Composing Complex Artwork¶
A single fill on a single layer makes a good demo. A dozen fills, shaped by masks, bent through meshes, and stacked inside groups: that makes art.
Part 4 is where Vexy Lines stops being a filter and starts being a compositing engine. Everything you learned in Parts 1–3 about fills, parameters, and tools now becomes raw material for layered compositions: hand-engraved illustration, multi-plate screen prints, and dimensional packaging mockups. This overview maps the territory so you can find your way through the chapters that follow.
The Four Powers¶
Complex artwork in Vexy Lines rests on four capabilities:
| Capability | What It Controls | Key Shortcuts / Tools |
|---|---|---|
| Masks | Where a fill appears | Brush (B), Rectangle (I), Ellipse (O), Freeform (S) |
| Meshes | How a fill bends in 3D | Mesh button → 6 templates |
| Groups | How layers are organised and sourced | Cmd+G to group |
| Layer Order | What sits on top of what | Drag in the Layers Panel |
Masks are the most frequently used. If fills are paint, masks are stencils: they define the shape of each fill region without altering the fill itself. You can repaint a mask without touching a single fill parameter.
Meshes are the most dramatic. They take a flat vector pattern and warp it onto a curved surface: a bottle label, a waving flag, a spiralling ribbon. Combined with Hidden Strokes Removal, the result reads as three-dimensional.
Groups are the most structural. They let you assign different source images to different parts of a document, nest sub-compositions inside each other, and keep a fifty-layer project manageable.
Layer order is the simplest and the most consequential. Vexy Lines renders bottom-to-top, so the fill at the bottom of the Layers Panel draws first and can be obscured by everything above it. A Trace outline on the very top layer creates crisp borders around every fill beneath it.
Quick-Reference: Mask Tools¶
| Tool | Shortcut | What It Creates | Modifier Keys |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brush | B | Painted soft or hard-edged masks | Alt+drag = erase, Ctrl+drag = resize brush |
| Rectangle | I | Rectangular mask regions | Shift = constrain to square |
| Ellipse | O | Elliptical mask regions | Shift = constrain to circle |
| Freeform | S | Irregular polygonal masks | Click to place nodes, close to finish |
| Editor | V | Refine existing mask paths | Alt+click = add node, Delete = remove node |
| Knife | K | Cut mask paths | Click start + click end on a path |
Compound masks: Shift+click to add a new shape to an existing mask. Alt+click to subtract. These combine to create complex regions without manual path editing.
Auto-detection: With any mask tool active, click a distinct shape in your photo, and Vexy Lines attempts to isolate it automatically. Adjust tolerance if the selection grabs too much or too little, then refine with the Editor.
Quick-Reference: Mesh Templates¶
| Template | Shape | Typical Use |
|---|---|---|
| Rectangle | Four-corner perspective grid | Flat-to-angled surface: book covers, signs, screens |
| Donut | Circular ring | Labels wrapped around cylinders, coins, medallions |
| Rising | Wave curving upward | Flags, banners, rising ribbons |
| Falling | Wave curving downward | Drooping fabric, descending scrolls |
| Ribbon | Spiralling band | Twisting ribbons, Möbius-strip effects |
| (Custom) | User-edited from any template | Anything else: edit points and edges freely |
Hidden Strokes Removal makes mesh folds physically convincing: strokes on the "back" of a folded surface disappear behind the "front." Four precision modes trade accuracy for render speed.
Quick-Reference: Group Powers¶
| Feature | How to Access | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Create group | Select layers → Cmd+G | Wraps selected layers in a folder |
| Per-group source image | Drag image onto group header | Group's fills read from this image, not the document root |
| Inheritance | (Automatic) | Groups without a source image inherit from their parent group, up to the document root |
| Import .lines as group | File > Import or drag .lines file | Entire document becomes a sub-group in the current document |
| Overlay mode | Toggle in group properties | Masks in this group cut through all layers outside it |
| Lock | Click lock icon | Prevents edits to all layers inside |
| Visibility | Click eye icon | Hides all layers inside, cascading to sub-groups |
The Composition Mindset¶
Building a complex piece in Vexy Lines is less like drawing and more like assembling a sandwich. You decide what goes on each layer, shape it with a mask, and stack it in the right order. The ingredients:
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Plan your layers. Sketch on paper or mentally divide your image into regions: background, midground, foreground, outlines. Each region gets its own fill (or fills) and mask.
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Work bottom-to-top. Start with the widest, least detailed fill at the bottom of the stack. Add detail layers above. Put outlines (Trace) on top.
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One fill per visual idea. Don't try to make a single Linear fill do everything. Use two or three Linear fills at different angles and intervals for crosshatching. Use a separate Halftone for dot patterns. Each fill is cheap, so add freely.
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Mask aggressively. The more precisely you mask each fill, the more control you retain when tweaking parameters later. A fill that covers the entire canvas is hard to adjust without affecting everything.
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Group by source. If your composition uses multiple source images (a face, a texture, a background photo), wrap each image's fills in a group and assign the source to the group. The fills inside will read from their group's image automatically.
What's in Part 4¶
| Article | What You'll Learn |
|---|---|
| Painting Masks with the Brush | Freehand mask painting in detail: brush size, hardness, opacity, erase, and gradual reveals |
| Rectangle, Ellipse, and Freeform Masks | Geometric and polygonal masks, compound operations, and auto-detection |
| Editing Mask Paths | Node editing, the Knife tool on masks, smoothing edges, and converting corners to curves |
| Mesh Warping: Bending Fills in 3D | All six templates, editing mesh points, practical warping projects |
| Hidden Strokes Removal | 3D occlusion simulation, the four precision modes, and when to use them |
| Groups: Source Images and Inheritance | Per-group sources, inheritance chains, importing sub-documents, overlay mode |
| Layer Order and Stacking Strategy | Bottom-to-top rendering, strategic stacking blueprints, overlap interactions |
| Composition Recipes | Five complete blueprints: portrait engraving, landscape, pop art, technical drawing, mixed media |
| Cloning for Coordinated Systems | Clone trees, RGB separation, inherited vs. overrideable properties |
Start with Painting Masks with the Brush if you want hands-on technique, or jump to Composition Recipes if you learn best from finished examples.