Using Symbols

You can use symbols to enhance your illustrations. You can open the Symbol Library palette, and drag and drop symbols onto your illustration, you can use Symbol pen strokes to draw a line or shape using symbols, or you can use a symbol fill ink.

Using the Symbol Library Palette

The Symbol Library palette comes stocked with a range of symbols you can use in your Canvas X documents, or you can create your own symbols and add them to the Symbol Library. You can create symbols from any vector, text, group, or paint object. If you change the symbol in the palette, all the copies in the document will also change. For example, if you add a logo to the Symbol Library, and the logo is updated, you can simply replace the logo in the Symbol Library, and all instances of the logo in your document are updated.

To Open the Symbol Library Palette:

Choose Window | Palettes | Symbol Library...

To Place Symbols:

1. Select the symbol in the Symbol Library palette.
2. Move the cursor into the layout area. The cursor changes to a place pointer.
3. Do one of the following:
   • To place the symbol at its original size, click in the layout area where you want to place the upper left corner of the symbol.
   • To scale the symbol while you place it, drag the pointer to set the bounding box size. Canvas X Draw scales the symbol to fit the bounding box.

To constrain the proportions as you drag the point to set the bounding box, press Shift while scaling.

Using Symbol Pen Strokes

To Draw with a Symbol Stroke:

1. Click the Strokes icon in the Toolbox.
2. Drag the pop up palette away to see the full palette.
3. In the Presets palette, on the Pen tab, click the Symbol icon. 
4. Do one of the following:
   • Select one of the preset symbol strokes.
   • Click the Edit button to create a new symbol stroke.
5. Click one of the drawing tools in the Toolbox and draw an object.

To Create a Custom Symbol Stroke:

1. Click the Strokes icon in the Toolbox.
2. Drag the pop up palette away to see the full palette.
3. In the Presets palette, on the Pen tab, click the Symbol icon.
4. Click the Edit button to create a new symbol stroke.
5. Select a symbol, and specify the width, color, gap, offset, angle and centerline of the stroke.
6. Click the Add Preset button.

Using Symbol Fill Inks

To Apply Symbol Inks:

1. In the Presets palette, select the Pen or Fill Ink icon.
2. Click the Symbol ink icon.
3. Select a color.
4. Do one of the following:
   • If an object is selected, click on the Symbol Ink cell.
   • If an object is not selected, click on the Symbol Ink cell and drag the ink to the object.

To Create Symbol Inks:

1. In your Canvas X document, create an object to use in your new Symbol Ink.

If you want to use more than one object or object type in the Symbol Ink, you must group the objects.

2. Deselect any objects in your Canvas X document by pressing Esc.
3. In the Presets palette, click the Symbol Ink icon , and then the Edit button to open the Symbol manager.
4. Click the Create button.
5. Click the object in your document that you want to use in the Symbol Ink.
6. Adjust the settings for the Symbol Ink in the Symbol manager.
7. Click the Add Preset button to add the new symbol ink to the preset inks.