Reshape with the warp tools

This guide covers the seven brush tools that reshape paths as you drag over them, the Reshape tool, the Puppet Warp tool, and the Object → Envelope Distort commands, which bend artwork and type into a warp, a mesh or the shape of another path.

Tool or command	Windows and Linux	macOS
Warp tool	Shift+R	Shift+R
Envelope Distort → Make with Warp…	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+W	Cmd+Option+Shift+W
Envelope Distort → Make with Mesh…	Ctrl+Alt+M	Cmd+Option+M
Envelope Distort → Make with Top Object	Ctrl+Alt+C	Cmd+Option+C

The Twirl, Pucker, Bloat, Scallop, Crystallize, Wrinkle, Reshape and Puppet Warp tools have no key of their own. You can give them one in Edit → Keyboard Shortcuts….

Pick a warp tool

The Warp tool and six more tools share a slot with the Width tool in the Tools panel. Each one changes the paths under a round brush as you drag.

Tool	What a drag does
Warp	Pushes the outline along in the direction you drag
Twirl	Turns the outline around the center of the brush into a spiral
Pucker	Pulls the outline in toward the center of the brush
Bloat	Pushes the outline out from the center of the brush
Scallop	Curls the outline into small arcs
Crystallize	Pushes the outline out into sharp spikes
Wrinkle	Roughens the outline with small random folds

The Width tool’s slot open beside the Tools panel, listing the Width Tool (Shift+W), Warp Tool (Shift+R), Twirl Tool, Pucker Tool, Bloat Tool, Scallop Tool, Crystallize Tool and Wrinkle Tool, with the Twirl Tool marked as the current tool. Behind it, the worked suns labeled Twirl, Pucker, Bloat and Crystallize glow on a night sky

Twirl, Pucker and Bloat keep changing the paths while you hold the brush still.

Five coral suns with amber rays on a night sky over violet and teal hills, labeled Warp, Twirl, Pucker, Bloat and Crystallize, each with its result. The Twirl tool is part way through a stroke on the second sun, whose rays curl into a spiral inside the gray brush outline, and the status bar shows the Twirl tool’s hints

Set the brush size and options

To resize the brush on the canvas, hold Alt (Option on macOS) and drag with the tool. The edge of the brush follows the pointer. Hold Shift as well to keep the brush’s proportions. Press Esc before you release to put the size back.

For exact values, double-click the tool in the Tools panel to open its options, for example Twirl Tool Options. The Global Brush Dimensions are shared by all seven tools, so a brush size that you set for one tool applies to the others too. The options stay as you set them when you switch tools or restart VectorCraft.

The Twirl Tool Options dialog over the worked suns labeled Warp, Twirl and Crystallize. Width and Height are 320 px, Angle is 0°, Intensity is 80% and Use Pressure Pen is off. Twirl Rate is 40°, Detail is 4, Simplify is on at 50, and Show Brush Size is on

Option	Default	What it does
Width and Height	100 pt	The size of the brush. Different values make an oval brush
Angle	0°	Turns an oval brush, from −360° to 360°
Intensity	50%	How strongly each pass changes the paths, from 1% to 100%
Use Pressure Pen	Off	Uses the pen pressure of a drawing tablet as the intensity. Intensity is not available while it is on
Detail	2	How many anchor points the tool adds where the brush passes, from 1 to 10. More points give a smoother result
Simplify	On, 50	Removes anchor points that the result does not need, from 1 to 100. Warp, Twirl, Pucker and Bloat only
Twirl Rate	40°	How fast the outline turns, from −180° to 180°. Negative values turn it the other way. Twirl only
Complexity	1	How many arcs, spikes or folds the tool makes, from 0 to 15. Scallop, Crystallize and Wrinkle only
Horizontal and Vertical	0% and 100%	How far the folds go in each direction. Wrinkle only
Brush Affects	All on	Which parts of the path the tool moves: Anchor Points, In Tangent Handles and Out Tangent Handles. Scallop, Crystallize and Wrinkle only
Show Brush Size	On	Shows the outline of the brush around the pointer

The Wrinkle Tool Options dialog over the worked suns labeled Warp, Twirl and Crystallize. Width and Height are 320 px, Angle is 0°, Intensity is 80% and Use Pressure Pen is off, the same as in Twirl Tool Options. Horizontal is 0%, Vertical is 100%, Complexity is 1, Detail is 2, Anchor Points, In Tangent Handles and Out Tangent Handles are all on under Brush Affects, and Show Brush Size is on

Push and twist shapes

Select the paths to change. With nothing selected, the tool changes every visible, unlocked path that the brush touches.
Press Shift+R to choose the Warp tool, or choose another tool from the Width tool’s slot in the Tools panel.
Drag over the outline of a path. For Twirl, Pucker and Bloat, you can also click and hold.
Release the mouse button.

