Use canvas rulers, guides, and other overlays in Pixelmator Pro on iPad
You can use canvas overlays, including rulers, guides, grids, and more to help you compose and align elements in your composition.
Note: To set the canvas background appearance (white, black, or transparent) for newly created documents, see Pixelmator Pro settings.
Show or hide all overlays
Overlays are UI elements such as the grid, layer handles, or active selections that appear in the canvas but are not part of your image.
In Pixelmator Pro on iPad, swipe down from the top of the screen to reveal the menu bar, then choose View > Overlays > Show Overlay.
When an overlay is enabled, a checkmark appears next to this menu item.
Show or hide specific overlays
In Pixelmator Pro on iPad, swipe down from the top of the screen to reveal the menu bar, then choose View > Overlays.
Choose any of the following from the submenu:
Guides: Shows or hides horizontal and vertical guide lines that you can position in the canvas to help you align image elements.
Note: After you choose to show guides, you must manually add them in the canvas.
Grid: Shows or hides a background grid.
Pixel Grid: Shows or hides a pixel grid in the canvas (visible when an image is zoomed in to the pixel level).
Shape Outline: Shows or hides the outlines of shapes (useful when working with combined shapes).
Layer and Selection Handles: Shows or hides circular red selection handles around vector shapes and text when their layer is selected in the Layers sidebar.
Quick Canvas Controls: Shows or hides canvas controls that appear with some tools.
Show or hide rulers
You can display canvas rulers to help you accurately arrange and size layers, shapes, text, and other elements.
In Pixelmator Pro on iPad, swipe down from the top of the screen to reveal the menu bar, then choose View > Show Rulers.
When rulers are enabled, a checkmark appears next to this menu item. Rulers appear along the left and top sides of the canvas.
Enable smart guides
Smart Guides appear when you move a layer in the canvas, and help you identify its spatial relationship to other layers. These guides appear and disappear automatically, but may need to be enabled.
In Pixelmator Pro on iPad, make sure overlays are enabled.
Swipe down from the top of the screen to reveal the menu bar, then choose View > Smart Guides and choose any of the following options:
Show Guides at Object Center: Smart guides appear when the center of a layer aligns with the center of another layer or the center of the image.
Show Guides at Object Edges: Smart guides appear when the edges of a layer align with the edge of another layer or the edge of the image.
Show Relative Sizes: Smart guides appear when a layer matches the size of another layer.
Show Relative Spacing: Smart guides appear when three or more layers are placed equally apart in a line.
Add alignment guides
You can add horizontal and vertical alignment guides in the canvas to help you line up layers and image elements within layers. Alignment guides are persistent, even after you close a document and open it later.
In Pixelmator Pro on iPad, make sure rulers are enabled.
Do any of the following:
Touch and hold the vertical or horizontal ruler, choose Add Guide, select the orientation and position of the guide, and tap
.
Swipe down from the top of the screen to reveal the menu bar, then choose View > Guides > Add Guide, then select the orientation and position of the guide, and tap
Move an alignment guide
In Pixelmator Pro on iPad, select
in the Tools sidebar.
Drag a guide in the canvas to move it.
Tip: To delete an alignment guide, drag it to a ruler.