Path & Vector

Paint Forge ships a full vector pipeline alongside its raster engine. These features unlock non-destructive shape work, editable strokes, and reusable brushes — all backed by the same underlying engine the rest of the app uses.

Path Boolean Operations

Combine two vector objects into a new PathObject using boolean operations. Select exactly two shapes (rect, ellipse, polygon, star, path, or brush stroke), then choose an operation from the Image > Path submenu, the Arrange toolbar, or the command palette.

Brush Stroke Editing

Vector brush strokes (BrushStrokeObject) remain editable after you draw them. Double-click a stroke with the Select tool to enter Edit Brush Stroke mode. Each centerline point shows two handles: a blue dot for position and an amber ring for per-vertex width.

• Drag the blue handle to move a point — half-width and pressure ride along untouched.
• Drag the amber ring to project the cursor onto the perpendicular and resize that segment.
• Shift+click on the polyline to insert a new point with interpolated halfWidth.
• Alt+drag from an endpoint to extend the stroke with new points.
• Shift+Alt+click on the polyline to split the stroke into two independent objects at the click point.
• Delete or Backspace removes the selected point (when at least 3 would remain).
• Escape returns to the Select tool.

Custom Vector Variants

Beyond the 47 built-in vector brush variants, you can save your own. The Brush Customize dialog lets you tune taper, halo, color jitter, pen tilt, pressure curve, dash pattern, and per-vertex gradient stops — then save the result as a Custom Vector Variant. Saved variants appear under their own section in the Variant Grid and can be renamed, duplicated, or shared to the community.

Stroke Recording & Macros

Record a sequence of strokes and replay them later with different colors, sizes, or even a completely different brush variant. Recordings can be saved as macros and recalled from the Brush Macros picker for one-click replay.

Object Links & Collaboration

Sticky Links

Sticky links are persistent constraints between two vector objects — move the source and the target snaps to stay in compliance (e.g. “B always sits 1 inch to the right of A”). Create one by selecting two objects and pressing Ctrl+Alt+L (or right-click > “Link to other selected object…”); manage them in the Links section of the Properties panel.

• Per-axis constraints (X / Y) with min / center / max anchors and a measured distance — type 1 in, 25 mm, or 72 pt and it converts via the document’s scale calibration.
• Constraint kinds: offset (fixed distance), mirror (reflect across the source), match-size, proportional (multiplier), and equal-spacing (distribute-and-link 3+ objects).
• Bidirectional links — move either object and the other follows.
• Health chips flag broken links (missing / locked / hidden partner) with one-click fixes.
• Link scenes — named snapshots that enable/disable subsets of links as a unit (e.g. switch a "Mobile" vs "Desktop" layout)
• 18 built-in link presets (rigid follow, align centers, edge-to-edge, mirror, match-size, …) plus your own saved + community-shared presets.

While a linked object is selected, the canvas draws blue (outgoing) and green (incoming) dimension lines so the relationship is visible, and smart-guide snaps to a linked partner render in a distinct color.

Realtime Collaboration

When several signed-in people open the same cloud project, Paint Forge shows live presence: colored avatar dots in the top bar, each collaborator's cursor with a name label on the canvas, and indicators for which slices someone is viewing or commenting on. Up to 8 collaborators are shown per project, each with a distinct color. This is presence and awareness — not yet live co-editing of the document, so coordinate edits to avoid save conflicts (see Sharing & Collaboration).

Batch Operations

Operations that apply across many layers or objects in a single command. All push one history entry so a single undo reverses the whole batch.

View Modes

View-only display modes that change how the canvas is rendered without affecting export. All toggle from the View menu or command palette.

Workflow Recipes

Non-Destructive Color Grade

• Stack adjustment layers above a raster layer (Curves, then Color Balance, then Split Toning).
• Use Layer Comps to save before/after configurations.
• Turn on Filters Split View to drag-compare original vs graded.
• Use Copy/Paste Adjustment to reuse the same grade across other projects.

Reusable Vector Stamps

• Draw a complex shape using the brush + path tools.
• Save it to the Object Library (right-click → Save to Library…).
• Use the Pattern Brush dialog to scatter copies of the saved object along a brush stroke centerline.
• Optionally orient each instance to the centerline tangent for natural strokes.