Outline drawing

Start with the drawing tools in the Editor title bar. Click a tool, then click on the canvas. The letter shortcuts T, V, P, I, and C select the same tools. Enter a glyph first (Cmd/Ctrl+Enter or double-click an outline). The tools other than Text stay unavailable until you are in outline editing.

Toolslink

• Text (T) leaves outline editing and returns to the text run.
• Select (V) clicks and drags points, handles, components, and other objects. Entering a glyph always starts on Select.
• Pen (P) draws a new contour point by point, or continues from a selected open end. Each click places a point. Click the first point to close, or connect to another open end to join two contours. While Pen is active, drawing can continue beyond the current glyph width; nearby glyphs are ignored so they do not steal the gesture.
• Insert (I) clicks a segment to add a node. It is enabled when the layer has path segments. The hover preview is a smooth node on a curve and a corner square on a straight segment.
• Convert (C) clicks a straight segment to turn it into a curve. It is enabled when the layer has straight segments.
• Cut (toolbar only) clicks an on-curve node to open the contour there. Click a segment to insert a node at that point and cut in the same step. It is enabled when the layer has contours.

Pen only draws. Insert only inserts. Convert only converts. Cut only cuts. Switch back to Select when you want to move points.

Select, move, and measurelink

With Select, click a point, then drag. Handles appear on curve points. Make small moves first so you can tell whether you changed one segment or the whole rhythm. Click a line or curve (away from its ends) to select that segment’s two on-curve nodes. Double-click selects the whole contour. Shift-click a segment to add or remove it: a neighbor already selected adds or removes only the new end node; a segment between two selected neighbors adds or removes both of its nodes and leaves the outer nodes selected. Shift does the same add/remove on nodes, anchors, and components. Nodes, anchors, and path segments are picked before component fills. An anchor that sits on a node keeps a slightly larger pick ring around that node so the outer chrome is clickable.

Right-click a component and choose Decompose to replace it with the transformed outlines in that same place. Linked layers get the same action on the matching component; a background layer stays local. Automatic vs manual placement is in Automatic composition.

Subtract in the property panel marks selected paths as cutters (fip001-boolean). They punch a hole in everything below them in shape order; paths drawn later sit on top. Nodes stay editable. Cutter strokes are dashed. Cutter fill uses the same transparency as path fill (Fill in Editing View → View) and covers the whole cutter except where a later solid covers it. Solids below a cutter drop fill in the overlap, matching the compiled hole. Glyph overview tiles punch the same holes. Compile flattens any glyph that uses a cutter (including through components) and runs the same boolean. Linked layers get the flag at the same shape indexes.

With two or more closed paths selected, the same panel shows Union, Difference, Intersection, and Exclusion. Those rewrite the selected paths. Difference keeps the lowest path in shape order and subtracts the others. Linked layers get the same operation. If the results would no longer match across those layers, the editor asks before applying.

Right-click selected shapes and open Arrange for Bring Forward, Send Backward, Bring to Front, and Send to Back. The same actions move mixed path and component selections together, including on linked layers.

Hold Tab in outline mode, then drag, to measure a custom distance.

Curves and smooth pointslink

Double-click an on-curve point in a curve to toggle smooth and corner. Hold Shift while dragging any selection to lock the move to horizontal or vertical, measured from where the drag started. Pressing Shift after the drag has started snaps the selection onto that same line. That includes nodes, handles, anchors, components, guides, and mixed selections. Hold Alt/Option while dragging a smooth on-curve point to slide it along its handle axis while the handles stay put. Hold Alt/Option while dragging a corner on-curve point (including one with a curve on only one side) to move it freely while its handles stay put. Hold Cmd/Ctrl+Alt/Option and drag a smooth on-curve point to slide it along the two neighboring curves as one. While that point is hovered, a slide badge follows the pointer. Hold Alt/Option while dragging an off-curve that is not part of a smooth connection to keep it on its original direction from the on-curve point.

Open contour ends are always corners.

Snappinglink

Node snapping is off by default. Turn it on from Editing View → View → Node Snapping. Drawing and dragging then snap to on-curve points in the glyph and neighbours, including open-contour start and end points, the dragged point’s original position, glyph edges, and vertical metric lines. Off-curve handles can snap to those targets while dragged, and are never targets themselves. Orange snap markers and guides draw fainter than the rest of the outline chrome. Open contour ends keep a red close/join bullseye even when Node Snapping is off: both ends of other open contours, and the start of the contour you are drawing when you hover it. The point you just placed is not a target. Two nodes on the same spot get a red circle; inspect whether that overlap is intentional.

A short practice: open O, H, or n; choose Pen; draw a short open contour; continue it and close it; switch to Insert and add a point; switch to Convert and turn a straight into a curve; switch to Cut and open the contour at a node; double-click an on-curve point to toggle smooth.

Modifier shortcutslink

When the tools feel familiar, you can keep Select active and hold modifiers instead of switching tools. These are the same actions as Pen, Insert, and Convert, without clicking the toolbar. Cut stays a toolbar tool.

Hold Cmd/Ctrl in empty glyph space to draw, or on a selected open end to continue that contour. Cmd/Ctrl+Click on a segment inserts a point (the hover preview is a smooth node on a curve and a corner square on a line); on an on-curve point it cuts the contour open (the cut badge appears while that node is hovered). Neither insert nor cut runs while Alt/Option is also held. Cmd/Ctrl never adds to or removes from the selection; use Shift+Click or a Shift marquee for that. On macOS, Ctrl+Click opens the context menu and does not draw, insert, or cut. Guideline and sidebearing handles stay a plain-click drag; holding Cmd/Ctrl still places a point next to them. Alt/Option+Click on a straight segment converts it to a curve. Drag one open end onto another to join or close.

While Cmd/Ctrl is held, the toolbar highlights Pen, or Insert when an add-point preview is showing. While Alt/Option is held over a straight segment, it highlights Convert. Over a curve the pointer shows a blocked badge instead. The same badge appears for Cmd/Ctrl on an on-curve node that cannot be cut, and for Cmd/Ctrl+Alt/Option on an on-curve node that cannot slide along the combined curve. A selected open end does not show it, because Cmd/Ctrl continues that path. Releasing the modifier returns the highlight to the sticky tool. Sticky Pen, Insert, Convert, and Cut stay single-purpose; the Cmd/Ctrl hold is what combines draw and insert by hover.

Cutting a closed contour creates a new start and end at that point. Cutting an already open contour at another point splits it into two open contours.

Sidebearings are in Sidebearing arithmetics. Shortcuts are in Keyboard shortcuts.