Today’s quick tip is one of my favorite tricks when designing in Silhouette Studio. You can use this one little thing to make shapes you draw much more precise. The trick? Use the SHIFT key. Yep, it’s that easy.
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SHIFT key tricks
With this little shortcut, you create the following–
- Exact squares when drawing with the Draw a rectangle tool
- Perfect circles when drawing with the Draw an ellipse rectangle tool
- Exact rounded squares when drawing with the Draw a rounded rectangle tool
- Precisely horizontal, vertical or 45° lines when using the Draw a line tool or the Knife tool
- Precisely horizontal, vertical or 45° line segments when using the Draw a polygon tool with flat segments
- Precise horizontal or vertical starting line when using the Draw an arc tool
This is actually really easy. Press and hold the SHIFT key as you make your shape. The only thing to watch out for is that you release your mouse button before you release the SHIFT key. It saves a great deal of time because it takes the guesswork or the “just get it close” out of it.
One other thing you can do with that SHIFT key is to hold it while you move the control points on a rounded rectangle and some of the Flexishapes. (Flexishapes are a feature in Designer Plus and Business Editions that helps you draw preset shapes with editable properties). When these shapes have multiple control points, on some you can move them individually or simultaneously. Holding the SHIFT key is how you do the latter. Here are the ones I’m talking about, with one of the shapes selected so you can see the control points–
Want more?
To learn about all the keyboard shortcuts in Silhouette Studio, see this post. For my top favorites, check out this one. And stay tuned for an upcoming post on using the ALT key in a similar way.
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