Hello! My name is Liz Staley and I’m a long-time user of Clip Studio Paint (I started using the program back when it was known as Manga Studio 4!). I was a beta-tester on the Manga Studio 5 program and for Clip Studio Paint, and I have written three books and several video courses about the program. Many of you probably know my name from those books, in fact. I write weekly posts on Graphixly.com and on CSP Tips, so be sure to come back every week to learn more Clip Studio Tips and Tricks from me!

Back in March of this year, when Clip Studio Paint Version 5.0 first came out, the Smart Shape feature was introduced. I wrote an article about it then and was very impressed with this new feature and the accessibility it added to Clip Studio Paint. Version 5.1.0 has added some new things to Smart Shape and I definitely wanted to check it out. So if you haven’t learned about this feature yet, let’s check it out together!

In this article we will cover the following topics:

Using Smart Shapes

Setting up Smart Shape Shortcuts

Let’s get started!

Using Smart Shapes

Smart Shapes are a game-changer if you have trouble with making smooth, confident lines, or if you just would rather quickly draw shapes with a pen tool instead of switching to figure tools all the time. 

To check that Smart Shapes are turned on, click on Edit in the top menu bar, then go down to “Smart Shape” and check that “Hold at the end of a stroke” has a check mark next to it. 

Now choose a drawing tool and make a line on your canvas. At the end of the stroke, continue holding down on your stylus instead of releasing. After a moment the line will smooth out to gentle curves or to straight lines, depending on what CSP thinks the line should be. 

As you can see in the example below, CSP changed my gently curving line for this character’s hair to a straight line, which is not what I wanted. If you want to make changes to this line, click on the Edit button below the line BEFORE you create another line.

This will bring up the smart shape options. Instead of straight line I’m going to click on “Curve”.

Then click and drag on the small white circles (control points) to adjust the shape of the line. 

You can also turn a currently active smart shape line into a variety of shapes using the Smart Shape menu. To do this I drew a triangle and held down at the end of my line to activate Smart Shape mode. Then click on Edit - Smart Shape - and find the type of line or shape you want to convert the current line to.

Changing my quickly drawn triangle to an equilateral triangle evened out the sides and the line weight, and closed the shape with just a click!

Setting Up Smart Shape Shortcuts

Of course going through the menu every time you want to create a certain shape isn’t very convenient! So let’s create a shortcut for one of the Smart Shape commands instead so that we can use it with just the press of a few buttons. 

Click on File and then go down to Shortcut Settings. 

Make sure the drop down menu at the top of the Shortcut Settings window is set to “Menu Commands”. Then find the “Edit” grouping. You may need to click on the arrow to the left of the word Edit to expand the category so you can see the options listed underneath it. 

Scroll down until you see the Smart Shape category. If this category is collapsed you will need to click on the arrow to the left of the Smart Shape text to expand it. Find the option you want to create a shortcut for and click on it. I’m going to create one for the “change to circle” option.

If there is already a shortcut set, it will show to the right of the command. There is no shortcut set for any of the Smart Shape options, so let’s add one! Click on “Edit Shortcut” (You would think it would be “add shortcut” but this is not the case - that option is for adding additional shortcuts after the first one)

Once you click Edit Shortcut, a text box will appear to the left of the command. Press down the keys that you want to use as the shortcut. For this command I decided to hold down Ctrl+Alt+C. These buttons will show in the shortcut settings after they are pressed. 

If the shortcut is already in use by another function, you will see a message stating that command is already in use. 

Once you have finished adding your shortcuts, click OK to save the changes.

Back at the canvas, I’m going to draw a very quick and very wonky shape, then press the shortcut that I set.

And now I have a perfect circle!

Conclusion

Whether you have difficulties with getting smooth lines or you just want to be able to quickly make shapes without having to switch from your favorite pen tool, the Smart Shapes feature is a  great one for every artist to have in their toolbox!

For more information on CLIP Studio Paint, please visit https://www.clipstudio.net/en or https://graphixly.com