10 Simple Tricks That Will Improve Your Design Process

10 Vector Ink Tips & Tricks Every Designer Should Know

Vector Ink is a vector editor that’s growing in popularity for its ease of use and wide range of features. Vector Ink takes the pain out of creating SVG’s with its powerful design tools, responsive interface, and cloud storage, making it hands down the best SVG editor app online.

In this tutorial, we’re going to take a look at 10 tips and tricks to help you get the most out of Vector Ink!

#1 Copy & Paste Across Projects

You can copy and paste objects across projects using the copy and paste options in the side panel menu. Simply select the object or objects you wish to copy, then open the side panel menu and select copy and open another project. Then open the side panel menu again, select paste, and your copied objects will appear on the canvas. This is very helpful if you’re wanting to share certain objects across projects. The only other alternative to this would be exporting an SVG of your selection and importing that SVG into another project.

#2 Use Path Builder on a Single Object

You can activate the Path Builder Tool on a single shape so that only that shape is replaced by the results. To do this, select the desired shape you wish to build on. Make sure the shape is interesting the shapes you wish to include in the path building process. Then activate the Path Builder Tool, form your desired path, and activate the Selection Tool. All but the originally selected path will remain and the new path will be added to the canvas. This is great for merging vector paths together and takes the pain out of having to try and manually join two paths together.

#3 From Copy Tool to Path Builder Tool

If you design abstract logos then you’re going to love this technique. Place a shape onto the canvas (The figure below is using a circle via the Circle Tool). Then with that shape selected, activate the Copy Tool and position the center point up near the center of your shape. From there activate the Path Builder Tool and carve out your desired pattern.

#4 Virtual Stylus

It’s no surprise that the Virtual Stylus is a mystery to most. It was invented by Vector Ink very recently in order to solve the problems that come with drawing using your finger. Using the Virtual Stylus allows you to draw with your finger and see what you’re doing without your finger getting in the way. It is also useful with the Path Builder Tool by allowing you to get in between tight spaces without fat-fingering paths.

#5 Update Color Palette With Eye Dropper

You can use the eye dropper within the color palette window to add colors from the canvas to the color palette. Simply open the color palette menu and click the plus icon to add a color to the palette.

Then select the newly added color bar to bring up the color palette editor. Click the eye dropper under the color picker and the color palette window will minimize while you pick a color from the canvas. Press down and drag the cursor to the desired color and release. The color palette window will re-appear and the newly added color bar will be the color you just selected.

#6 Automatically Apply a Darker Gradient

Using the gradient button under the color picker automatically chooses a darker color for the second gradient handle. So which ever object this gets applied too will take on a gradient fill color with the first color being the color it was and the second color being the same color but slightly darker.

# 7 Drag gradient handle to replace end handles

If you drag a gradient handle located in the middle of the gradient bar to either of the end handles, that handle will become the new end handle.

#8 Tap Transform Handle To Constrain Scale

By tapping on the top right transform handle you can quickly toggle from stretching with 8 transform handles to scaling evenly with the top right handle only. This is a convenient equivalent of using the constrain button or the Shift key.

#9 Subtract Shapes With Path Builder Tool

Use the Subtract option to subtract (cut out) shapes from the resulting shape made with the Path Builder Tool. Simply select the Subtract option, carve out the desired shape. If successful, the subtracted shape will show as a pink dotted outline.

#10 Path Builder Tool Cutout Mode

Lastly, if you’re familiar with Illustrators Shape Builder Tool, then you’ll recognize the results produced by the “Cut Out” option in the “Result” menu. This basically leaves all shapes on the canvas subtracted by the resulting shape. Allowing you to manually delete what you don’t want from the results.