Skip to content

Working with Grid & Guides

Grid

To place a grid on canvas, go to the menu: View > Show > Grids. A nonprinting grid will appear to help you with positioning images or objects precisely.

You can split the grid based on the units of length or evenly in Preferences > Grid & Guides. For example, you need a grid line for every 10 centimeters of canvas and the grid should have 5 subdivisions. When split evenly, the grid will contain the exact number of horizontal and vertical lines you specify. For example, you need 10 grid lines vertically and 15 grid lines horizontally.

You can enable the snapping of objects to the grid via the menu: View > Snap to > Grid.

Guides

Guides have a similar purpose, the difference is that you create every guide yourself.

To place guides on canvas, go to the menu: View > Show > Guides. When guides are activated, a new icon at the top left side of the viewport appears: allowing you to add or edit the guides at any time. When the icon is blue, it indicates it is active.

A visual representation of a guide is shown when you are outside the canvas. Add the guides to the desired positions by clicking:

  • When above or below the canvas you are adding vertical guides.
  • When to the left or right of the canvas you are adding horizontal guides.
  • When on the canvas you can draw lines (segments) in any direction. You can lock the angle with the Shift shortcut.

You can edit the position of an existing guide by going over it with a mouse or a stylus. Two arrows will appear enabling you to move the guide to the left or right (vertical guides), or up or down (horizontal guides).

To remove the guide, position the cursor over the guide, then click and drag it out of the canvas. The guide will turn red and a cursor with a bin appears - it will be removed upon releasing your mouse or stylus.

You can also use the Delete keyboard shortcut (Backspace on macOS).

You can enable the snapping of objects to the guides via the menu: View > Snap to > Guides.

Canvas Bounds

You can show additional guides of the canvas called bounds. They can appear at the edges of the canvas, in the half, in thirds, and in the quarters of the canvas.

You can view canvas bounds via the menu: View > Show > Canvas bounds.

Snapping

Enable snapping if you want Rebelle to help you place objects. You can snap to Grids, Guides, and to Canvas bounds via the menu: View > Snap to:

  • Snap to Grid - The object will snap to the lines of the currently active grid.
  • Snap to Guides - The object will snap to the currently active guides.
  • Snap to Canvas bounds - The object will snap to the bounds (edges), to the center of the canvas, or to the quarters or thirds of the canvas, based on which canvas guides are activated in the Preferences.

Note

The canvas bounds become visible only when a tool that can be snapped to them is used (Selection, Transform, Edit Guides, etc.). Paint strokes cannot be snapped to the canvas bounds.

Tip

The color, opacity, width and other parameters of the grid, guides and canvas bounds can be adjusted in Preferences > Grid & Guides.

Video tutorial

Learn how to master these tools in this video: Grids, Guides, Canvas Bounds.