Symmetry Tool

Show the Symmetry Tool

You can open the Symmetry Tool from the View menu or from the Symmetry Tool panel.

The current version supports four directions:

Once shown, the matching handles and symmetry guides appear around the canvas or directly inside it.

The two screenshots below show the current Symmetry Tool panel on iOS and desktop.

Symmetry Tool panel on iOS

Symmetry Tool panel on desktop

The Symmetry Tool has two layers of state:

Show / Hide: whether that direction's symmetry guide and handles are visible on the canvas.
Enable / Disable: whether strokes are actually mirrored along that direction while drawing.

In practice, you can show a direction first, then click its handle to quickly decide whether it should participate in mirrored drawing.

Once the Symmetry Tool is visible, you can work with its handles directly on the canvas.

Click a handle to enable or disable mirrored drawing for that direction.
Drag a handle to reposition the symmetry line.
After locking the tool, the handles remain visible but can no longer be dragged.

Horizontal and vertical directions place handles along the canvas edges, while the 45-degree tools place their handles inside the canvas.

The next two screenshots show the horizontal / vertical handles and the 45-degree handles on the canvas.

Horizontal and vertical symmetry handles on the canvas

45-degree symmetry handles on the canvas

The GIF below shows how to click a handle to toggle it and drag it to reposition it.

Click a handle to toggle it, then drag it to reposition it

Besides working directly with the handles, the Symmetry Tool panel gives you a few common controls:

Reset to Center to quickly move the visible symmetry tools back to the middle.
Lock / Unlock to prevent accidental handle movement.
Settings to jump into Assistive Grid related settings.
Close to hide all visible symmetry tools at once.

If you switch directions frequently, the panel is usually faster than relying only on the handles.

The symmetry line color can be adjusted in the Assistive Grid related settings.

This is useful when you want to rebalance contrast for dark themes, light themes, or high-contrast setups.
If you use grid lines, perspective guides, and symmetry guides together, giving them more distinct colors makes the canvas easier to read.

Symmetry line color in Assistive Grid settings

The Symmetry Tool is especially useful for:

symmetric faces, masks, badges, and emblem-like designs
front-facing buildings or object studies
trying quick ideas with 45-degree symmetry
blocking in structure first, then turning the tool off for asymmetrical detail work

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