Ellipse Tool Properties

The Ellipse tool allows you to quickly draw an ellipse or a circle.

NOTE For tasks related to the Ellipse tool, see About the Rectangle, Ellipse and Line Tools.

Pencil Properties

Just like other shape tools, this tool creates pencil lines. Hence, its tool properties are similar to the ones of the Pencil tool and it can be used with pencil presets.

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.
Size	Defines the width of the pencil line used to draw the shape.
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 shape is 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, the shape you draw is automatically filled with the selected colour. By default, drawing a shape only creates its outlines.
	Snapping	Allows you to enable or disable snapping for this tool and all other animation and drawing tools that support snapping, as well as to select which types of snapping are enabled. If you double-click or long-click on this button, it will open a pop-up menu in which you can toggle different snapping modes. You can also click on this button to toggle it off, which will disable all snapping modes, and click on it again and toggle it on to re-enable the snapping modes which were previously enabled. This tool supports the following snapping modes: Snap to Contour: When enabled, while you're drawing, the mouse cursor will snap to the nearby contours of the artwork in your drawing. Snap to Alignment Guides: When enabled, while you're drawing, the drawing tool will snap against nearby alignment guides—see About Alignment Guides. Snap and Align: When enabled, while you're drawing, the mouse cursor will automatically align to the rectangular bounding boxes of other strokes and shapes in your drawing.
	Auto Flatten Mode	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 use 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.

Pencil Properties Dialog

The Ellipse tool draws the same type of line as the Pencil tool. Hence, you can configure the Ellipse tool's lines using the Pencil Properties dialog, which you can open by clicking on the arrow button right of the stroke display area in the Tool Properties view.

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.
Centerline Smoothing	Defines the amount of smoothing Storyboard Pro should perform on the central line of the pencil stroke. A higher setting will prevent your line from being shaky and will reduce the amount of control points it has, making it easier to tweak, but is liable to reduce drawing precision and turn sharp angles into curves.
Contour Smoothing	Defines the amount of smoothing Storyboard Pro should perform on the outer contour of the pencil stroke. A pencil line is defined by its centreline and its variations in thickness, rather than its apparent shape. When drawing a pencil line with a mouse, its thickness is uniform. Therefore, its outer contour does not have any control point, except at its extremities, and no smoothing is required for its contour. However, when drawing a pencil line with a pressure sensitive tablet, its contour will have control points and Bezier curves to define the line's variations in thickness, and thus smoothing must be performed on its contour. An increased contour smoothing will reduce the amount of control points on the line's thickness and smoothen its curves, but may affect the precision of the variations in line thickness.
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.