> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://animoia.gitbook.io/animoia-docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://animoia.gitbook.io/animoia-docs/guide/toolbar-and-tools.md).

# Toolbar and tools

## Selection tool

Use Selection to select, move, resize, and box-transform layers. **Direct selection** lets you click canvas content directly; turn it off when you want canvas interaction to affect only Timeline-selected layers. Arrow keys nudge selected unlocked layers by 1 px; hold `Shift` for 10 px.

**Snapping** aligns moving layers to any enabled targets. Click it to toggle, or hold it to choose Composition Center, Composition Bounds, Guides, and Layer Bounding Boxes.

## Hand and temporary pan

Use Hand to pan the viewer. Middle-drag always pans. Hold `Space` and drag for temporary panning; a Space tap without a pan toggles playback. The Timeline uses the same temporary-pan gesture, with vertical-only movement over its label column.

## Rotation and Anchor Point tools

Rotation rotates selected layers on canvas. Anchor Point moves the pivot without visually moving the layer. Choose **Insert keyframe at playhead** or **Modify existing keyframes** for keyframed anchor/position data. The same choice is shared with the Anchor inspector.

## Shape tool

Hold the Shape tool to choose Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, or Star, then drag in the Composition viewer. The button remembers the last shape. Polygon/star drag direction becomes the shape's built-in orientation, leaving layer Rotation at zero.

## Pen and Mask tool

Select the Pen tool with `G`. With no suitable layer selected it draws a new path shape layer; on a selected visual layer the same gesture creates a [Mask](/animoia-docs/effects-reference/mask.md#mask-1) instead. Compound paths support multiple contours with nonzero and even-odd fills.

### Drawing a path

Click in the viewer to lay a corner point. Drag while placing a point instead, and you pull out a pair of Bezier tangent handles, so the segment curves. Hold `Shift` while placing the next point to lock the new segment to 45° increments from the previous point.

Click the contour's first point again to close it, which also ends the drawing session while leaving the path editable. Press `Enter` to finish an open path, or `Esc` to cancel the path you are drawing. Pressing `Esc` again clears the pen's editing target.

To resume an unfinished path, click its end point once without dragging — the drawing session continues from there.

### Adding, deleting, and converting points

**Point editing gestures**

| Gesture                  | Result                                                                                                                                                                        |
| ------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `Ctrl` + click a segment | Inserts a new point exactly on the curve at that spot without changing the path's shape. The cursor becomes a crosshair and a preview marker shows where the point will land. |
| `Ctrl` + click a point   | Removes that point and rejoins its neighbors. Points always win over segments, so a click that lands on both never splits the curve underneath.                               |
| `Delete` or `Backspace`  | Removes every selected point at once.                                                                                                                                         |
| `Alt` + click a point    | Converts the point between corner and smooth by retracting both handles or growing them back.                                                                                 |
| `Alt` + drag a handle    | Breaks the handle pair so the two sides bend independently, giving a sharp cusp with curves on both sides.                                                                    |
| `Alt` + click a handle   | Retracts that single handle, straightening the segment on that side only.                                                                                                     |
| Drag a handle            | Reshapes the curve. Once a pair is broken, each side keeps moving independently without holding `Alt`.                                                                        |

Both point insertion and deletion are topology changes, so Animoia applies them to the base path *and* to every keyframe at once, which keeps an animated path consistent.

### Selecting and moving points

Click a point to select it and drag to move it. `Shift` + click adds or removes a single point from the selection, and `Ctrl` + `A` selects every point on the path, including the points of its holes.

When editable paths are on screen, dragging from empty space draws a marquee that box-selects points; hold `Shift` to add to the existing selection. Because a marquee would otherwise make masks unreachable on those layers, a **double-click** drag in empty space always creates a new mask or path instead.

With points selected, the arrow keys nudge the *points* rather than the layer — one composition pixel per press, or ten with `Shift` held. The nudge is measured on screen, so it stays exact on a rotated or scaled layer. Hold `Shift` while dragging points or handles to constrain the movement to 45° increments.

Points can be edited across several selected layers at once: clicking a point on another selected layer's path switches the pen to that path without needing `Esc` first.

> **See also:** [Mask](/animoia-docs/effects-reference/mask.md#mask-1) for the Mask properties this tool creates, [Paths](/animoia-docs/effects-reference/paths.md) for operators that reshape the finished path, and [Keyboard shortcuts](/animoia-docs/shortcuts.md) for the full key list.

## Type tool

Drag to create box text or click/type for text content. A new text layer starts empty. Rich-text controls target the active text selection; without one they target the full content and, where supported, all selected text layers. Undo/redo remains document-aware during text editing.

## Puppet Pin tool

Click a visual layer to add pins. The first pin creates the hidden Puppet effect. Drag pins to deform the generated mesh; pin positions auto-keyframe when animation is active. Use **Show Mesh** to reveal or hide the deformation mesh. Delete selected pins with the normal Delete command.

## Add Layer

Click to add the remembered layer type; hold to choose **Solid**, **Adjustment**, or **Null**. A Solid fills the composition. An Adjustment layer applies its effects to content below through its alpha. A Null is an invisible 100×100 parenting target.


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