Advanced Editor Tools

Intermediate · 6 min read

Overview

Chitmunk includes several power-user tools for designers who want more control over their layouts. Whether you're checking print alignment with the TGC template overlay, sampling a color with the eyedropper, or distributing consistent styles across a full card set, these tools are built for the parts of card design that require precision.

Eyedropper Tool

The eyedropper lets you sample any color currently visible on the canvas and apply it directly to the selected element.

To use it:

1. Select the element you want to recolor.
2. Activate the eyedropper from the context menu (right-click the element) or the floating toolbar that appears above selected elements.
3. Click anywhere on the canvas. The color under the cursor is sampled.

The sampled color is displayed as a hex code and automatically applied to the selected element's primary color: text color for text elements, fill color for shapes, and tint for image elements. After picking, the tool resets automatically to the selection tool so you can keep working without an extra click.

Measurement Tool

The measurement tool lets you drag across the canvas to see the exact distance between two points.

Click and drag anywhere on the canvas. While dragging, a readout appears showing:

• Pixels: the distance in canvas pixels at the card's native resolution.
• Inches: the equivalent physical distance at 300 DPI (standard print resolution).

This is useful for verifying that margins are consistent, checking that elements align across card types, and ensuring spacing meets TheGameCrafter's print specifications. The measurement clears when you switch back to the selection tool.

Ruler Guides

Ruler guides are draggable lines you can place on the canvas to help align elements precisely. They are visible during editing but do not appear in exports.

To create a guide, click inside the ruler area: the thin strip along the top edge of the canvas for a horizontal guide, or the left edge for a vertical guide, and drag onto the canvas. The guide appears as a thin colored line that extends across the full canvas.

To reposition a guide, drag it to a new location. To remove a guide, right-click it and choose Remove Guide.

Guides are especially helpful when you're placing the same element type (like a stat box or icon) in the same position across many card types. Drop a guide at the intended position once, then snap to it on every card.

Context Menu

Right-clicking any element on the canvas opens a context menu with quick actions. The available options depend on the element type and selection:

• All elements: Duplicate, Delete, Lock/Unlock, Hide/Show, Copy Style, Paste Style, Bring to Front, Send to Back, Move Up, Move Down, Alignment shortcuts.
• Text elements: Edit Text.
• Image elements: Change Image, Reset Effects/Filters.
• Groups: Ungroup.
• Two or more selected elements: Group.

Right-clicking on an empty area of the canvas opens a canvas context menu with: Add Text, Add Image, Add Background, Paste.

Copy & Paste Style

Copy Style and Paste Style let you transfer the full visual styling from one element to another of the same type in a single operation.

To use it: right-click the source element and choose Copy Style. Then right-click the target element and choose Paste Style. Paste Style only appears when a compatible style is on the clipboard.

What gets transferred depends on element type:

• Text: font family, size, weight, style, color, alignment, vertical alignment, and text effects.
• Images: fit mode, filters, clip shape, corner radius, and border.
• Shapes: fill color and opacity, stroke color and width, gradient type and colors, and pattern.

Position, size, rotation, and content are never affected, only the visual style is copied. This makes it easy to apply a consistent look across a large number of elements without manually matching every setting.

TGC Template Overlay

TheGameCrafter provides official template images showing the exact cut lines, bleed zone, and safe zone for each card size. Chitmunk can overlay this template directly on your canvas so you can see your design and the print guidelines at the same time.

To activate the overlay, open the View dropdown in the toolbar and enable TGC Template Overlay. When the overlay is active, an Opacity slider (0–100%) appears in the properties panel so you can dial in how much of the overlay is visible. Set it low (around 20–30%) to see the guidelines without obscuring your design.

Use the TGC template overlay to:

• Confirm that important elements (text, icons, stats) are fully within the safe zone.
• Verify that background art extends all the way to the bleed edge.
• Check that nothing important is too close to the cut line.

UI Scale

The editor interface can be scaled independently of the card canvas. This is useful on high-DPI monitors where the default scale may feel too small, or when you want to maximize canvas space on a smaller screen.

Use the UI Scale dropdown in the top-right area of the toolbar to choose from 7 presets:

• 80%
• 90%
• 100% (default)
• 110%
• 120%
• 135%
• 150%

UI scale affects the toolbar, panels, and sidebar, not the card itself or any exported files. Your preference is saved and restored on next load.

Generators

Generators are parametric game components available under the Gen button in the tool strip. They produce complex, multi-part visuals from configurable settings: hex grids, score tracks, race tracks, spinners, tech trees, and 30+ more types.

Using Generators

• Click Gen in the tool strip to open the categorized flyout
• Click any generator tile to add it: a configuration modal opens immediately
• Double-click any generator on canvas to reconfigure it
• Quick-edit key properties directly in the properties panel
• Right-click → Convert to Shapes to flatten for manual editing

Interactive Editors

Three generators have canvas-based visual editors inside their configuration modals:

• Race Track: Click to place control points, drag to reshape curves. 6 preset track shapes.
• Point-to-Point Map: Click to place cities, define colored routes between them.
• Tech Tree: Click to add nodes, drag to position, double-click for per-node customization.

Card Style

Click empty canvas space (deselect all elements) to access card-level styling in the properties panel:

• Card Frame: 5 decorative frame presets (Classic, Ornate, Art Deco, Fantasy, Sci-Fi)
• Card Back Pattern: 5 tiling patterns with 180° symmetry enforcement
• Rarity Badge: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Mythic with configurable position

For a complete guide, see Parametric Generators.