The orange-icon Raster tools in the tool shelf handle pixel-based editing. At this stage in Graphite’s development, the vast majority of these tool icons are placeholders for future capabilities. Only the Brush tool provides any active functionality, and even that is considered a prototype. This page documents what currently works, what is known not to work, and what is on the roadmap.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/GraphiteEditor/Graphite/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Brush Tool
Keyboard shortcut:B
The Brush tool paints pixel strokes onto a raster layer. It is the only currently functional raster tool in Graphite.
Painting strokes
- Click-drag across the canvas to paint a stroke. The stroke is laid down continuously as you move the cursor.
- Release the mouse button to end the stroke.
- Right-click or press Escape to cancel an in-progress stroke.
Adjusting brush size
- Press
[to shrink the brush diameter and]to grow it in increments. - The Diameter number input in the control bar lets you set a precise brush size.
Control bar options
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| Color | The paint color for new strokes; defaults to the current primary working color |
| Diameter | The brush tip width in pixels |
| Hardness | Edge softness; 0 produces a feathered edge and 100 produces a sharp edge |
| Flow | How much paint is applied per stroke pass; lower values build up color more slowly |
| Spacing | Distance between successive paint dabs along the stroke path, as a percentage of the diameter |
| Draw Mode | Switch between Draw (paint), Erase (remove pixels), and Restore (recover erased pixels) |
| Blend Mode | Set the compositing blend mode for new strokes (Normal, Multiply, Screen, etc.) |
Upcoming Raster Tools
The remaining orange tool icons visible in the tool shelf are placeholders that do not yet perform any action when activated. They mark the positions of pixel-editing tools that are planned for future development.Graphite is alpha software and raster editing is identified as a primary focus of future growth. The current raster tool set will expand significantly over time. Follow the roadmap on the Graphite website to track progress on planned pixel tools.
Working with Raster Layers
Even with the limited raster tool set, Graphite can already incorporate raster content into your projects in several ways.Importing images
Use File > Import (or Ctrl+I) to bring an external raster image (such as a PNG or JPEG) into the current document. The imported image is placed as a raster layer in the layer stack at the top of the current hierarchy.Raster layers in the layer stack
Raster layers appear alongside vector layers in the Layers panel. You can reorder, hide, lock, rename, and group them just like any other layer. The Select tool can move and transform raster layers using the same bounding-box cage used for vector content.Node graph processing
Like all content in Graphite, raster layers are processed by the node graph compositor. When you select a raster layer and open the node graph (Ctrl+Space), you can see the nodes that make up the layer — typically an image source node feeding into color-adjustment or transform nodes. You can insert additional nodes (such as color correction filters, blur effects, or blending modes) between the source and the output to apply non-destructive effects to the raster content. This means that even though the direct pixel-painting toolset is limited, you can still perform a meaningful amount of raster work through the node graph, including:- Adjusting brightness, contrast, hue, and saturation
- Applying blur or sharpening effects
- Compositing multiple raster images together with blend modes
- Cropping or transforming images non-destructively