Tools

All drawing and selection tools available in Novaboard. This page is a reference—you will mainly use a few tools (Brush, Eraser, Bucket, Select) at first and can explore the rest over time.

Tool panel showing all available tools
The tool panel on the left side of the interface

Tool Groups

Related tools share one slot in the panel, marked with a small corner triangle. A plain click selects the group's active tool. Hold the button, or right-click it, to open a flyout with every tool in the group; sliding onto one and releasing picks it, the same way it works in other pixel art apps. Alt + click steps to the next tool in the group without opening the flyout. Each group remembers the last tool you picked in it, even after a reload.

Drawing Tools

Brush

B

Variable size brush with 10 shapes (circle, square, diamond, star, slash, backslash, x, cross, horizontal line, vertical line). Hold D + drag to adjust size. Use -or [ and =or ] to decrease/increase size. Toggle Pixel-Perfect ( P ) for precision 1-pixel drawing that eliminates stair-stepping on diagonal lines. The Ink dropdown changes what a stroke writes: Simple, Lock Alpha or Shading.

Scatter

Shift+Alt+B

Paints brush stamps along the stroke, each offset by a random amount. X and Y set the offset range in pixels on each axis, Count sets stamps per step, and Variation randomly thins that count for a clumpier look. Works with custom brushes, including animated ones, where every stamp uses the next frame.

Eraser

E

Erase pixels to transparency. Size adjustable like the brush tool.

Bucket Fill

G

Fill connected areas with the current color. Click any region to fill it.

Gradient

Shift+G

Fill with smooth color transitions. Supports linear and radial gradients with optional dithering for pixel art-friendly results.

Spray

Shift+B

Scatter pixels in a random pattern within the brush radius, building up while you hold still. Density, speed, hardness, dot shape and presets sit in the tool options row.

Dither

Alt+B

Paint with a dither pattern mixing foreground and background colors. Eight patterns and a ratio slider let you blend between two colors without anti-aliasing.

Color Picker

I

Left-click samples into the primary color, right-click into the secondary color. Hold Alt to temporarily switch to this tool from most other tools (the selection, shape, curve, slice and transform tools use that key themselves).

Shading

No default shortcut

Shift colors along a gradient for quick shading. Left-click shifts toward the start of the ramp (lighter); right-click shifts toward the end of the ramp (darker).

Dodge/Burn Tool ( O )

Lighten or darken pixels using OKLCH color space for perceptually uniform adjustments:

  • Dodge mode — Lighten pixels by increasing OKLCH lightness
  • Burn mode — Darken pixels by decreasing OKLCH lightness
  • Hover preview — Shows what the tip would do to the pixels under it before you press anything, then steps aside for the real stroke. Needs an RGBA layer
  • Has its own size control in the tool options; the tip is always circular

Text Tool ( Shift+T )

Click to place editable text, or drag a box first to make it wrap. Each commit becomes its own text layer:

  • Vector fonts — TrueType and OpenType rendering, with optional pixel snap
  • BDF pixel fonts — Bitmap distribution format fonts for pixel-perfect text
  • Styling — Bold, italic and underline, vertical text, 90° rotation, four alignments, and letter and line spacing
  • Font manager — Browse and import fonts from a dedicated dialog

See Text Tool for every option, and Text Layers for fonts and rasterizing.

Color Replacer

Swaps one color for another across the file. It has no toolbar button: reach it from the command palette, or by turning on Sample from canvas in the Replace Colors panel. While it is active a canvas click eyedrops the pixel you clicked into a new "from" row of that panel, so you pick the color you want gone by pointing at it. On indexed files it picks the exact palette slot, on RGBA files the composited color.

Selection Tools

Select

Sor M

Create rectangular selections. Hold Shift to add to selection, Altor Right Click to subtract.

Ellipse Select

No default shortcut

Create elliptical selections. Hold Shift to constrain to a circle (or Shift to add when a selection already exists), Altor Right Click to subtract.

Lasso

Q

Freehand selection by drawing around an area. The selection closes automatically.

Magic Wand

W

Select contiguous areas of similar color. Hold D + drag to adjust tolerance.

Polygon Select

No default shortcut

Multi-click polygon selection. Click to place vertices, press Enter to confirm or Escape to cancel. Hold Shift to add, Altor Right Click to subtract.

