Transform and rasterize

Choose Transform (T) to move, resize or rotate a layer. Drag the frame to move it, an edge or corner to resize, and the round handle to rotate. For exact values, expand Transform in Layer Settings.

Original Aspect restores the image’s original proportions.

Original Size in the Transform toolbar also restores its pixel size: one source pixel equals one canvas pixel. It preserves the image center, rotation, pivot and flips. Generated layers use the canvas size. Reset returns the transform to its starting state.

Position and pivot

The gold pivot is the point around which the layer rotates and scales. Drag it to a new position without moving the image.

The pivot and transform snap to nearby guide points. Hold Ctrl to move freely. Hold Shift to move along one axis, resize proportionally or rotate in 15° steps. Escape cancels a drag; T or Enter leaves the tool.

Skew and perspective

With Transform active, hold these modifiers while dragging a handle:

  • Ctrl / Cmd + corner: move that corner independently.
  • Ctrl / Cmd + edge: skew along the edge.
  • Ctrl / Cmd + Shift + corner: constrain the corner movement to a canvas axis.
  • Ctrl / Cmd + Alt / Option + Shift + corner: move paired corners in opposite directions for perspective.
  • Alt / Option + ordinary resize: resize around the pivot.

Crossed or collapsed corners are rejected. Reset removes skew and perspective. Original Aspect and Original Size require a regular transform; reset a distorted layer first. The numeric Position, Rotation and Scale controls preserve existing distortion; Rotation and Scale describe the local axes at the pivot. Painting keeps the brush footprint in canvas space, even on a distorted Drawing layer.

Repeat an image or keep crisp edges

Tiling controls what appears beyond the image’s original bounds:

  • Source follows the source texture’s setting.
  • Clip leaves the outside transparent.
  • Repeat tiles the image.
  • Mirror alternates reflected copies.
  • Clamp stretches the outermost pixels beyond the image bounds.
  • Unbounded continues Noise, Gradient, Color Fill and Shape calculations outside the frame. File, Drawing and raster effects use Clip instead. Gradient colors still follow their keys; this does not extrapolate new colors beyond the first or last key.

Filter controls edge smoothness. Choose Point for pixel art or Bilinear for smooth scaling. Source follows the texture’s filter; Trilinear also smooths transitions between mip levels when present.

To paint across the canvas edges instead, use Tiled preview.

Merge layers or convert them to Drawing

Use Merge in the row menu or Ctrl+E to replace selected layers with one Drawing layer. Ctrl+Alt+E makes a merged copy and keeps the originals. The merged result includes visible layers, their transforms and effects.

Merging only part of an image can change how it blends with the remaining layers. Make a copy first if you want to compare.

Convert to Drawing makes a layer paintable. It also works on an existing Drawing layer:

Mode What happens
Keep Transform Turn the source into pixels and keep its transform.
Apply Transform Keep its current appearance in the pixels and reset the transform.

Converting a group combines its visible contents. Effects targeting individual layers inside that group will need a new target.