How to Create and Customize Pie Shapes in eXPerience 8

Reading Time: 3 minutes

This guide will walk you through the process of adding, customizing, and editing Pie shapes in your workspace. Pie shapes are versatile vector objects, perfect for creating appliqué designs, geometric patterns, or specific sections of a larger design.

Part 1: Creating a Pie Shape

Follow these steps to add a new Pie shape to your design canvas.

Locate the Shapes Tool: On the main toolbar, locate the Shapes section.
- Useful Tip: The icon displayed in the “Shapes” section will be the last shape you used. If the Pie shape is not visible, simply place your mouse over the icon to see all available shapes.
Select the Pie Shape: Click on the Pie shape icon from the list of available shapes. Your cursor will now be primed to draw.
Draw the Shape: Click and hold the left mouse button on the canvas where you want to begin. Drag the mouse to define the size and bounding box of your pie.
Finalize the Shape: Release the mouse button. The pie shape will be created, and the tool will remain active.
- Useful Tip: With the tool still active, you can immediately draw more pie shapes. To exit the tool, simply right-click on the canvas or click the Rectangle Selection tool.

Part 2: Customizing with the Tool Options Bar

You can precisely define the angles of the pie using the options at the top of the screen.

With the Pie shape selected, look at the Tool Options Bar.
You will see fields for Start Angle and End Angle.
Enter numerical values into these fields to change the starting and ending points of the pie’s arc, creating the exact wedge shape you need.
- Useful Tip: These options can be adjusted at any time. You can set them before you draw to create a specific shape, or you can select an existing pie on the canvas to modify it after it has been created.

Part 3: Advanced Editing with the Node Editor

For quick, visual adjustments, the Node Editor provides special control points on the Pie shape.

Select the Pie shape you wish to edit.
Activate the Node Editor.
You will see several special nodes on the shape. Each has a specific function:
- Start Angle Node: Click and drag this node along the circumference to visually adjust the start angle.
- End Angle Node: Click and drag this node along the circumference to visually adjust the end angle.
- Boundary Node: Click and drag this node to change the overall size and proportion of the pie, just as you did when first drawing it.
- Center Node: Click and drag this node to move the entire shape on the canvas without altering its size or angles.

Part 4: Converting to Curves for Manual Editing

If you need to edit the shape beyond what the special nodes allow, you can convert it into a standard curve object.

Select the Pie shape.
From the right-click menu or the main toolbar, choose the Convert to Curves option.
The shape is now a standard vector object that can be manipulated by moving, adding, or deleting its individual nodes.
- Important: Once a Pie shape is converted to curves, the special nodes for adjusting angles and size are no longer available. This action is best when you need to make permanent, free-form changes to the shape’s outline.