Display the Paint Effects canvas

To paint in 2D, you use the Paint Effects canvas. The Paint Effects canvas is just a plane that is ortho-normal to the camera. When you paint a stroke on the canvas, Paint Effects applies the paint and discards the underlying stroke and attached brush, which means you cannot edit them.

To display the Paint Effects canvas

  1. On the view menu bar, select Panels > Panel > Paint Effects to open the Paint Effects panel. The Paint Effects Tool is selected automatically.
    Tip: You can open the Paint Effects panel as a separate window by selecting Windows > Paint Effects.
  2. Select Paint > Paint Canvas. The panel changes from the perspective scene view to a blank canvas, and the Canvas menu and toolbar become available.
Tip: To better understand the options in the Paint Effects panel menu bar and toolbars, see Paint Effects panel.

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