Transform

T

Move, scale, rotate, or shear the current selection. Use arrow keys for precise 1px movements. There is no Confirm/Cancel button: Enter, Escape, switching tools, and clicking away all commit the change, and Ctrl + Z undoes it.

Unified Transform

No default shortcut

All-in-one transform tool with distinct handles for move, scale, rotate, shear, and perspective. No mode switching required.

Shape Tools

Line

L

Draw straight lines. Hold Shift to snap to pixel-perfect angles: cardinal 45° steps plus the isometric 26.565° and 63.435° slopes.

Rectangle

U

Draw rectangles. Hold Shift to create perfect squares.

Circle

Shift+Cor Shift+U

Draw ellipses. Hold Shift to create perfect circles.

Triangle

No default shortcut

Click and drag to draw a triangle, the same way as the rectangle and circle tools.

Hexagon

No default shortcut

Draw regular hexagons by clicking and dragging to set the size.

Star

No default shortcut

Draw five-pointed stars by clicking and dragging.

Isometric Draw

No default shortcut

Draw isometric shapes: cubes, pyramids, ramps, and cylinders with 3D-like perspective.

Curve

No default shortcut

Multi-point bezier pen tool with adjustable thickness. Click to place corner anchors, click and drag for smooth curves. Double-click nodes to toggle type, Alt +click to delete.

Contour

No default shortcut

Draw freeform polygons by dragging. Shape closes automatically on release. Works with outline or filled modes.

Polygon Tool

Draw arbitrary polygons by clicking to place vertices. It has no default shortcut — select it from the toolbar or the command palette:

  • Click to add each vertex point
  • Visual preview shows the polygon as you build it
  • Press Enter to complete, or Escape to cancel
  • Works with outline or filled modes

Navigation & Measurement

Zoom

Z

Left-click to zoom in, right-click to zoom out. Use scroll wheel for quick zooming. Number keys 2 – 7 set specific zoom levels.

Pan: Hold Spaceor Middle Click and drag to pan the canvas at any time. You can also use the dedicated Pan tool for click-and-drag panning.

Pan Tool ( Spaceor Middle Click )

Dedicated tool for panning the canvas:

  • Click and drag to pan the canvas view
  • Tap the shortcut to select the tool permanently
  • Hold the shortcut for temporary pan (returns to previous tool on release)

Rotate View Tool ( R )

Rotate the canvas view for comfortable drawing angles:

  • Click and drag to rotate the view around the focused file center
  • Hold Shift to snap to isometric (26.565°) and cardinal (45°) angles
  • Tap to select permanently, hold for temporary rotation
  • Press Ctrl+0 (View ▸ Fit to Screen) to reset the rotation back to 0°

Ruler Tool

Measure distance and angle between two points:

  • Click and drag to measure
  • Shows Manhattan distance in pixels (|dX| + |dY| + 1, counting both end pixels)
  • Shows angle in degrees (0-360)
  • Hold Shift to snap to pixel-perfect angles
  • Distance and angle appear in a tooltip next to the ruler line

Effect Tools

Blur Tool ( Shift+J )

Soften and blend pixels with a box blur effect:

  • Averages neighboring pixels within the brush area
  • Adjustable size for precise or broad application
  • Works with symmetry modes
  • Selection-aware (only affects pixels within active selection)

Jumble Tool ( J )

Create organic textures by randomly mixing pixels:

  • Copies pixels from nearby random positions
  • Great for grass, noise, or distressed effects
  • Adjustable size controls the effect intensity
  • Works with symmetry modes

Other Tools

Slice Tool ( Shift+K )

Mark out named rectangular regions of the canvas: sprite frames, UI nine-patches, or anything you want to export or reference on its own. Drag to create a slice, then edit its bounds, name and pivot. Slices covers the full workflow.

Quick Swap Tool

Jumps back to the tool you were using before the current one, and swaps again if you run it twice. It is unbound by default, so run it from the command palette or give it a key in the keymap editor.

Live Brush Preview

See exactly what you'll paint before committing your stroke:

  • Real-time preview — Shows the actual pixels that will be painted as you move the cursor
  • Works with all tools — Brush, eraser, spray, dither spray, bucket fill, shapes, and more
  • Accurate representation — Preview respects brush size, shape, opacity, and blend modes
  • Toggle on/off — Enable or disable via the View menu (no default shortcut; one can be assigned in the keymap editor)