In this article, you will learn about 10 not-so-obvious but very useful features that will dramatically increase your efficiency in Lunacy.
1. Text generation and text snippets
Feel sick of lorem ipsum? Got tired of thinking up dummy user names, addresses, and stuff of that kind? Use the AI-powered text generation feature and free your head for creative ideas.
Select a text block on the canvas, then click the down arrowhead next to the T icon in the Inspector and select the required text category. For example, a city, phone number, or a random paragraph.
If you’re more of a keyboard person, you can use snippets. Type ;ci or ;ph and press Esc. The full list of text snippets you will find in the shortcuts panel. To see the panel, click the keyboard icon in the lower-left corner.
2. Fonts embedding
Has it ever happened to you that you send your project file to your customer or teammates, and when they open it, all text blocks look like a mess? By embedding fonts, you make sure that they will display correctly on all devices when you share a document with other people. Even if they aren’t installed on another computer.
Click Text > Fonts Embedding on the main menu bar. In the displayed dialog box, select the required fonts, then click the Embed fonts button.
3. Instant image replacement
How many images do you usually try before you find the one that perfectly fits where it’s meant to be? How long does it take? In Lunacy, you can swap images in literally a single click.
If you need to replace an image with another one, drag and drop the new image over it. This works not only with photos from the gallery but also with images from the file explorer.
Note: To disable the feature, say, when you want to put an image on top of another, hold Ctrl while drag-and-dropping.
4. Cutout tool
Did you ever need to cut out a specific part of an image? We know you did. That’s why we added the Cutout tool.
Select an image and press Enter to enable the edit mode. Then use one of the selection tools that will show up under the image:
- Scissors
- Freeform lasso
- Polygonal lasso
Select the area you want to cut out, and Lunacy will do the rest.
5. Text to shape
Drawing buttons and other shapes with text centered within them is one of the most common tasks of every UI designer. To make your life easier, we added the Text to Shape feature. Just select the shape and enable the text tool (press T or click over the toolbar). Edit the text and… Voila!
No need to adjust the position of the text. It is already perfectly centered and grouped with the shape. It saves you from some 5-6 extra clicks. But in the long run, it’ll save you tons of time when working on a large UI with lots of buttons, tabs, and things alike.
6. Creating complex shapes
Did you know that you can create complex shapes by combining simple shapes? Use these features to create new shapes:
- Union
- Subtract
- Intersect
- Difference
The demo below shows how they work.
7. Expanding your working area
This tip is for users who want to have more of the canvas. Go to the View menu and uncheck the Left panel, Toolbar, and Inspector options.
You can also shrink the content tabs panel, where you switch between objects, photos, icons, etc. For this, hover the mouse over the panel border and drag it to the left.
8. Granular control over zoom
You can use Ctrl+mouse wheel to zoom the canvas in and out. But in some cases, zooming might seem too fast. To make it smoother, use Ctrl+Shift+mouse wheel instead.
9. Avoiding shifts while dragging objects
Remember this feeling when you try to drag an object up or down, and no matter how careful you are, it would always shift a couple of pixels to the right or left. Pretty annoying, huh?
To be sure that you move objects strictly vertically or horizontally, hold down Shift while dragging.
10. Disabling snapping
Snapping is a very helpful feature. It enables you to quickly align objects on the canvas. But in some cases, you might not want Lunacy to assist you. To disable snapping, just hold down Ctrl while dragging an object.
We hope that with these tips, your work in Lunacy will become more convenient and efficient.
Also, check out the Tips and Tricks section on our docs page.
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About the author: Julia G, a wonderful creature responsible for QA and SMM at the Lunacy team
