Pen Alternatives: Rapid and Pencil
The Rapid and Pencil tools offer two ways to draw with less individual handle placement. Rapid builds curves from deliberate node positions and shared tension controls. Pencil converts a freehand gesture into a contour. Both produce outlines you can refine with the Contour tool.
The Rapid Tool
Select Rapid in the Toolbar or press 5. Double-click the tool button to open its toolbox. For the basic gestures below, turn off its sub-tools and disable Preferences > Editing > Rapid tool remembers state.
The Rapid toolbox offers the node styles used while placing successive points.
Place nodes
Click to place a corner node. Double-click, or hold Control while clicking, to place a smooth node. Here Control means the Control key on either platform, including macOS; it is distinct from Command.
Smooth nodes turn the adjoining path into curves. Corner nodes let you build straight sections or change direction. Hold Shift to align the next position horizontally or vertically with the previous one.
For a tangent transition, use Cmd+Option-click on macOS or Ctrl+Alt-click on Windows. A tangent node changes between a line and a curve according to the preceding segment. Inspect the live result to confirm which side is straight.
The toolbox makes these choices explicit:
| Sub-tool | A click adds |
|---|---|
| Add corner point | A corner node |
| Add curve point | A smooth node |
| Add tangent point | A line-to-curve or curve-to-line transition |
| Add off-curve | An off-curve construction choice; check the resulting node type |
Repeated presses of 5 cycle through these choices and back to the basic tool. If Rapid tool remembers state is enabled, ordinary clicks follow the recently added node type; a type-changing gesture changes what subsequent clicks produce. Use the explicit sub-tools when you want a predictable repeated node type without depending on that remembered state.
Shape curves with tension points
A Rapid tension point controls the two PS handles of a curve segment together. Instead of placing each handle independently, move this control to adjust the segment's shape while drawing.
The starting tension comes from Font Info > Font Dimensions > Curve tension. You can then customize individual segments:
- Drag a tension point to change its position. A customized point is shown filled.
- Double-click it to restore the standard position for the current tension.
- In the basic tool, Option/Alt-click to place a custom tension point, and inspect the resulting curve.
The tension point is a control, not necessarily a point on the resulting outline. Watch the curve itself while positioning it. When suitable smooth nodes sit at horizontal or vertical extremes, Rapid aligns the adjacent handles to preserve those extremes.
Adjust the live drawing
Before finalizing, you can revise the Rapid contour directly. Drag nodes to change their positions, double-click a node to switch between corner and smooth, and click a segment to insert a node. Right-click a node to remove it. A right-click on a tension point between corner nodes can turn the segment into a line with tangent transitions.
These are live construction controls. Use them while the Rapid drawing is active, and inspect both the outline and its fill as you work. You can trace a placed reference image by choosing the important node positions yourself and using tension points to shape the intervening curves.
Close and finalize
Click the first node to close the contour. Press Esc or choose another tool to finish the live drawing. Finishing without closing leaves an open path.
Once finalized, the result is an ordinary cubic outline. Rapid's live tension points are no longer the editing interface for that contour. Select the Contour tool to refine its nodes and handles. For the selection and editing workflow, see Selecting and the Contour Tool.
The Pencil Tool
Select Pencil in the Toolbar or press N. To draw an open contour, drag on the canvas and release at its endpoint. FontLab converts the gesture into nodes and segments.
To draw a closed contour, keep the mouse button held as you return to the gesture’s starting point. Release when the blue closing circle indicates that the endpoints will join. Releasing elsewhere leaves the contour open. Check the endpoints rather than relying only on the appearance of the filled preview.
Hold Option/Alt while drawing for a straight section. Add Shift to constrain that line horizontally or vertically.
Smooth or recognize the gesture
Double-click the Pencil button to open its toolbox.
Soft Pencil adds inertia to the drawing gesture, filtering small hand movements. Use it when a freehand line contains more jitter than you intend. It works with ordinary Pencil and Smart Pencil.
Smart Pencil recognizes simple shapes drawn in a single gesture, including straight lines, rectangles, and ellipses, even when rotated. For other gestures it simplifies the curve structure, reducing unnecessary nodes and favoring longer segments. Repeated presses of N toggle Smart Pencil.
The Pencil context menu offers Simple and Smart Pencil choices; Existing Contour is Editable is a separate setting.
Recognition works best when the gesture is independent of existing contours. Starting or ending near an existing path can invoke joining or modification instead. Soft and Smart Pencil can be used together, but a nearly straight gesture may then become an actual line. Compare the result with your intended shape before continuing.
Continue or replace existing contours
Existing contour is editable is shared with the Pen and with Preferences > Editing > Pen and Pencil can modify contour.
With the toggle on, start within the endpoint indicator of an open contour to extend it. Finish near another open endpoint to join there. You can also start on an existing outline when the blue cross indicates a modification: drawing a new span and returning to the outline replaces the intervening section with your gesture.
With the toggle off, starting near an existing endpoint creates a separate contour, but finishing near an open endpoint can still join it. The toggle is therefore not a complete “never join” setting.
Hold Control on either platform during the drawing move to prevent joining or modification. This is useful when drawing a separate shape close to existing content or when asking Smart Pencil to recognize an independent gesture.
A replacement gesture changes the old outline. Check the filled result and the joins; undo if the wrong span was replaced. For precise refinement after the gesture, switch to the Contour tool.
Choose the tool according to the construction you need: Pen for individual nodes and handles, Rapid for deliberate node positions with linked tension controls, and Pencil for capturing a freehand gesture. The result of each is a contour whose structure and shape still need inspection.
For calligraphic construction, Brush and Power Brush use the stroke and brush model introduced in Designing with Skeletons and Working with Brushes.