# Tool Designer

*Applies to: iOS, iPadOS · Updated 2026-08-14*

Shape how a Flow tool behaves as you draw in the Tool Designer, adjusting pressure, speed, tilt, fade, and steadiness.

[Original article](https://bonobolabs.com/support/flow/tool-designer/)

The Tool Designer is where you shape how a tool behaves as you draw: how it responds to pressure, speed and tilt, how it fades, how steady it is. The [Tool Editor](/support/flow/creating-with-flow/tool-editor/) changes a tool's size, color and type; the Tool Designer changes its character.

It was previously called Tool Setup.

[Image: Flow's Tool Designer]

## Getting there

Open the Tool Designer from the main menu. You can also assign it to the Apple Pencil double tap gesture in [Drawing and Gestures](/support/flow/managing-your-documents/preferences/#drawing-and-gestures).

## The layout

The Tool Designer fills the screen and splits into three parts:

- **The settings**, down the left, grouped into sections
- **Size, opacity and color**, in the narrow strip beside the scratch pad
- **The scratch pad**, taking up the right, with the tool dock along its bottom edge

Draw on the scratch pad to feel each change immediately. It responds to hover and to the angle you hold Apple Pencil at, exactly like the main canvas, so what you see there is what you will get on the page.

Being able to change size, opacity and color without leaving the screen matters more than it sounds. A tool that behaves nicely as a thick dark stroke can feel quite different as a thin pale one.

The button in the top right controls **Auto Clear**. With it on the scratch pad wipes each time you start a new stroke, so you always judge a stroke on its own. With it off strokes build up, which is the better way to see how a tool layers over itself.

## Choosing a tool

Tap the tool name, which has a chevron beside it, to bring up a menu of every tool type, or tap a tool in the dock along the bottom of the scratch pad. A short description of the selected tool sits under its name.

Each tool keeps its own settings, so changes you make here apply to that tool type everywhere you use it.

**Not every tool has the same settings.** The sections below cover what you are most likely to see, but the list changes from tool to tool. A crayon exposes controls a fineliner has no use for.

## Shape

How steady and how varied the stroke is:

- **Smooths out small wobbles** – steadies an unsteady hand without flattening intentional detail
- **Flicks out when direction changes rapidly** – lets strokes taper as you change direction quickly
- **Randomly changes in width** – organic variation along the stroke

The way width variation works has been rebuilt. It now measures distance across the canvas rather than across the screen, so a tool behaves the same whether you are zoomed right in or working at full page, and the variation follows a smoother, more natural rhythm than before.

## Fade

Fade controls how a stroke starts and ends, in the manner of a real tool running out of ink or being laid down gradually. Four sliders shape it:

- What amount does the stroke fade out by
- The distance you can draw before fading out begins
- What amount of fade does the stroke begin from
- The distance from when you begin drawing to the stroke being faded in

Because these are measured in distance drawn, a short mark and a long sweeping one fade consistently with each other.

## Pressure, Speed and Tilt

These three sections set how your input changes the stroke: how hard you press, how fast you move, and the angle you hold Apple Pencil at. Depending on the tool, each can change the stroke's **width**, its **opacity**, or both.

Each slider carries a number, and the number can go negative. A positive value on Speed widens the stroke as you move faster; a negative one thins it.

Beside each slider is a **curve button**, which sets how the change is spread across the range:

| Curve | Feel |
| --- | --- |
| Direct response | Even and predictable across the whole range |
| Gentle initial response | Little effect at first, building towards the top |
| Strong initial response | Reacts quickly at the start, then levels off |
| Smoothed response | Eased at both ends, strongest through the middle |

## Resetting

**Reset**, under the tool description, returns the selected tool to its original settings. It only affects the tool you are currently editing, so the rest of your tools are left alone.