Vector Drawing Tools

Diagrammix3 provides a powerful set of vector drawing tools for creating custom shapes and lines beyond the standard notation library.

Accessing Vector Tools

Click the Draw icon (pencil and outline) in the main toolbar to access the vector tools menu.

Vector Tools Menu

Basic Shapes

  • Rectangle: Click and drag to create a rectangular area.
  • Circle: Create perfect circles or ellipses.
  • Rounded Rectangle: Creates a rectangle with adjustable corner roundness.
  • Round End Rectangle (Stadium): A rectangle where the ends are always perfectly semicircular.

Lines and Paths

  • Line: Draw straight multi-segmented lines.
  • Polygon: Create closed shapes with any number of straight sides. Click to add vertices, and click the starting point to close the shape.
  • Path (Bezier): Create complex smooth curves. Click to add points, or click and drag to adjust the Bezier handles for curves.
  • Freehand: Draw naturally as if using a pen. Diagrammix3 automatically simplifies the path into smooth vector segments.

Drawing a Path

Editing Vector Paths

Once a vector path is created, you can double-click it to enter Point Editing Mode:

  • Move Points: Drag any vertex to change its position.
  • Add Points: Click anywhere on a segment to add a new vertex.
  • Remove Points: Select a point and press Delete.
  • Toggle Curve/Corner: Right-click a point to switch between a sharp corner and a smooth curve.

!TIP Hold the Shift key while drawing basic shapes to constrain them to perfect squares or circles.