texture. For more information on the Pencil Properties dialog, see the Pencil Properties Dialog section below.
Maximum Size	Defines the maximum width of the pencil line. If the tool is used with a pressure sensitive pen tablet, the width of the stroke will vary between its maximum size and minimum size depending on the amount of pressure used. If used with a mouse, the width of the stroke will always be its maximum size.
Smoothing	Defines the number of control points added to the centre line. The fewer the control points the smoother (but less faithful) the line.
Shape	You can adjust the start, end, and join style of a pencil line. Start: Lets you select the style of the start tip, which is the first tip you drew. You can choose between Round or Flat style. End: Lets you select the style of the end tip, which is the last tip you drew. You can choose between Round or Flat style. Join: Lets you select the joint style. The joints are where the line curves abruptly. You could also define the Join style as the corner style. You can choose between Round, Mitre and Bevel style.

Pencil Presets

These options allow you to select, create and manage pencil presets.

Icon	Property	Description
	Presets list	Storyboard Pro provides a few pencil presets and also lets you create and save your own. It is a good idea to create and save pencils with precise sizes and parameters when you draw for efficiency and consistency. You can export the pencil presets that you have created and import those that others have created. This is a good way for you and project collaborators to keep a consistent look for the project.
	New Brush Preset	Creates a new preset based on the current tool properties.
	Delete Brush Preset	Deletes the currently selected preset.
	Brush Presets Menu	Open a menu that contains the following options: New Brush Preset: Creates a new preset based on the current tool properties. Delete Brush: Deletes the currently selected preset. Rename Brush: Allows you to rename the currently selected preset. Import Brushes: Allows you to import brush presets exported from Storyboard Pro. Export Brushes: Allows you to export your brush presets into an .xml file. Small Thumbnail: Displays presets in a grid of small thumbnails with a preview of their tip. Large Thumbnail: Displays presets in a grid of big thumbnails, with their name and a preview of their tip. Stroke View: Displays presets in a list, with their name and a preview of a stroke done with each preset.

Drawing Options

These options affect the way your drawing strokes are added to your artwork.

Icon	Property	Description
	Draw Behind	When enabled, your brush strokes will appear behind the existing artwork. NOTE Your brush stroke will temporarily appear over your artwork as you draw it, until you release the mouse cursor or tablet pen. If you want a live preview of your stroke, activate the Realistic Preview option by selecting View > Realistic Preview from the top menu.
	Auto Fill	When enabled, drawing a closed shape will automatically fill it with the currently selected Paint colour.
	Trim Extra Lines	When enabled, drawing a closed shape will automatically remove the outstanding lines.
	Align Handles After Trim	When the Trim Extra Lines option is enabled, enable this option to make the point where the beginning and end of the stroke meet into a smooth curve rather than a hard corner.
	Auto Flatten	By default, when drawing on a vector layer, each new stroke is created as a separate drawing object, which can be edited independently from other parts of the artwork. When enabled, the Auto-Flatten option automatically merges strokes into existing artwork. NOTE Using the Select tool, you can select and remove a segment of flattened pencil lines. Overlapping pencil lines drawn with the Auto-Flatten mode are essentially cut into segments by the overlap and can be treated as individual lines.
	Auto-Close Gap	When enabled, small gaps between the pencil lines you draw will be closed by an invisible stroke to make sure your shapes are closed and that they can be filled with the Paint tool. When drawing contours with pencil lines, the centreline is used to determine whether or not the contour is closed, but the visible tips of the pencil line will extend a bit beyond the tips of its centreline, making it possible to have shapes that appear closed, but are not really. This can prevent the shape from being filled with the Paint tool. Enabling this option when drawing with the Pencil or Line tool will prevent you from leaving invisible gaps in your contours.

Pencil Properties Dialog

Pencils have extra parameters which are not accessible from the Tool Properties view. To open the Pencil Properties dialog, click on the arrow button right of the stroke display area.

Property	Description
Maximum Size	Defines the maximum size of the pencil line. If the tool is used with a pressure sensitive pen tablet, the width of the stroke will vary between its maximum size and minimum size depending on the amount of pressure used. If used with a mouse, the width of the stroke will always be its maximum size.
Minimum Size	Defines the minimum size of your stroke as a percentage of the maximum size. If you do not have pressure sensitivity from a pen table, the minimum size value will be ignored.
Smoothing	Defines the number of control points added to the centre line. The fewer the control points the smoother (but less faithful) the line.
Contour Smoothing	Defines the number of points on the contour share of your stroke. This will smooth out the bumps and waves on tour contour shape of your brush strokes.
Shape	You can adjust the start, end, and join style of a pencil line. Start: Lets you select the style of the start tip, which is the first tip you drew. You can choose between Round or Flat style. End: Lets you select the style of the end tip, which is the last tip you drew. You can choose between Round or Flat style. Join: Lets you select the joint style. The joints are where the line curves abruptly. You could also define the Join style as the corner style. You can choose between Round, Mitre and Bevel style.