The reshaping tools change an outline that is already drawn. They live on the rail below the drawing tools, and each works on the selected shape.
Slice (X)
Select an area, pick Slice, and draw a line right across it. The area becomes two, each with the original's altitude and fill. Give the halves different altitudes and a lawn becomes two terraces.
Split (B)
Split opens an outline: click one segment of an area and it is removed, turning the area into a line with the same corners. On a line, it breaks the line in two at that segment.
Paint (U) and Erase (E)
Two brushes for editing an outline by hand. With an area selected, Paint grows it to cover wherever you drag; Erase cuts wherever you drag out of it. The brush radius is in the top bar while either is armed. Good for nibbling a bed around a tree or widening a terrace where the chairs go.
Offset (I)
Offset adds a parallel copy of the outline a set distance inside or outside — a border around a bed, a footing outside a wall, a mowing strip around a lawn. Select the area, choose the tool, and set the distance and Inset or Outset over it.
Combining shapes
Select two or more shapes and the rail offers:
- Join (⌘J) — fuse areas into one spanning them all, or close two lines into one area.
- Subtract — cut the front shapes out of the one behind. Draw a circle on a terrace and subtract it for a tree pit.
- Fit — reshape the back shape around the front one, keeping both. A lawn fitted around a pond no longer overlaps it.
- Split by line — with an area and a line selected, divide the area along the line.
Corner handles
Every selected shape has rotation and resize grips under the Transform tool (T), and its points under the polygon tool (G) — covered in earlier lessons.
Next
Calculate cut and fill — how much soil the plan moves.