Your first layout

Layouts are built on the canvas — a GPU-accelerated working area showing the machine’s workspace, the grid, rulers, and guides. All coordinates are in millimeters.

Workspace and navigation

  • The workspace is centered on the origin (for example, 110×110 mm for a 110 mm lens; the size is set in Hardware Settings). The Y axis points up — the CAD convention, same as EzCad and LightBurn.
  • Zoom — mouse wheel (toward the cursor), Ctrl + + / Ctrl + −, Fit to Window — Ctrl+0. The range is 1% to 20000%; the current zoom is shown in the status bar.
  • Pan — hold Space and drag, or drag with the middle mouse button.
  • Rulers (Ctrl+R) track the cursor position; dragging from a ruler creates a guide.

Tools

One tool is active at a time; switch with the floating toolbar at the bottom of the canvas, a hotkey, or the command palette (Ctrl+K). The selection manipulation layer works on top of any tool: you can move an object without switching back to Select.

Tool Key What it does
Select V Click or marquee selection, move, resize, rotate, corner rounding, entering groups
Point (node edit) A Path nodes: anchor points and Bézier handles, node type, add/remove nodes, breaking a closed path
Text T Text by click with editing right on the canvas; click a path for text on a path
Rectangle R Rectangle; corner rounding shared or per corner
Circle C Circle/ellipse; an arc sector via Start/End angles
Polygon G Regular polygon, 3–128 sides
Star S Star: 2–64 points, inner ratio, vertex rounding
Line / Pen L Paths: clicks for a polyline, dragging for Bézier handles; Close Path closes the contour
Reference Measure M Measure on the canvas and scale by reference — pick a segment and enter its real distance

Every tool has its own context panel in the toolbar: dimensions, sides, radii, text parameters. The shape tools share one dropdown in the floating toolbar.

Shapes

  • Rectangle — independent radii for all four corners; adjacent radii are automatically clamped to the side length, so the geometry is always valid. Radii can also be edited with handles right on the canvas.
  • Circle — with a partial arc angle it builds a closed sector (a “pie”) ready for hatching.
  • Polygon and star — rounding shared or per vertex.
  • Position and size of any object — the X/Y/W/H spinners with proportion lock.

Text

Click the canvas with the Text tool and type — editing happens right on the canvas. Height is set in millimeters; TTF/OTF fonts, spacing, alignment, bold and italic, and vertical text are supported. More in Text and fonts.

Precision: snapping and guides

  • Object Snap (Alt+S, on by default) — snaps to centers, corners, midpoints, and nodes; snap points are marked with badges.
  • Smart guides — Figma/Illustrator style: while moving or resizing, matches with neighbors’ edges and centers light up, and the dragged edge sticks to them.
  • Hold Ctrl while dragging to temporarily bypass all snapping; Shift constrains movement to one axis.
  • Grid (1 mm default spacing) and Snap to Grid — a toolbar button.
  • Guides — drag from a ruler or use the View menu with exact position input; guides can be locked. Snapping settings and guides are saved in the document file (.znm).

Limitations

  • An open arc (not closed into a sector) has no dedicated parameter — convert to a path and edit nodes instead.
  • There are no dedicated “spiral” or “arrow” shapes: draw a spiral with the path tool, build an arrow from primitives and combine them.

What’s next