Nodes

Precise editing of an already-drawn contour — node by node. A polyline, or a rectangle/circle converted to a curve, can be worked into the shape you want after a rough contour is already on the canvas — you don't have to draw it perfectly on the first try.

LeatherDraft — the "Nodes" tool

How to edit

1. First draw a contour with the "Polyline" tool (or a rectangle/circle via "Convert to curve") and select it.
2. Click the "Nodes" button on the left panel or press N — node markers appear on the contour.
3. Drag a node itself to move that point, or its "handle" (direction control) to change the curvature of the adjoining segment — the canvas shows the handle's live length, angle, and snap right next to it. Shift locks the handle to its current axis, Ctrl locks it through the node in 45° steps.
4. Double-click a line between nodes to add a new node right at that spot.
5. Select a node and press Delete to remove it — the contour rebuilds from the remaining points.
6. Drag a node right up against a neighboring node on the same polyline — they merge into one, and the extra point vanishes on its own, no separate Delete needed. This only works with an immediate neighbor along the contour, not just any nearby point — so on a sharp fold it won't accidentally merge different sides of the contour.
7. Shift+click several nodes on the same polyline to select them all at once — handy for aligning a group of points against each other in one operation.

Nodes belonging to other pieces on the canvas show up as faint dots — the cursor snaps to them, so you can line up the edge of one piece exactly with the edge of another without guessing the scale by eye. This brings the coordinates of two points together, but doesn't merge the nodes into one — for that, use the trick above, which only works within a single polyline.

Properties of the selected node

In the screenshot above, one of the contour's nodes is selected — the "Node 1 of 15" heading shows which node it is:

Corner / Smooth / Symmetric

Node-type switch — corner gives a sharp break, smooth passes the curve through the point fluidly but lets you drag each handle independently (different length, different angle on each side). Symmetric is the same fluid transition, except the second handle always mirrors the first — same length, angle exactly 180° apart — drag one and the other follows on its own, no need to match both by hand.

Corner treatment

Corner nodes only: "Inherit" takes the contour's general setting (the "Rounding" / "Chamfer" fields from the polyline's own properties), or "Sharp", "Round", "Chamfer" to force it for this specific node, overriding the general setting. If the node sits next to a curved segment, the field is unavailable — the curve already gives a smooth transition, so there's nothing to round or chamfer here.

Corner size

Rounding radius or chamfer cut length at this specific node, when its treatment isn't set to "Inherit".

X, Y

Exact node coordinates on the canvas — type a number instead of dragging with the mouse.

Offset X, Offset Y

Shift relative to the current position. If several nodes are selected via Shift+click, the shift applies to all of them at once.

"Delete node"

An open contour can't drop below two points, a closed one below three — the button locks before the shape could fall apart.

The contour in this screenshot was drawn with the Polyline tool — that article covers corner and smooth nodes in detail, right during the drawing process, before ever switching to "Nodes".

Curve handles: exact values

For a smooth or symmetric node, the on-canvas hint next to the handle is only approximate. The panel on the right gives exact numbers instead of dragging with the mouse:

LeatherDraft — exact handle values

In: length / angle · Out: length / angle

A smooth node's two handles are independent — in and out are given separately, in millimeters and degrees (0° right, 90° down, along the document axes). A symmetric node has a single field pair — "Handle length" and "Handle angle" — the second handle is recomputed automatically.

"Tangent from adjacent nodes"

Points the handle so the curve passes through the node in the direction of its neighbors, instead of whatever angle it happened to end up at while drawing — faster than eyeballing the angle, especially after moving the node itself.

Actions on the whole polyline

Three buttons in the properties panel of the selected polyline, below the node fields — each acts on the entire contour:

"Clean straight runs"

Removes redundant nodes on straight segments — typical clutter after an SVG import, where a straight line can end up as a dozen nearly collinear points instead of two. Curves, chamfers, and rounding are left untouched.

"Simplify with tolerance"

The same idea, but controlled: enter a tolerance in millimeters — the maximum deviation from the original shape on straight runs — and see a "nodes to remove: N" preview before applying anything. Curved segments and nodes with a forced corner treatment are protected and never simplified.

"Reverse direction"

Flips the contour's starting point and traversal order — shape, curves, and corner treatment stay identical. Mainly useful when combining with other pieces where traversal direction matters (for example, a stitch symmetry mirror line).