Using Pixls on a canvas

A saved Pixl can stand on its own like a sticker, appear as a node’s picture or sit behind a canvas as a background. The saved artwork and the way you place it are separate: changing a placement’s size does not resize the drawing’s pixel grid.

Place a Pixl#

Right-click a canvas you may add to and choose Create Pixl to draw artwork for that spot. Save completes the placement flow.

For existing artwork, drag a Pixl from Media onto the canvas, or choose Place on canvas from its row. A placement request still follows the canvas’s permissions. Putting your unreleased artwork on public space can ask how others may use it.

Where a placement is waiting for a click, the app says Click the canvas to place your Pixl. Esc cancels. Click the intended spot, or press Escape to cancel the placement.

You can place the same artwork more than once. A saved image update reaches uses of its current version; changing one placement’s location or display size affects that placement.

Open and size artwork#

A loose Pixl keeps its square shape rather than being clipped into a circle. Its menu offers Edit Pixl for your editable artwork or View Pixl for someone else’s. Viewing shows artist credit and any available save or remix actions.

The Size choices are Small, Medium and Large. They change the display size on the canvas; they do not change a 32 × 32 Pixl into a 64 × 64 drawing. Use the editor’s Canvas size control when you want to change the actual grid.

For any other size, hold Alt (Option on a Mac) over a loose Pixl or joined picture you may edit and drag outward or inward. It can go as small as one canvas unit and as large as 4,096. Choosing Small, Medium or Large afterwards returns it to that size. Other canvas items keep clear of a picture’s whole drawn size, so several large pictures spread out rather than piling up at their centres.

Crop and shape#

Crop and shape… in a loose Pixl’s or joined picture’s menu opens a panel showing the whole artwork with a crop box over it. Drag the box to move it and drag its corners to resize it; with the box or a corner focused, the arrow keys move it too, further with Shift. Crop chooses Free or 1:1, which keeps the box square. Border chooses Square or Round: a round image is clipped to the circle inside its crop (an oval when the crop is not square). Show all resets the box to the whole artwork, and Apply saves the crop and border for everyone who sees that placement.

The part you keep fills the placement’s size. Cropping changes how that placement shows, not the saved artwork, so other uses of the same Pixl are unchanged.

A picture file placed on a canvas (a photo) has the same Crop and shape… row, and the same Alt or Option drag for any size from one canvas unit to 4,096; see images and node pictures.

Lock in place stops a placement being dragged or moved by the canvas layout. Unlock lets it move again. This placement lock is different from a layer lock inside Pixl Studio and from an artwork’s deletion protection.

A loose Pixl has no inside to enter. It can still have links and children attached to it on the canvas. Those are separate canvas items, rather than additional pixels in the artwork.

Give a node a picture#

For a node you may edit, open its context menu’s Appearance choices:

1. Choose Draw new… to make a picture for it, or Choose a Pixl… to pick eligible saved art.
2. Use S, M or L in its image controls to choose the display size.
3. Choose Remove image to return to the node’s colour.

You can also drag a Pixl onto the node. The drop hint distinguishes placing a separate Pixl from using it as the node’s image.

Node pictures are clipped to a circle. The node’s colour stays behind the image and can show through transparent pixels. The square file is preserved. The editor’s round guide helps you keep important details away from the clipped corners.

The colour circle beside a node’s title can also show a plus when you may edit it. Its picture choices open the same draw, choose and remove actions.

Use a background#

Choose Use as background on a loose Pixl or joined picture. The artwork moves behind links and nodes and stops participating in their floating layout. Nodes remain clickable over it.

To move a background you may edit, unlock it and drag it. Move and resize selects the background and exposes its resize handle. Drag the corner handle to scale it freely. The allowed display size runs from 1 to 4,096 canvas units; this changes the canvas display rather than the pixel grid.

Background and lock are independent. A locked background cannot be moved or scaled. Bring to front returns it among the normal canvas objects at the size it had as a background. Links to a background are not drawn while it is behind the canvas.

Background Pixls show a still image. For normal canvas artwork, animation also depends on screen size, visibility and reduced-motion settings; see Animation.

Save, report or remove#

Someone else’s eligible released artwork offers Save Pixl. An entry already saved can show Saved instead. Report image reports the artwork rather than changing its placement.

Removing a placement does not automatically delete its saved artwork. To delete the Pixl itself, use its collection or editor action. If it is still used elsewhere, the app can refuse deletion and explain why.

For a larger image made from several Pixls, continue with joined pictures.