A selected teal wave under a violet to coral dusk sky, with the Warp tool part way through a drag. The gray brush outline sits at the crest, which the stroke has pushed up into a peak that leans over to the right, and the status bar shows the Warp tool’s hints

Each stroke is one step that Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on macOS) undoes. To cancel a stroke while you drag, press Esc.

These tools change paths only. A shape such as a rectangle or an ellipse becomes an ordinary path. The tools do not change type, symbols, images, gradient meshes, envelopes, repeats, blends, graphs or placed documents, and the status bar says how many objects the brush passed over without changing them, and what kind they are. To bend type, put it in an envelope, as Distort with an envelope describes.

Pull points with the Reshape tool

The Reshape tool moves one point of a path, and the nearby part of the path follows it smoothly.

Select the path with the Selection tool.
Choose the Reshape tool. It shares a slot with the Scale tool in the Tools panel.
Point to the place on the path that you want to move, and drag. VectorCraft adds an anchor point there unless one is already under the pointer.
Release the mouse button.

Dusk mountains with a selected teal ridge in front of them and the Reshape tool part way through a drag. The middle hump of the ridge rises into a rounded peak, the anchor points farther along the ridge rise less, the ends of the ridge stay in place, and a readout next to the pointer shows dX 0 px and dY -200 px

Anchor points close to the one you drag move almost as far, and points farther along the path move less. By default, the effect reaches along half the size of the path. Hold Shift to keep the drag at 45° steps, and press Esc before you release to cancel it. The Reshape tool works only on paths that are selected.

Bend art around pins with Puppet Warp

Puppet Warp builds a mesh of triangles over the selected artwork. You pin the parts that should stay in place and drag other pins to bend the art around them.

Select the artwork. All the selected objects bend together.
Choose the Puppet Warp tool. It shares a slot with the Free Transform tool in the Tools panel. The mesh appears, with pins at the center of the art and at the end of each part that sticks out.
Click the art to add more pins. A click outside the mesh does not add a pin.
Drag a pin. The art bends, and the other pins hold their places.
To turn the art around a pin, select the pin, then hold Alt (Option on macOS) and drag near it, not on it. The pin keeps that angle afterward.

A teal heron standing in blue shallows under a violet to coral sky, with the Puppet Warp tool part way through a drag of the selected pin on its head, down and to the left. The triangle mesh bends the neck into a deep curve while the pins on the body, tail and feet hold their places, and the status bar shows the Puppet Warp tool’s hints

Shift-click pins to select more than one, and drag one of them to move them all. Press Delete or Backspace to remove the selected pins. Press Esc while you drag to put the art and the pins back where they were.

Each warp starts from the shape the art had when you placed the first pin. If you drag a pin back to where it started, the art goes back to its original shape. Each pin you add, delete or drag is one undo step. The pins stay while the same art is selected, and they are not saved with the document.

To see the Puppet Warp settings, choose Window → Control. The Control bar then shows:

Setting	What it does
Expand	How far the mesh reaches past the edge of the art. The default is 3 pt
Show Mesh	Shows or hides the mesh. It is on by default
Select All Pins	Selects every pin

The heron with its neck bent by Puppet Warp, still selected with the Puppet Warp tool, and the Control bar across the top of the window showing Group, Expand at 3 px, Show Mesh on and the Select All Pins button. The mesh covers the heron, with pins on its head, body and tail, and the status bar shows the Puppet Warp tool’s hints

Distort with an envelope

An envelope is a shape that holds artwork and bends it to fit. The artwork stays editable inside the envelope, and it can include type. Envelope Distort has three ways to make an envelope.

To bend artwork into a preset shape:

Select the artwork.
Choose Object → Envelope Distort → Make with Warp… (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+W, or Cmd+Option+Shift+W on macOS).
In Warp Options, choose a Style and Horizontal or Vertical, and set the Bend. With Preview on, the canvas shows the result as you change the values.
Click OK.

