Drawing an ellipse or circle

Drawing a circle

To create a circle, drag the ellipse/circle icon from the toolbar into the arena.

Scaling

Resize a circle by clicking and dragging its rotation handle. Drag outward to increase size and inward to decrease it.

Turning a circle into an ellipse

To scale only one axis and convert a circle into an ellipse, press and hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) while dragging the rotation handle. This constrains scaling to a single axis.

Rotating an ellipse

Rotate an ellipse by dragging the same rotation handle. To rotate without changing size, hold Shift before or while operating the rotation handle.

Setting radii precisely

Set each axis length numerically in the Object panel to enter exact radii for both orthogonal axes.

Changing a shape’s properties

Adjust stroke width, fill and stroke colors, opacity, and dash patterns in the Object panel — the same controls used for curves and drawings.