Transforming a canvas

Jump to Mobile or Windows 10


Learn how to transform canvases to rotate, scale, and/or reposition them, using gestures or various tools in the different versions of SketchBook. Change the orientation.

For how to use the Transform tool, see How to use transforms.

Note:

If you're looking for how to resize an image, not the entire canvas, see How to resize images.

Transforming your canvas in SketchBook in Desktop

In the menu bar, in the Image menu, you will find tools for rotating, flipping, and mirroring your canvas.

Rotating the canvas

Select either Flip Canvas Vertically or Mirror Canvas to rotate the image 180 degrees.

For users of active tablets, such as a Cintiq, with a pixel width of less than 1024, we currently only support Landscape mode. The toolbar was designed for devices with a minimum 1024 pixels width.

Flip or mirror your canvas

To flip the canvas vertically, select Image > Flip Canvas Vertically.

flip the canvas vertically 1flip the canvas vertically 2

To flip the canvas horizontally, select Image > Mirror Canvas.

flip the canvas horizontally1 flip the canvas horizontally

Transforming your canvas in SketchBook in Mobile

To transform your canvas, there are an assortment of gestures, as well as tools.

Moving, rotating, and scaling your canvas

With two fingers, do the following:

Using the Rotate canvas preference

Rotate canvas option is turned on in Preferences

Rotate the canvas interactively by tap-dragging and rotating with two fingers. You need to make sure the Rotate canvas option is turned on in Preferences.

If you are using an extremely large canvas, it is advisable to turn Rotate canvas off, when not needed. Due to the amount of memory one of these canvases requires, it can really slow down the performance of your device.

  1. Tap Info Settings icon and select Preferences Preferences.
  2. Under General, turn off Rotate Canvas.

Rotate an existing canvas via the Gallery Export:

  1. Tap Info Settings icon in the mobile version of SketchBook.

    Tap Info Settings icon in the mobile version of SketchBook

  2. Tap Gallery icon in the mobile version of SketchBook (the Gallery icon).

    Tap Gallery icon in the mobile version of SketchBook

  3. Tap Export icon (the Export icon).

    Tap Export icon

  4. Tap RotateCCW.

    Tap RotateCCW.

    The image rotates counterclockwise.

    Rotating counterclockwise

    You can now continue working with the canvas in portrait view.

    You can now continue working with the canvas in portrait view

Setting canvas orientation for a new canvas

When creating a canvas, there’s an icon to rotate your canvas. Tap it to toggle the orientation between portrait and landscape mode.

There are a couple other things you might notice. Above the canvas orientation icon, you’ll see the size of your canvas in Mpx (Megapixels). Below the canvas dimensions is the maximum number of supported layers, based on the canvas size and device performance.

Tap File icon in the SketchBook Pro Mobile version and New Sketch icon for the SketchBook Pro Mobile version to create a sketch. In the dialog that appears, tap the rotate canvas icon to switch from one orientation to another.

Rotate from Landscape to PortraitRotate from Portrait to Landscape

Flip or mirror your canvas on Mobile

To flip the canvas, select Clutch tool in the mobile version of Autodesk SketchBook on iPad to access the tools in the marking menu. Swipe Flip Canvas from the marking menu in SketchBook Pro Mobile.

Flip Canvas 1

Flip Canvas 2

Transforming your canvas in SketchBook in Windows 10

Moving, rotating, and scaling your mobile canvas

With two fingers, do the following:

Setting canvas orientation for a new canvas on Mobile

While you are creating a new canvas, this is a good time to set its orientation.

  1. Select Menu icon > New Sketch icon for creating a canvas New Sketch and tap > to access a dropdown menu.

  2. To change the orientation of your canvas, tap the middle of the canvas image.

    canvas orientation custom screen