Artwork widget

The Artwork widget puts a PlexiiDraw artwork on your desk. Draw with vector shapes and pen paths that stay sharp at any size, paint with brushes on paint layers, and combine shapes with pathfinder. Then export the result as a PNG, an SVG or a PDF.

Use it for an icon, a logo, a simple illustration or a hand-drawn diagram that needs more than a sketch.

An Artwork is a real Office file. You draw on the desk, and the same file is listed in PlexiiDraw, where you can open it with more room.

Before you start

• The Artwork widget is on every plan.
• You need a desk open.
• Artwork needs no AI and no keys. Everything you draw is your own work.

Add an Artwork

1. Open the desk you want it on.
2. Click Add widget in the centre of the header.
3. In the Draw & diagram column, click Artwork.

Other ways to add one:

• Right-click an empty part of the desk and choose Add object > Files > Artwork. It appears where you clicked.
• Press ⌘ K on a Mac or Ctrl K on Windows and choose Add Artwork.

PlexiDesk creates a new artwork file for the widget, named Artwork, with a 1920 × 1080 landscape artboard and one empty vector layer. The widget starts at 780 × 560. For more room, drag its edges, or use the + button in its title bar.

What is in the widget

• The menu bar: File, Edit, Object, Layer, Document, View and Help.
• The tools, in a column at the side.
• The options strip along the top: the current tool, zoom, Fit to window, Show grid, snapping and the artboard size.
• The artboard, where you draw.
• The Layers panel.

For a short guide inside the widget, choose Help > How PlexiDraw works.

Vector layers and paint layers

An artwork is a stack of layers of two kinds:

• A vector layer holds shapes, paths and text. The pen, pencil, shape and type tools draw on it.
• A paint layer holds painted pixels. The brush, eraser and paint bucket work on it.

Add either kind with the two buttons above the layers list, or from the Layer menu: New vector layer or New paint layer. Click a layer to draw on it.

The tools

Rest the pointer on a tool to see its name.

The two swatches below the tools show the Current fill and the Current stroke, the colours the next shape is drawn with.

Draw a shape

1. Click a vector layer in the Layers panel.
2. Choose a shape tool, such as Rectangle.
3. Drag on the artboard. Hold Shift while you drag for a perfect square or circle.

Draw a curve with the Pen

1. Choose Pen.
2. Click to place corner points, or click and drag to make a curve.
3. Click the first point again to close the shape.

To change a path afterwards, choose Edit points and drag its anchors or handles. Hold Alt while dragging a handle to move it on its own.

Paint

1. Click a paint layer, or add one.
2. Choose Brush and paint on the artboard. [ and ] make the brush smaller and larger.
3. Use Eraser to rub out, Paint bucket to fill an area, and Eyedropper to pick up a colour from the artwork.

To paint over shapes, turn their vector layer into pixels first with the layer's rasterize button (its tooltip says Rasterize layer — turn its shapes into pixels).

Combine and arrange shapes

Select two or more shapes, then use the Object menu:

• Pathfinder: Unite, Minus front, Intersect or Exclude makes one new shape from them.
• Arrange: Bring to front, Bring forward, Send backward, Send to back.
• Align: Left, Center, Right, Top, Middle, Bottom.

Work with layers

In the Layers panel, for the selected layer:

• Blend and Opacity change how the layer mixes with those below it.
• The eye and the lock hide or lock a layer.
• Double-click a layer's name to rename it.
• Buttons move it up or down, duplicate it, merge it down into the layer below, or delete it. An artwork always keeps at least one layer.

Move around the artboard

• Zoom with the zoom buttons in the options strip, or hold ⌘ on a Mac or Ctrl on Windows and scroll. Fit to window shows the whole artboard.
• Pan with the Pan tool, or hold Space and drag.

Change the artboard

• Document > Artboard size… sets the width and height, from 16 to 12000 pixels each, then click Resize. Only the canvas changes: your layers keep their places, and painted pixels are not stretched.
• Document > Background sets the background: Transparent, White, Black or Paper.

Export your artwork

1. Open the File menu.
2. Choose Export PNG…, Export SVG… or Export PDF….
3. Choose where to save the file.

The options strip shows Saved to and where the file went. SVG keeps vector shapes as vectors, so it suits logos and icons that need to scale. See Export artwork.

Open it in PlexiiDraw

The artwork file is listed in PlexiiDraw under Your artwork. Open it there to draw with more room. It is one file, not a copy: changes on the desk show in PlexiiDraw, and the other way round. Renaming the widget does not rename the file.

Removing the widget takes it off the desk. The file stays in PlexiiDraw. See PlexiDraw overview.

Publishing a live view

When you publish a live view of a desk, an Artwork widget shows as a placeholder. To share your artwork, export it and share the file. See Publish a live view of a desk.

Common questions

The brush does nothing. The selected layer is a vector layer. Click a paint layer, or add one with New paint layer.

The shape tools do nothing. The selected layer is a paint layer. Click a vector layer, or add one with New vector layer.

I cannot delete the last layer. An artwork needs at least one layer. Add another layer first, or clear this one.

Can AI draw for me? No. Artwork is for drawing by hand. To make a picture from a description, use the Image widget.

Where is my file? In PlexiiDraw, under Your artwork, named Artwork unless you renamed it there.

Related tasks

• Draw & diagram widgets
• PlexiDraw overview
• Vector tools and Pathfinder
• Paint with brushes
• Export artwork