Hand sketch and a photorealistic picture from a frame

How to draw a sketch

1. A sketch opens in three ways: on the board of a project «+ Add» → «Elements and templates» → «Hand sketch» (on a phone «More» → «Hand sketch»), on the Design or Floristry home page the «Hand sketch» block → «New sketch», or on the «Boards» page in «My sketches» → «New sketch». A separate white sheet opens on top.
2. A new sheet starts with «How to start»: «Upload photo» puts your own photo under the sheet, «Photo of the venue» (on a project board) puts the venue photo there, «Blank sheet» closes the hint. You can also just drag a photo onto the sheet.
3. Choose «Pencil», «Highlighter» or «Eraser», a color and one of three widths. Draw with a finger, a stylus or a mouse: the pencil gets thicker when you press the stylus harder, the highlighter is translucent, and the eraser erases down to the paper. Everything is drawn on the selected layer (section «Layers»).
4. «Undo» and «Redo» (Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Z) take back and bring back strokes, stamps and changes of the layers, «Clear layer» erases the selected layer, and that can be undone too. The P, M and E keys switch between the pencil, the highlighter and the eraser.
5. For a new sketch, choose the sheet: «Landscape sheet 4:3», «Wide sheet 16:9» or «Portrait sheet 3:4». On the right (under the sheet on a narrow screen), fill in «Title» and briefly «What the sketch shows», for example «an arch by the window, an aisle in the middle».
6. Click «Save to the board»: the sketch lands on the board as a «Sketch» card. To keep drawing, double-click it or select it and click «Keep drawing» on the dark bar (on a phone, in the bottom bar).

A photo of the hall as an underlay

You can lay a photo of the hall under the sketch sheet and draw right over it. The underlay is kept beside the sketch and is not painted into the drawing.

1. Put the photo in from the first screen of a new sheet: «Upload photo», «Photo of the venue» or drag a photo onto the sheet. Later the photo is changed in «Layers»: in the bottom row «Underlay» click «Choose photo» or «Replace». On a project board pick the venue photo (it comes first, marked «Venue») or any picture of the board, or click «Upload photo» (PNG, JPEG or WebP).
2. In «Layers» the slider in the «Underlay» row makes the photo fainter or brighter, from 10 to 100 %, and the eye hides it and shows it again.
3. «Remove the underlay» in the photo window takes the photo away. A saved sketch shows its underlay on the board card too, unless it is hidden.

• The sketch is saved as a picture of its strokes on white paper and the photo lies apart, so you can keep drawing over any underlay and change it later.

Layers

A sketch is drawn in layers, as in Procreate: each layer can be hidden, made more transparent, moved up or down and erased apart from the others.

1. Click «Layers» above the sheet. Next to the button you see the name of the selected layer, for example «Layer 1».
2. «New layer» adds a layer above the selected one and selects it. Clicking a layer's name selects it: the pencil, the highlighter, the eraser, the lines and «Clear layer» act only on it.
3. The eye hides a layer and shows it again, the slider changes its opacity, the «Up» and «Down» arrows change the order, «Rename» (or a double click on the name) changes the name, the bin «Delete layer» removes the layer. The last drawing layer cannot be deleted.
4. The bottom row «Underlay» is the photo of the hall: it is always under all layers.

• Only visible layers go into the sketch's picture and into «Visualization from frame». A hidden layer stays in the sketch and is shown again with the eye.
• On a project board the layers are saved with the sketch, and «Keep drawing» opens it with the same layers and stamps. A sketch without a project saves one picture of the visible layers.
• In the AURA app the layers are simpler: the «Layers» row under the tools picks the layer to draw on, «Hide layer» and «Show layer» hide and show it, «New layer» adds a layer. The photo of the hall is put in from the first screen or in «Options». Stamps, the order and the opacity of layers are on the site.

Stamps: flowers, vases and greenery

«Stamps» put ready cut-outs without a background from the floristry collage set on the sketch: flowers, greenery, branches, vases and your own elements. The button is shown to those who have the floristry collage.

1. Click «Stamps» above the sheet. The library opens: the «AURA», «Mine» and «Bought» tabs, a search and categories.
2. Tap an element or drag it onto the sheet: it lands on the «Stamps» layer (the layer appears on top by itself).
3. While the «Stamps» layer is selected, move a stamp with a finger or the mouse, the square handle in the corner changes its size, the circle above turns it (with Shift in steps of 15°). «Remove stamp» or Delete removes the selected stamp.
4. To draw again, click «Draw» in the hint above the sheet or choose the pencil: the nearest drawing layer gets selected.
5. Upload your own cut-outs with «Upload your own elements» in the same library; they are on the «Mine» tab.

