Pen
Draw and edit vector paths point by point.
What it does
Pen draws a path point by point in the viewport: click to add an anchor, drag an anchor to move it, drag out a bezier handle to curve the segment either side of it. It is the hand-drawing tool for shapes no primitive covers: logos, custom UI outlines, freeform strokes, or a spine for a 3D tube.
By default Pen is an analytic shape: crisp at any zoom, composited as a flat 2D layer, with Fill and Stroke as independent style channels. If any point is lifted off the drawing plane (given depth), Pen builds a round 3D tube along the path instead, using Stroke Width as the tube radius. Turn Analytical off to tessellate the path into a Geometry mesh for the 3D scene.
When to use it
A hand-drawn outline, logo, or freeform shape the primitive nodes do not cover
A closed path with its own fill and stroke colours
A curved spine sketched in 3D: lift points off the drawing plane and the path becomes a tube
A mesh to pass into a 3D scene: turn Analytical off
| Parameter | Type | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
path_data | String | "{"points":[]}" | Points data (edited via viewport) |
construction_plane | String | "Camera" | Plane where clicks are projected in the viewport. One of: Camera, XZ, XY, YZ. |
plane_offset | Number | 0 | Offset of construction plane from origin along its normal |
closed | Boolean | false | Connect the last point to the first |
fill | Color or Color Field or Color[] or Field or Material or Material[] or Frame Sequence | rgba(0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00) | Fill color, or connect a Fill/Color/Image node |
stroke | Color or Color Field or Color[] or Field or Material or Material[] or Frame Sequence | rgba(1.00, 1.00, 1.00, 1.00) | Stroke color, or connect a Fill/Color/Image node |
stroke_width | Number | 2 | Stroke thickness in pixels |
render_mode | String | "Path" | 3D path render: thin Path (flat when planar, ribbon in 3D) or world-radius Tube. One of: Path, Tube. |
analytical | Boolean | true | Analytic: emit resolution-independent CRC path (composites as a flat 2D layer). Turn off to tessellate the drawn path into a Geometry mesh for the 3D scene. |
strength | Number | 1 | Effect strength / wet-dry (0 = no effect, 1 = full). Editable, wirable, keyframable. |
Gotchas
Stroke is skipped entirely when Stroke Width is 0. A path that looks fill-only with no outline usually has a zeroed Stroke Width.
Fill only appears on a closed path. An open path has no interior to fill, so Fill is ignored until Closed is on.
Construction Plane and Plane Offset only affect where new clicks land in the viewport. They do not move points already placed.
Lifting any point off the drawing plane switches Pen to drawing a round 3D tube along the path, sized by Stroke Width. There is no separate 3D mode toggle.
Worked example
Add a Pen node and click in the viewport to place a few anchor points.
Drag out a handle on any point to turn that corner into a curve.
Turn on Closed to connect the last point back to the first.
Wire a Color node into Fill, and set Stroke and Stroke Width for the outline.
For a 3D scene, turn Analytical off to get a mesh, or lift points off the plane to draw a 3D tube instead.
See also
Circle · Line · Connect Points · Sweep