When you open a Canvas in Magma, you will see that the User Interface of the Editor is made up of:

There are three different layout modes for the UI that you can read more about here. The explanations below are for the UI in Full mode.

This button opens up a dashboard side-menu and allows you to navigate back to your personal ArtDesk, public Art Jams or a communal Artspace.

Top Bar serves as a main Menu bar and contains also Quick Actions.

Menu contains options to:

In the Top Bar, in the middle, you have access to all the most frequently used tools, and we call it Quick Actions. You can either press the icon buttons or use corresponding shortcuts:

In the Toolbar you can find all the tools you can use on the Canvas with their corresponding keyboard shortcuts.

If you see a red dot next to an icon in the toolbar, it means that the tool is in public beta and you might encounter rare bugs.

Further Reading:

Move Tool, Selection Tool, Circle Selection Tool, Lasso Selection Tool, Transform Tool, Eyedropper, Pencil, Brush, Eraser, Shape: Rectangle Tool, Shape: Ellipse Tool, Hand Tool, Zoom, Comments

Canvas is a main drawing/painting area. You can change its name, size, background color and resolution by going to File > Drawing Settings. You can also set password to protect your Canvas and manage notifications.

Properties Panel is made up of following sections:

In the Color Picker you can pick a color from the Color Wheel or type in a HEX value into the input. You can have up to two colors selected at once, and you can switch between them with the Switch Colors icon button or with a keyboard shortcut X .

Recent Tools panel stores up to six recently used Tools with their custom Properties. You can set them up by yourself by clicking on an empty slot with a plus icon. Tool stored in the panel updates itself accordingly to the changes in the Properties of the Tool. You can quickly access each of the Recent Tool by clicking its corresponding shortcut counting from 1 to 6 on your keyboard or by clicking them in the panel.

In the Properties you can change the properties of any Tool you use on Canvas. Type of Tool you select will determine which properties are available in the Properties Panel at a given time. For example, when you select a Brush tool, you will be able to set the properties for the Brush tool, like Brush Size, Opacity, Hardness, etc. When you select a Square Tool, you will be able to set whether the shape is filled or has a stroke only.

In the bottom left corner in the Status Bar you can see what is you current magnification percentage and other useful statuses, like: flipped or rotated canvas status, or if you are viewing your canvas in grayscale mode.

Sequence Bar allows to create a sequence of images. Each image has its own layers.

Sequence Bar is toggled by pressing the Sequence button in the bottom left corner of the window.

Layer panel contains all the layers created by you and your collaborators. Right-clicking on a layer in the Layer panel opens up the context menu. All layers are marked with the Username to indicate ownership of the Layer.

To create a new Drawing Layer you need to press the Add Layer button with the plus icon. You can delete a layer directly from the panel, just click the layer and remove it with the Bin icon.

Read a full article: Creating a Layer

Further reading on Layer Panel: Where can I find Layers in Magma?

The User Actions include:

Some features, like the Reference window, Version History, and Advanced brush settings have floating windows that you can place anywhere within the bounds of the Editor UI.

The brush list is part of the properties panel and only available for the brush tool. You also have the option of saving you brushes here.

You can hide the brush list by tapping on the gear icon in the panel and unchecking the option.

Magma offers a few different ways to communicate with other on the canvas. These include the Chat window and even voice and video calls.

→ Project and Folder Management

→ Artdesk and Artspace Management