3.3.3. Pencil Tool

The Pencil tool is used to draw free hand lines with a hard edge. Any strokes are rendered using the current brush.

Activate Tool
  • The Pencil Tool can be called in the following order, from the image-menu: Tools/ Paint Tools/Pencil .

  • The Tool can also be called by clicking the tool icon:

Key modifiers (Defaults)
Shortcut

The N key will change the active tool to Pencil Tool.

Ctrl

Ctrl changes the pencil to a Color Picker.

Shift

Shift places the pencil tool into straight line mode. Holding Shift while clicking Button 1 will generate a straight line. Consecutive clicks will continue drawing straight lines that originate from the end of the last line.

Options

Overview

The available tool options can be accessed by double clicking the Pencil Tool icon.

Opacity

The Opacity slider sets the transparency level for the gradient. A higher opacity setting results in a more opaque fill and a lower setting results in a more transparent fill.

Mode

The Mode dropdown list provides a selection of paint application modes. A list of these modes can be found in the glossary.

Brush

Indicates the active brush. Clicking on the brush icon opens the brush selection dialog.

Shape

The Gimp provides 11 shapes, which can be selected from the drop-down list.

Incremental

The Incremental checkbox activates incremental paint mode for the tool. More information about incremental mode can be found in the glossary.

Pressure Sensitivity

The Pressure Sensitivity section sets the sensitivity levels for input devices that support this option.

Fade Out

This option sets the stroke to fade out after the specified distance. The stroke will fade to transparency at the completion of the set distance.

Use Color from Gradient

Instead of using the Foreground or Background color, the color is based on the active gradient selection.

The gradient is painted in a forward direction. The entire color sequence of the gradient will be rendered within the distance set.

Repeat

Sawtooth Wave: Renders the gradient repeatedly. At each expiry of the distance that has been set, the gradient will begin rerendering from the beginning.

Triangular Wave: Renders the gradient repeatedly. At each expiry of the distance that has been set, the gradient will reverse direction and render in that direction until the expiry of the distance once more. At this point, it will begin again until the stroke is complete.