The Tweak Tool
Shift + F2 or W
The Tweak tool is the ideal tool for illustrators who first draw their designs on paper, then scan and vectorize their work. With it, you can modify paths on the canvas, using numerous options, without ever switching tools.
As the tool only works on selected objects, first select the path that you would like to modify. Then switch to the Tweak tool and click on the area that you wish to edit, or click and drag the tool over the canvas.
First, let’s have a look at its general options:
- Width
Determines the size of the tool. If you only want to edit a small region on the canvas, make the circle smaller, else, make it bigger.
- Force
Determines how strong the effect of the tool will be.
- Pressure sensivity
Activate this button to use the pressure sensitivity of your graphics tablet to dynamically change the force of the applied effect. However, the tool can be used well without a graphics tablet.
Now let’s look at the heart of the tool, its different modes:
- Move objects
The first three icons move the selected objects in various directions. Read the hint in the status bar to learn about additional key presses that change how the tool works.
- Shrink/Grow objects
Reduces the size of the paths, or, when you hold down Shift, enlarges the paths.
- Rotate
Rotates the paths.
- Duplicate
Creates duplicates of the selected paths. These will be placed directly above the originals, so remember to move them, if you want to see the effect.
- Push path parts
Deforms the paths by pushing the nodes like a snow shovel.
- Shrink / grow path parts
The borders of a part of a path will be moved closer to each other, with Shift, they will be moved farther away from each other.
- Roughen path parts
Roughens the contours of a path.
- Paint color and Jitter colors
These modes modify the color of the paths.
- Blur objects
Adds blur to the paths.
This drawing will serve as an example. The chameleon was drawn with a pencil, and afterwards it has been vectorized with Inkscape.
The tail needs to be edited, so it will gradually become thinner. Here, the effect has been exaggerated for demonstration purposes.
Some roughening has been added to the tongue, to emphasize the beast’s dangerous side.