Width and Liquify

Finding them

The width slot shows the Width tool by default and carries the usual small triangle. Click it and the flyout offers Width and the seven Liquify tools: Warp, Twirl, Pucker, Bloat, Scallop, Crystallize and Wrinkle. Whichever you pick stays in the slot afterwards.

Shift+W selects the Width tool. Shift+R selects Warp, as in desktop vector editors, and Shift+R on its own selects Warp too.

Width tool: thickness that changes along the stroke

The Width tool works the way desktop editors' does. It places width points along a path's centreline. Each width point has a position along the path and a half-width on each side, and the two sides are independent, so a stroke can be fat on the left and thin on the right at the same point. Rayzia resolves the whole set into a single filled outline path, which is what actually renders.

1. Drag on a path Sets the width at that point. Both sides move together, giving you a symmetric swell.
2. Alt-drag Moves one side only, for an asymmetric ribbon.
3. Click the line Adds a width point where you clicked.
4. Alt-click Deletes a width point.

Before you have picked a path, the option bar offers Profile and Caps along with those hints. Profile gives you uniform (the default), ellipse, spindle, taperStart, taperEnd and bulge, which are ready-made shapes for the whole stroke rather than something you have to draw by hand. Caps chooses round (default), butt or square ends. Once you are editing a variable-width path the bar rebuilds and adds a Reset to uniform width button.

If you would rather work from the menu, Path ▸ Make Variable Width and Path ▸ Release Variable Width do the obvious things. Neither has a shortcut.

Liquify: seven brushes that bend outlines

The Liquify tools reshape whatever path falls under the brush while you drag. With something selected, only the selection is reshaped; with nothing selected, everything under the brush is. A rectangle, ellipse or other shape becomes a path the moment the brush touches it, and one Ctrl+Z gives the shape back.

1. Warp Pushes the outline along with the drag, like modelling clay.
2. Twirl Swirls the outline around the brush centre. Press and hold to keep turning. A negative Twirl Rate turns clockwise, a positive one counter-clockwise.
3. Pucker Pulls the outline in towards the centre of the brush. A plain click works as well as a drag.
4. Bloat Pushes the outline out from the centre of the brush.
5. Scallop Adds rounded, shell-like details along the outline.
6. Crystallize Adds sharp, spiky details that point outwards.
7. Wrinkle Adds rippled, wrinkle-like details. Horizontal and Vertical set how far points move each way.

The option bar is the same for all seven: Width and Height of the brush (100 by 100 by default), its Angle, Intensity (50% by default), Use Pressure Pen, the tool's own field (Twirl Rate, Complexity, or Wrinkle's Horizontal and Vertical) and Options…. Options…, or a double-click on the tool in the rail, opens the tool's Options dialog with Detail, Simplify, the Brush Affects choices and Show Brush Size. Nothing in the dialog applies until you press OK.

To resize the brush on the canvas, hold Alt before you press and drag. Shift+Alt keeps the brush round.

Liquify leaves text alone, and linked images too. An embedded picture is bent by its pixels. A path with a live effect is reshaped underneath, and the effect follows the new outline.

Which one, and when

• A stroke that swells in the middle or tapers to a point, like a brush mark or a leaf vein: Width tool, or start with a Profile preset and adjust.
• One side of a stroke fatter than the other: Width tool with Alt-drag.
• An outline that needs a push, a dent or a bulge in one place: Warp, Pucker or Bloat, with a brush about the size of the change you want.
• A spiral or a swirl: Twirl, held still where you want the centre.
• A decorative edge, like a shell, a crystal or crumpled paper: Scallop, Crystallize or Wrinkle.

Common questions