Freeform & vectors

A freeform is a shape you own point by point. Anything can become one — a rectangle, a star, a word, a drawing, a logo you only have as a PNG — and a freeform can hold other elements, so it doubles as a group with a custom outline.

What a freeform is

  • Points. Drag a point to move it. Right-click or long-press the outline for Add Point Here and Remove Point Here; the ⊕ and ⊖ in the small toolbar above the selection, or ⌘] and ⌘[, add and remove one point at a time.
  • Smoothness, in the inspector (Curve on iPhone), rounds the whole outline at once and brings out the curve handles — drag one to bend its segment. Points sets how many there are, up to 400, and Reduce Points in the menu thins a busy outline.
  • Everything a shape has, a freeform has: fill, gradient, stroke, dash, shadow, opacity, blur.
  • Open or closed. Open Path turns the outline into a stroked path; Close Path makes it a shape again.

Six ways to make one

From How You get
A shape Edit › Convert to Freeform, or the button in the inspector The same rectangle, circle, triangle, ellipse, star or diamond, as editable points.
Text Edit › Convert to Freeform, up to 250 characters Every letter as a path: a wordmark you can stretch, cut into, or fill with a photo.
An image Edit › Convert to Vector Your picture, or an SF Symbol, traced into freeforms on the device. Best on logos, icons and flat artwork.
A drawing Edit › Convert to Freeform Your pencil strokes as vector shapes.
A line or path Edit › Convert to Path, then Close Path A line becomes a path with points; closing it makes a shape.
From scratch Path, in the creation bar or Essentials A path with a few points to drag where you want them; close it when it is done.

Convert to Vector works on pictures you added yourself and on SF Symbols, not on the stickers and icons from Elements.

A freeform is a group

  • Drag elements into it the way you drag into any container — hold still over it — and they are clipped to its outline and move with it. A photo inside a blob, a portrait inside an arch, a title inside a ribbon.
  • Convert to Freeform Group takes a group with something in it and gives it four corner points; pull them into any silhouette and everything inside stays put and clipped.
  • Merge Paths joins two or more lines, paths or freeforms into one compound shape — where the outlines overlap, the overlap is cut out, so a circle inside a circle makes a ring. Unmerge Freeform splits it again.
"Pixara" converted to freeform, every point still editable, with a photo dropped inside — the letters are the mask.
"Pixara" converted to freeform, every point still editable, with a photo dropped inside — the letters are the mask.

When to rasterize

A traced logo can carry a lot of points. Once it looks right, Rasterize turns it into a flat image that is cheap to move and copy around; keep a vector copy to the side if you might edit it again.