The Mesh Filter

The Mesh filter reshapes an element through an enclosing envelope. Drag the envelope's corners or curve handles and the content deforms with it. Use it to arch, taper, or otherwise warp a drawing while keeping the source outline available.

Envelope-Based Distortion

A Mesh filter controls the outline from outside its individual nodes. Where a Delta filter assigns adjustments to particular coordinates, Mesh maps the enclosed content through a deformable rectangular boundary.

Select the element and choose Element > Add Filter > Mesh. The filtered construction appears in the Elements panel, and the Elements widget shows a Mesh control. Select the filter to display its envelope.

The initial envelope is rectangular. Each of its four corners is a vertex with two adjacent Bézier-style handles, one for each edge meeting at that corner. The handles initially lie along the rectangle's edges, so the boundary is straight. Grey handle points and their connecting lines identify the edge controls.

The envelope's vertices and handles are filter controls, not additional nodes in the source outline. Moving one changes the mapping of the enclosed content. The source can remain a relatively simple drawing while the result becomes curved or tapered.

As with other elements, an italicized widget label indicates an element transformation. That position, scale, slant, or rotation is a separate part of the construction from the mesh's own deformation.

Using the Mesh Filter

Start with a simple shape whose deformation is easy to judge, such as a rectangle, star, or broad letter.

  1. Apply the Mesh filter and select its envelope.
  2. Drag a corner vertex to reposition that corner of the envelope. Move one pair of corners inward to try a taper.
  3. Drag an adjacent handle to curve its edge. For an arch, bend the upper edge first, then adjust the lower edge to control how the content's thickness changes.
  4. Inspect the resulting contours and filled shape. Make smaller adjustments where the mapping compresses or stretches important details.
  5. Select the source inside the Mesh construction in the Elements panel if you need to edit the original drawing instead of the envelope.

Moving a vertex changes the envelope's corner position. Moving a handle changes the curvature of an edge. The content follows the envelope, so a local change to that boundary can affect a substantial region of the drawing rather than just the nearest source point.

Avoid judging a warp only by its silhouette. Check stem thickness, counters, small details, and the glyph's relationship to its advance width. An envelope transformation can distort those relationships even when the outside shape fits its intended space.

Keep the deformation editable

Only the envelope deformation mechanism is new here. Mesh otherwise follows the live-filter lifecycle, including element transforms, expansion, and removal described in Live Filters. You can retain it and continue adjusting it. Element transformations remain available for positioning or scaling the filtered construction, so moving the finished result does not require you to distort the envelope again.

Use Element > Expand Filters when you need the warped result as ordinary contours. Use Element > Remove Filter to discard the mesh and return to its source content. The filter's context menu also provides Apply Mesh Filter and Remove Mesh Filter. Production export resolves the live result into supported outline geometry; saving the native source preserves its editable envelope.

Work within the envelope's limits

The current editing interface provides the four-corner envelope. It does not offer additional interior mesh lines that you can insert to isolate smaller regions. Use its edge handles for broad deformation; use source edits or a more localized adjustment when one part needs independent control.

A fixed envelope also does not guarantee compatible results across masters. If a variable design uses Mesh, compare the source structures, corresponding envelope settings, expanded results, and intermediate shapes. Keep a version with the live filter while checking whether the resulting geometry is suitable for the intended interpolation.