The Freehand Tool

Use this tool to trace designs, or draw freehand.

To draw a line

1. Position your mouse cursor on the worktable where you want the line to begin.

2. Click, hold and drag to draw your line.

3. Release the mouse to finish your line.

To draw a patch

1. Position your mouse cursor on the worktable where you want the line to begin.

2. Click, hold and drag to draw your patch.

3. While still holding down the mouse button, hover the cursor over the initial node.

4. Release the mouse to finish your patch.

Tip: Before releasing the mouse button, you can erase a portion of a freehand curve by holding down your keyboard SHIFT key and dragging backwards over the curve.

Adjusting the Freehand Smoothness
The Freehand tool is a great way to trace images and guides. The Freehand tool uses Bezier curves. They are made up of several nodes which determine the smoothness and accuracy of the drawing. The more nodes created by the curve, the choppier the drawing can be. Fewer nodes create smoother curves and segments.

To adjust the smoothness settings, click the Drawing Board Setup  button on the Precision Bar, or click Block on the top menu bar, then choose Drawing Board Setup. You can make the adjustments under PatchDraw > Freehand, Rectangle, Ellipse.


• If you’d like a reminder of this and other tools in EQ7, check out the  Display Dynamic Help tool.
• To print this: Click the title (Tool Tip Tuesday! -  The Freehand Tool) and then print as normal.