Applying Inks to Objects

You can apply inks to two areas of vector objects and text:

Objects can have different inks for a fill ink and a pen ink; e.g., a gradient fill and a pattern pen ink. In addition, you can apply inks to the backgrounds, outlines, and frame of text objects.

If an object has neither a pen ink nor a fill ink, the object is not visible.

Remember that you don’t apply inks to paint objects. Instead, use painting tools to paint in a paint object and give it color. (See Painting and Image Editing.)

To Swap the Pen and Fill Inks:

Press the X key with no objects selected.

Applying Fill Inks to Open and Closed Paths

Whether a vector object path is open or closed affects the appearance of its fill ink. In a closed path, the ink completely fills the object’s interior; in an open path, the ink fills inside the path as if the path were closed by a straight segment between its endpoints.

To quickly change the ink fill of an unselected object, drag a color tile from the Presets palette to the object. To change the ink outline of an unselected object, press the Shift key and drag a color tile from the Presets palette to the object.

Default Inks

The default inks are the inks that Canvas X Draw applies to new vector objects you draw. The pen ink and fill ink icons in the Toolbox display the default inks. When you apply inks to existing objects, the current default inks do not change.

To Change the Default Pen or Fill Ink:

1. Make sure no objects are selected in the document.
2. Click the Pen Ink or Fill Ink icon in the Toolbox.
3. Select an ink.

To Set the Inks Used in the Selected Object as the Default Inks:

1. Select the object with the pen and fill inks you want to use as the defaults.
2. Click the Set Default Attributes icon in the Toolbar.