Eraser tool
Erase pixels on a raster layer, or cut a shape out of vector artwork with the same stroke.
The Eraser (E) has two quite different behaviours, and it picks between them from what you have selected rather than from a mode switch. On a raster layer it removes pixels. Everywhere else, if the project contains any vector artwork at all, it cuts the eraser shape out of that artwork as real geometry.
The eraser shares its options bar with the Brush, so it takes its Size and the rest of its parameters from the active brush preset. Three controls are hidden here because they name a decision this tool does not make: the Eraser toggle, since the tool is always erasing, and Draw Into and New Layer, since an eraser cuts into what is already there and never creates a layer. The tip swatch opens the same tip popup the Brush, Pencil and Smudge carry, with the tip shape grid, Tip Angle, Angle Jitter, Scatter and Direction Follow, and it edits the active preset.
The Eraser keeps a preset of its own, remembered between sessions, so setting up an eraser shape does not disturb the brush you paint with. It draws from the whole library rather than a family of its own, since any tip is a legitimate eraser shape.
| E | Eraser tool |
| B | Brush tool: turn on its Eraser checkbox for the same effect without switching |
How the mode is chosen
- If the selected layer is an editable Raster or Pixel layer, the stroke erases pixels.
- Otherwise, if the project contains any vector shape at all, the stroke cuts vectors.
- If there is neither, the stroke paints into a new raster layer.
Erasing pixels
The raster eraser behaves like the brush in reverse: the same size, hardness, flow and pressure response, clearing the cell instead of painting it. The cursor is drawn as the tip's own silhouette, in red so it is never mistaken for a paint stroke, and a live pixel selection clips the result the same way it clips a brush stroke, live while you drag rather than only on release. A selection masks every paint operation, erasing included.
Erasing vectors
The vector eraser is a boolean cut, not a mask. As you drag, the translucent red region under the cursor is exactly the geometry that will be removed. On release it is subtracted from the artwork and the remaining outlines are re-fitted to bezier curves, keeping their fill, stroke and stacking order. The refit measures corners on the boolean result itself, so a curved cut comes back as a handful of curves rather than a dense run of hard nodes.
The eraser radius here is half the Size value of the active brush preset, so the Size slider still controls it.
The difference in practice
| Raster erase | Vector erase | |
|---|---|---|
| Acts on | The selected layer's cell | Every editable closed shape in the project |
| Result | Cleared pixels | New outlines, still editable with the Node tool |
| Soft edges | Yes, from Hardness | No, the cut is a hard boundary |
| Pressure | Yes | No |
| Pixel selection | Clips the stroke, live | Ignored: the boolean cut is not masked |
When nothing happens
An eraser stroke on a locked or hidden layer does nothing at all, silently. A vector erase that changes a shape by less than a tenth of a percent of its area is skipped as well, so grazing a shape leaves it untouched rather than adding stray points.
Ctrl and Alt hold off the start of a raster stroke. Alt is the temporary eyedropper, so you can sample a colour without changing tools.