The canvas
Moving around
Pan, zoom, marquee and frame the view, with a pen or a trackpad, without ever hunting for empty canvas to grab.
Hold <kbd>Space</kbd> and drag. That is the pan, and it is the one gesture worth building a habit around, because it works everywhere. | Gesture | What it does | |---|---| | <kbd>Space</kbd> and drag | Pan | | Pinch on a trackpad, or <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> and scroll | Zoom toward the cursor | | Drag on empty canvas | Marquee-select whatever falls inside | | Two-finger scroll | Pan vertically and horizontally | ## Why spacebar panning is the one to learn On most canvases panning means finding a gap between objects and grabbing that. On a board that is going well there are no gaps. Spacebar panning intercepts the drag before the thing under your cursor sees it, so a sticky note, an image, a tool card or a 3D mesh all pan the same way. You never break your rhythm to hunt for bare canvas, and you never accidentally drag the artwork when you meant to move the view. :::tip[Coming from Figma] The gesture is identical, deliberately. Space-drag to pan, <kbd>Ctrl</kbd>-scroll to zoom, drag on empty space to marquee. Muscle memory carries over. ::: ## Zoom has a floor and a ceiling The camera clamps at both ends, so a runaway trackpad gesture cannot fling you into a void with nothing on screen and no way to tell which direction your work is in. Zoom also runs toward the cursor rather than the centre of the screen. Put the pointer on the thing you care about before you zoom and it stays under your finger the whole way in. ## A pen tablet needs no setup Panning and zooming read ordinary pointer events, so a pen behaves exactly like a mouse and there is nothing to configure. The barrel button sends a right-click, which opens the radial menu. Where the pen actually changes the work is pressure. Sketch strokes take their width from it, and bodypaint runs a full parametric brush engine on pressure, velocity and the surface under the tip. ## The canvas is isometric, not flat A board is a 3D space viewed through a fixed isometric camera. Most of the time that is invisible and it behaves like any 2D canvas, which is the intention. You notice it when a 3D mesh lands: the mesh sits in the same space as your images rather than in a viewer bolted onto the side, which is why you can orbit it, light it and render it without leaving the board. :::note[The camera angle does not change] There is no perspective mode and no free orbit of the whole board. Individual 3D objects orbit inside their own frame; the board itself stays locked to its isometric angle so that everyone's screenshot of the same board looks the same. :::Hold Space and drag. That is the pan, and it is the one gesture worth building a habit around, because it works everywhere.
| Gesture | What it does |
|---|---|
| Space and drag | Pan |
| Pinch on a trackpad, or Ctrl and scroll | Zoom toward the cursor |
| Drag on empty canvas | Marquee-select whatever falls inside |
| Two-finger scroll | Pan vertically and horizontally |
Why spacebar panning is the one to learn
Section titled “Why spacebar panning is the one to learn”On most canvases panning means finding a gap between objects and grabbing that. On a board that is going well there are no gaps.
Spacebar panning intercepts the drag before the thing under your cursor sees it, so a sticky note, an image, a tool card or a 3D mesh all pan the same way. You never break your rhythm to hunt for bare canvas, and you never accidentally drag the artwork when you meant to move the view.
Zoom has a floor and a ceiling
Section titled “Zoom has a floor and a ceiling”The camera clamps at both ends, so a runaway trackpad gesture cannot fling you into a void with nothing on screen and no way to tell which direction your work is in.
Zoom also runs toward the cursor rather than the centre of the screen. Put the pointer on the thing you care about before you zoom and it stays under your finger the whole way in.
A pen tablet needs no setup
Section titled “A pen tablet needs no setup”Panning and zooming read ordinary pointer events, so a pen behaves exactly like a mouse and there is nothing to configure. The barrel button sends a right-click, which opens the radial menu.
Where the pen actually changes the work is pressure. Sketch strokes take their width from it, and bodypaint runs a full parametric brush engine on pressure, velocity and the surface under the tip.
The canvas is isometric, not flat
Section titled “The canvas is isometric, not flat”A board is a 3D space viewed through a fixed isometric camera. Most of the time that is invisible and it behaves like any 2D canvas, which is the intention.
You notice it when a 3D mesh lands: the mesh sits in the same space as your images rather than in a viewer bolted onto the side, which is why you can orbit it, light it and render it without leaving the board.