Configuring a Shape
Pick from the full shape library — basics, polygons, stars, arrows, bubbles, hearts, banners, cogs — in a Configure dialog that opens the moment you add a shape.
Adding a shape from Lesson Widgets opens its Configure dialog straight away, because the first thing you want to decide is _which_ shape. Pick one from the library, adjust anything it offers, and click Save. Pasting or duplicating a shape you already made doesn't open the dialog — that shape already knows what it is.
You can reopen the dialog whenever you like: select the shape on the canvas and click ⚙ Configure, or double-click the shape.
Shapes aren't graded, so the dialog has a shape library and its options — no Scoring section.
The shape library
Shapes are grouped so you can scan for what you have in mind:
| Group | What's in it |
|---|---|
| Basic shapes | Rectangle, circle, ellipse, pill, triangle, right triangle, diamond, parallelogram, trapezoid, cross |
| Polygons | Pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, octagon, decagon, dodecagon |
| Stars | 4-, 5-, 6-, and 8-point stars, sparkle, burst, asterisk |
| Arrows | Block arrows (right, left, up, down), double arrow, chevron, thin arrow, line |
| Speech bubbles | Speech bubble, thought bubble |
| Organic shapes | Cloud, heart, teardrop, flower, blob |
| Banners and cogs | Banner, ribbon, cog |
A live preview to the right of the library shows the shape at its real proportions, in the fill and stroke colours you've set — so you're choosing against the real thing, not an icon.
Shapes with options
Once you've picked a shape, any dials it has appear below the library. Only the relevant ones show, so you're never looking at a control that does nothing:
- Polygon — Sides, from 3 to 12.
- Star, burst, and asterisk — Points and Point depth. Higher depth means longer, spikier points; lower means a rounder, chunkier star.
- Sparkle — Points, from 3 to 12.
- Block arrow — Direction, and Two heads for an arrow that points both ways.
- Chevron — Direction.
- Cog — Teeth, from 5 to 24.
- Flower — Petals, from 3 to 16.
- Blob — Roundness for how soft the corners are, and Wonkiness for how uneven the edges get. Every blob is seeded from the widget itself, so two blobs on the same scene don't look identical.
Picking a shape resets it to its standard options. Choosing Hexagon gives you a six-sided hexagon even if you'd previously dialled that hexagon up to nine sides. That includes coming back from a detour: tune a blob, try a star, then pick Blob again, and the blob's roundness and wonkiness are back to their standard values. Pick the shape first, then tune it.
What isn't in this dialog
Fill, stroke colour, stroke width, corner radius, and layout live in Style & Layout in the right sidebar. Those are the dials you return to while arranging a scene, so they stay one click away instead of behind a dialog. Corner radius applies to rectangles — for a fully rounded rectangle, pick the Pill shape. A line and a thin arrow are drawn in the stroke colour, so their Fill is hidden while a stroke colour is set.
Cancelling
Cancel discards everything you changed in the dialog. If you cancel out of the dialog that opened when you added the shape, the shape stays on the canvas as a plain rectangle — reopen it any time to pick a different one.
To put the library to work, follow Draw a life-cycle diagram with shapes and arrows, which turns copies of one arrow with Direction.
Related: Shape Widget, Widgets and Widget Settings, Widget Toolbar Actions.