The Warp Options dialog with Style set to Flag, Horizontal selected, Bend at 40%, Horizontal and Vertical distortion at 0% and Preview on. Above it, the plum NIGHT MARKET banner with its yellow title waves like a flag inside the envelope’s grid, over dusk rooftops and a coral sun

Option	Default	What it does
Style	Arc	The shape of the warp: Arc, Arc Lower, Arc Upper, Arch, Bulge, Shell Lower, Shell Upper, Flag, Wave, Fish, Rise, Fisheye, Inflate, Squeeze or Twist
Horizontal or Vertical	Horizontal	The direction the warp runs in
Bend	50%	How far the art bends, from −100% to 100%. Negative values bend it the other way
Distortion → Horizontal and Vertical	0%	Distorts the art further along each direction, from −100% to 100%

To bend artwork with a grid that you shape yourself:

Select the artwork.
Choose Object → Envelope Distort → Make with Mesh… (Ctrl+Alt+M, or Cmd+Option+M on macOS).
In Envelope Mesh, set Rows and Columns, from 1 to 50 each. The default is 4 by 4.
Click OK.
With the Direct Selection tool, drag the points of the mesh and their handles to bend the art. To add lines to the mesh, click inside it with the Mesh tool.

The NIGHT MARKET banner in a 4 by 4 mesh envelope, selected with the Direct Selection tool over dusk rooftops. Mesh points arch the top and bottom edges, one point on the bottom edge is being dragged down with its handles showing, and a readout shows dX 15 px and dY 55 px. The status bar shows the Direct Selection tool’s hints

To fit artwork into the shape of a path:

Draw the path, and place it in front of the artwork.
Select the path and the artwork.
Choose Object → Envelope Distort → Make with Top Object (Ctrl+Alt+C, or Cmd+Option+C on macOS). The front object must be a path or a compound path. It becomes the envelope, and the other selected objects are bent to fit inside it.

A koi pond at dusk with two copies of a panel of amber, coral, yellow and magenta stripes. On the left, a white koi outline lies in front of the panel. On the right, the panel has been made into a top object envelope: it is bent into the koi shape and selected

Edit, reset or remove an envelope

Select the envelope with the Selection tool, then choose a command from Object → Envelope Distort. While an envelope is selected, Reset with Warp… and Reset with Mesh… take the place of the two Make commands in the menu, and their shortcuts open the Reset dialogs.

Command	What it does
Reset with Warp…	Turns the envelope into a warp envelope with the style and values you choose. The artwork inside stays as it is
Reset with Mesh…	Turns the envelope into a mesh envelope with the rows and columns you choose. With Maintain Envelope Shape on, the new mesh keeps the current shape. With it off, the mesh starts flat
Edit Contents	Selects the artwork inside the envelope so that you can edit it. The command then reads Edit Envelope; choose it to select the envelope again
Envelope Options…	Sets how the envelope bends its artwork, as the next table describes
Release	Takes the artwork out of the envelope without the distortion, and keeps the envelope’s shape as a separate object: a gray gradient mesh for a warp or mesh envelope, or the path for a top object envelope. The artwork keeps the envelope’s opacity, blend mode and opacity mask
Expand	Replaces the envelope with a group of the bent artwork as ordinary paths. Type becomes outlines

The Reset Envelope Mesh dialog with Rows and Columns at 4, Maintain Envelope Shape on and Preview on. Beside it, the arched NIGHT MARKET banner shows the new mesh following the arc of the warp envelope

Envelope Options… applies to the selected envelopes. With no envelope selected, it sets the options of the envelopes you make next.

The Envelope Options dialog with Anti-Alias on, Preserve Shape Using set to Clipping Mask, Fidelity at 50, Distort Appearance on, Distort Linear Gradients and Distort Pattern Fills off, and Preview on. Beside it, the NIGHT MARKET banner arches inside a selected warp envelope

Option	Default	What it does
Anti-Alias	On	Smooths the edges of images in the envelope
Preserve Shape Using	Clipping Mask	Keeps bent images inside the envelope’s shape with a Clipping Mask or with Transparency
Fidelity	50	How closely the bent artwork follows the envelope, from 0 to 100. Higher values add more anchor points
Distort Appearance	On	Bends strokes and effects with the art. When it is off, they are applied to the bent paths afterward
Distort Linear Gradients	Off	Bends linear gradient fills with the art. Available only with Distort Appearance
Distort Pattern Fills	Off	Bends pattern fills with the art. Available only with Distort Appearance

When the Control bar is shown (Window → Control) and an envelope is selected, it has buttons for Edit Envelope and Edit Contents, the warp’s Style, Horizontal or Vertical, Bend, H and V, or the mesh’s Rows and Columns. Reset flattens the warp or the mesh, and the last button opens Envelope Options.

The Control bar across the top of the window for a selected warp envelope, showing the Envelope label, the Edit Envelope and Edit Contents buttons, Style set to Arc, Horizontal selected, Bend at 40%, H and V at 0%, and the Reset and Envelope Options buttons. Below it, the NIGHT MARKET banner arches over dusk rooftops and a coral sun