Nodes: redesigned

Hey there, Vectornators!

With our next update on the horizon, we’ve wanted to show a preview of one of the new features you can expect in mid-July.

Vectornator nodes have been redesigned

Our system for Bezier nodes on shapes and paths has stayed mostly the same throughout Vectornator’s history. But we’re always looking for ways to improve our software, and we found a few here! These updates will be available on both Mac and iPad simultaneously.

The first thing you’ll notice is that the nodes themselves look a little different.

Color-coded bezier nodes

The selection handles on our nodes are now blue and contrast much better against different backgrounds now.

Additionally, the selection outline frame is now much thinner, which means that your stroke is much more visible and won't be covered by the selection wires.

If you select the Pen Tool and start drawing a vector path, you’ll notice that the first node at the start of your path is highlighted green.

If you keep clicking to create new nodes, the first node will remain green, and the last node you’ve placed will be highlighted red. The ones in between will be highlighted blue.

This new color-coding system will make it a lot easier to understand what’s going on with your vector paths. In particular, closing and finishing paths will now be much more clear.

New tool behaviors and content-aware options

We've also made some streamlining changes to the way the Pen Tool works!

Closing paths

Before, if you wanted to use the Close Path button to end your vector shape, it sometimes wasn’t clear which paths were the start and end points, so designers might have occasionally been surprised by the path that the Close Path button decided to draw.

But no longer! Now, you’ll always know exactly which two nodes will be connected to complete your shape.

Finishing paths

Previously, finishing a path that you were drawing with the Pen Tool used to be a bit complicated. But now, we’ve made things much more simple and intuitive.

Now, you can finish your vector path and begin a new one while staying within the Pen Tool. You have three options finishing your old path and starting a new path:

As said previously, you can click on the Close Path button to draw a line between your path’s green and red nodes; completing the shape and enabling you to start a new path.

You can also click on the Finish Path button to end the path without closing your shape. In either case, your next click on the canvas will begin a brand-new path.

The third option might save you some time! If you double-click on your red end node (or next to it), this will also finish your path.

The final option is only for Mac, but it’s also easy! Just press the Esc key to end your path.

Other cool stuff

There’s a couple other cool notes too:

Normally, the Pen Tool will always draw lines from your path’s red end node, but if you first select the green beginning node before selecting the Pen Tool, you will begin drawing from that end of your path instead.

Another corollary to this feature is that if you select any open shape and then switch to the Pen Tool, you can begin drawing again from that shape!

Thanks Vectornators! Don't forget to download Vectornator today if you haven't already!

We’ll have some more previews to show you soon for Vectornator 4.2, which is releasing in mid-July!

See you then.