Polylines

A polyline is the simplest vector shape:

• Use it for drawings made only of straight lines, such as diagrams, floor plans, and outlines with corners.
• Drawing: with Straight line through points, which joins the points you click with straight segments. Open, it's a broken line; closed, it's a polygon.
• Points: you can reshape it corner by corner. To bend a segment, convert it to a path.

Drawing a polyline

Both ways use Straight line through points in the paths multi-button of the Tools panel.

Drawing a single straight line

One straight segment, in a single drag.

• Operation: press where the line should start, drag to where it should end, and release.
• Result: a polyline with two points, finished as soon as you release. The tool stays active for the next line.
• Tip: this is the fastest way to draw straight connectors and dividers.

Drawing a polyline through points

Straight segments between points you click one by one.

• Operation:
  1. Click each point in turn.
  2. Finish the polyline:
     • Double-click to leave it open.
     • Double-click the first point to close it.
• Result: a polyline with straight segments between the points.

Options while drawing

While the tool is active, the Actions panel shows two state buttons:

• Constrain new points to 45 degree angles: new points snap to 45 degree directions.
• Arrow mode: the drawing becomes an arrow that follows the line you drew.

Editing

Editing a polyline means moving, adding, and removing its corners. In edit mode, every corner becomes a handle you can drag.

Entering edit mode

• Operation:
  • If the shape is selected, click Enter edit mode in the Actions panel.
  • If the shape is not selected, double-click it.
• Result: the shape shows a handle on every point. The resize handles disappear while editing.

Moving points

Reshapes the polyline by dragging its corners.

• Operation: drag a handle.
  • To move several points at once, click their handles to select them, then drag one.
• Result: the segments attached to the points follow.

Placing points precisely

Adding a point

Puts a new corner on an existing segment.

• Operation: double-click the outline where the new point should go.
• Result: a point is added on that segment. Drag it to reshape.

Removing points

Takes corners away and lets the outline close over them.

• Operation: double-click a point.
  • To remove several points at once, select them and click Delete selection.
• Result: the points are removed and the outline closes over the gap.

Aligning points

Lines several corners up on an edge or a center.

• Operation: select two or more points and click one of the align buttons:
  • Align points to the left
  • Align points to the right
  • Align points to the top
  • Align points to the bottom
  • Center points horizontally
  • Center points vertically
• Result: the selected points line up on the chosen edge or center.

Closing and opening

Joins the last corner to the first, or breaks that join.

• Operation: turn Closed stroke on or off in the Stroke section.
• Result: closed, the last point joins the first; open, the shape ends at its last point.

Leaving edit mode

• Operation: click on empty board, or click Exit edit mode.

Attributes

A selected polyline shows these sections of the Attributes panel.

Selection info

The attributes that affect the shape as a whole. The section is titled Polyline.

• X: the horizontal position of the shape's pivot. Inside a frame, it's measured from the frame.
• Y: the vertical position of the pivot, also measured from the frame inside one. Which way it grows depends on the Y axis direction in the UI settings.
• W: the width of the shape.
• H: the height of the shape.
• Rotation: the angle around the pivot.
• Opacity: the transparency of the whole shape, stroke and fill included.
• Locked Ratio: keeps the proportion between width and height while resizing.
• Proportional: scales the stroke width, dashes, hatching, and tiles along with the shape, so a resized shape keeps its look.

Stroke

The line the polyline is drawn with. Every stroke control is described in Vector styles.

Fill

How the inside of the polyline is painted. Every fill control is described in Vector styles.

Filter

A chain of SVG filter primitives applied to how the shape is drawn. See Filters.

Mask

A polyline can be masked and can be used as a mask. See Masks.

Actions

Besides the actions every shape has, covered in What every shape shares, a polyline offers these in the Actions panel. The conversions are available outside edit mode.

Boolean operations

Union, subtract, intersect, exclude, flatten, and split build new paths from the selection. See Boolean operations.

Convert to path shape

Turns the polyline into a path whose segments can be bent.

• Operation: click Convert to path shape.
• Result: a path with a corner at each point and straight segments between them, ready for point editing. Segments can then be bent by their control points.

Convert to freehand shape

Turns the polyline into a freehand shape made of points.

• Operation: click Convert to freehand shape.
• Result: a freehand shape with the segments sampled into points.

Convert to arrow

Turns an open polyline into an arrow that follows it.

• Operation: click Convert to arrow.
• Needs: an open polyline. A closed one is left unchanged and a notice says so.
• Result: a custom arrow with the polyline as its route, no start arrowhead and an arrow end. If an end lands on a shape, the arrow connects to it right away. The arrow replaces the polyline.

Open image editor

Turns the fill of the polyline into pixels and opens it for painting.

• Operation: click Open image editor.
• Result: the current fill, hatches and gradients included, becomes a picture at the Image editor fill resolution multiplier set in the App settings, and the image editor opens on it. The picture stays as the fill afterwards.

Convert to Image

Replaces the polyline with an image that looks the same but draws faster, to keep a board with many shapes light. The polyline can no longer be edited.

• Operation: click Convert to Image. If the polyline has a Stroke Animation, a dialog warns that it will be lost, and you confirm with Convert.
• Result: an SVG image in place of the polyline that looks the same and stays sharp at any zoom. Move, rotate, scale, resize, and fade animations move to the image, and the stroke animation is removed.

Download source asset

Saves the current file of the polyline's image fill to your device.

• Operation: click Download source asset.
• Needs: a shape whose fill is an image.
• Result: the file the shape uses downloads. With several shapes selected, every file downloads once, in selection order, whatever kinds of shapes they are; shapes without a file are skipped.

Animating polylines

Stroke Animation draws the polyline over time, with speed, direction, and an optional image following the tip.