What you'll learn: Quick flips, rotations and scales, the on-canvas Transform overlay (Scale / Rotate / Shear / Distort / Perspective), the Move tool with Smart Guides, and DRAW's image-adjustment dialogs (Brightness/Contrast, Hue/Sat, Levels, etc.).

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🎯 Goal: Transform layers and selections quickly.

These are the no-dialog shortcuts you'll reach for hundreds of times a session.

Action	Shortcut	Icon
Flip Horizontal	H
Flip Vertical	Ctrl+Shift+H
Rotate 90° CW	>
Rotate 90° CCW	<
Scale Up 50%	Ctrl+Shift+=
Scale Down 50%	Ctrl+Shift+-

All of the above operate on the active selection if there is one, otherwise on the active layer (or the multi-selected layers). For canvas-level flips that move every layer at once, use the corresponding entries under the Image menu.

🎯 Goal: Use the interactive on-canvas transform tool.

Open it with Edit → TRANSFORM… (or via the Command Palette). Note that Transform is not a toolbar tool — it's a temporary overlay you commit or cancel.

The overlay supports five modes; switch between them with yhe menu bar items and use the corresponding hotkeys:

1. Scale — drag handles. Shift locks aspect ratio.
2. Rotate — drag outside the bounding box. Shift snaps to 15° increments.
3. Shear — drag the box edges to skew.
4. Distort — drag each corner independently.
5. Perspective — Shift enables a special wall / floor projection.

The overlay frame and handles are themeable in THEME.CFG. Press Enter to apply (full undo step is recorded), Esc to cancel without modifying anything.

🎯 Goal: Reposition layer content precisely.

The Move tool (V, ) translates the active layer (or multi-selection). Modifiers:

• Drag — move.
• Arrow keys — nudge 1px (10px with Shift).
• Alt+Drag — clone stamp; the original stays where it was and the dragged duplicate becomes a new layer.
• Ctrl+Arrows — move selection content 1px (Ctrl+Shift+Arrows for a larger step; hold Alt to clone). (Ctrl+Arrows resizes only while placing an imported/pasted image.)
• Shift+Click — auto-select the topmost layer under the cursor.

Pro-tip: If you have an active selection, you can clone in Selection mode while holding Ctrl+Alt

When you move a layer, DRAW can render Smart Guides — temporary alignment lines that snap to canvas edges, canvas centers, and other layers' edges. This makes pixel-perfect alignment between sprites trivial.

Toggle	Shortcut
Show Smart Guides	Grid menu
Snap to Smart Guides	Grid menu

Smart-guide colors and opacity are themeable.

🎯 Goal: Apply per-layer color adjustments.

DRAW has two flavors of adjustment: dialog-based (with live preview, scrollable parameters) and one-shot (instant, undoable).

• Brightness / Contrast — Change the values and intensities of colors.
• Hue / Saturation — Rotate the colors on the color wheel and make them more or less colorful.
• Levels — Black point, White point, Gamma.
• Color Balance — Shadows / Midtones / Highlights.
• Blur — Gaussian, adjustable radius.
• Sharpen — adjustable intensity.

Hover any slider and use the mouse wheel for fine control.

• Invert (RGB negative)
• Desaturate (luminosity grayscale) (note you can use Ctrl+Shift+Alt+G to toggle Gray Scale Mode preview ON or OFF)
• Posterize (N levels, with optional dithering)
• Pixelate (block size)
• Remove Background

Every adjustment preserves the alpha channel and is undone in a single Ctrl+Z.

🎯 Goal: Stylize a layer with a large library of filters and generative effects.

Beyond the Image-menu adjustments, DRAW has a dedicated EFFECTS menu organized into flyout submenu categories (hover a category to open its list). Every effect opens a dialog with a split ORIG / ADJ live-preview loupe, mouse-wheel sliders, and an OK / RESET / CANCEL button row — RESET restores that effect's default parameters. Effects apply per-layer (multi-layer aware), preserve alpha where appropriate, and undo in a single Ctrl+Z.

• ADJUST → Gamma, Sepia, Threshold, Colorize, Gradient Map, Solarize, Duotone / Tritone
• STYLIZE → Glow, Film Grain, Vignette, Outline / Stroke, Edge Detect (Sobel), Grow / Shrink (dilate / erode), Chromatic Aberration, Emboss (with a Light Angle), Wind
• LAYER FX → Drop Shadow (Distance / Angle / Softness / Opacity), Perspective Shadow (Length / Cast Angle), Bevel (Height / Strength / Light Angle / Direction), Outer Glow, Inner Glow, Chrome / Metallic
• DISTORT → Wave / Ripple, Twirl, Pinch / Bulge (spherize), Kaleidoscope (auto mandala)
• PIXELATE → Crystallize, Stained Glass, Mosaic / Tessellate, Extrude, Pointillize
• NOISE → Add Noise, Median / Despeckle, Dust & Scratches
• RENDER → Clouds, Difference Clouds, Lens Flare, Terrain, Grid (with perspective), Sky (day / night / space)

Effects that work off the shape's alpha edge — backlights, glows, shadows, and elemental overlays: Backlight, Corona, Cutout, Bevel, Chrome, Extrude, Outer Glow, Inner Glow, Drop Shadow, Perspective Shadow, Motion Trail, Rust, Snow, Fire, Smoke, Icicles, Drip, Glass, Electrify, Water Drops.

Procedural surfaces painted onto the shape, each with a MIX slider (0–100) to blend the texture with the original art instead of replacing it outright: Wood, Marble, Brick Wall, Brushed Metal, Weave, Clouds, Swirl, Water Drops, Ripples, Animal Fur, Texture Noise, Stone Wall, Reptile Skin, Diamond Plate, Lightning.

💡 Effects that draw outside the shape (Drop Shadow, Outer Glow, Fire, Smoke, Icicles, Drip, Backlight, Corona, Motion Trail, Snow flecks) work best on a transparent layer so there's room around the artwork — add one with Ctrl+Shift+N. Effects that use a colour (Backlight, Corona, Inner/Outer Glow, Gradient Map, Duotone, Drop/Perspective Shadow) read the current FG / BG colours.

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➡️ Next: Chapter 7 — Text System