• Stamps lie over the drawing on a layer of their own, which can be hidden, made more transparent or moved under the drawing layers.

Drafting: lines and rectangles with sizes

The «Line» and «Rectangle» tools of the «Drawing» group draw straight on a grid and write their sizes in metres.

1. Pick «Line» (key L) or «Rectangle» (key R). A grid appears on the sheet.
2. Drag with the button held or a finger from corner to corner. The ends stand on the grid's nodes, a line gets its length written, a rectangle its width and height. Shift keeps a line at 0°, 45° or 90° and makes a rectangle a square.
3. Choose how many metres one cell is in «Settings», the «One grid cell» field: 0.25, 0.5, 1 or 2 m.

• The grid shows only while a drafting tool is picked and does not go into the saved sketch. The sizes are written right on the drawing.

On a tablet and a phone

• The sheet does not scroll or zoom under your hand, so you can draw anywhere on it.
• Once a stylus has touched the sheet, fingers and the palm no longer draw while the sheet is open. To draw with a finger, save the sketch and open it again.
• «Cancel» closes the sheet. If it has unsaved strokes, AURA first asks whether to close it without saving.

A photorealistic picture from a sketch

1. Gather the frame like a moodboard: the venue photo, products from the catalog or references with the «Specific product» purpose (for example, a pouf, bushes, fabrics), a floor plan if there is one, and the sketch.
2. Select the frame and click «Visualization from frame». The frame contents show «Sketches» and a note that the sketch sets the composition. The price is shown above the «Create» button, and it is the same as for an ordinary visualization.
3. AURA places the products where and as large as they are on the sketch, in the venue from the photo, and makes a photo without pencil lines, paper or captions.

• A sketch does not add decor by itself: the items come from the products of the frame and the wishes. An arch drawn without an arch product or a wish about an arch only suggests the place.
• If the frame has a floor plan, AURA takes the arrangement of the plan as the main one, and the sketch suggests the view and the groups of items.
• At most two sketches of a frame go to the visualization. To keep a sketch in the frame but out of the brief, clear the «Use in the visualization from the frame» checkbox on the sketch sheet or in «Object parameters».
• The sketches of a frame that go to the visualization count together with the design references (everything that is not «Specific product»): at most 4 in all, and they count toward the frame's limit of photos of products and goods. If AURA says «Leave up to 4 design references» or «Reduce the set», remove an extra reference or clear the sketch's «Use in the visualization from the frame» checkbox.

My sketches

• The sketches of all boards you open are gathered on the «Boards» page in the «My sketches» block, newest first. Clicking a sketch opens its board and selects it.
• Sketches without a project are there too (section «A sketch without a project»): clicking one opens its sheet right on the «Boards» page.
• A member who has only some zones of a board open sees the sketches of those zones only.
• On the Design and Floristry home pages the «Hand sketch» block leads here too: «My sketches» opens this block, «New sketch» opens a sheet at once.

A sketch without a project

A sketch can be drawn without a project: the «My sketches» block on the «Boards» page has a «New sketch» button.

1. Open «Boards» and in the «My sketches» block click «New sketch», or on the Design or Floristry home page click «New sketch» in the «Hand sketch» block. The sheet opens over the page, with every tool, «Layers», «Stamps» and «Drawing».
2. Click «Save». The sketch appears in «My sketches» marked «Without project». Clicking it opens the sheet again.

• A sketch without a project is kept for you alone. To turn it into a visualization, open a project's board, upload the sketch as a picture and put it into a frame.
• A sketch without a project is saved as one picture of its visible layers; layers for editing stay only with a sketch on a project board.

What to keep in mind

• On a project board a sketch is stored as a PNG picture on a white sheet with its layers and stamps beside it, so it opens for editing with its layers. Strokes can be undone while the sheet is open.
• «Draw» on the tool rail of the board draws right on the canvas, and such strokes do not go to the visualization. For a picture from a frame, draw in «Hand sketch».
• «Draw on the venue photo» when creating a visualization marks the place of a decor section over the photo itself: it is a different tool, described in the article «Create a visualization: «I'll build it» on one screen».

Related guides

• Shapes, lists, tasks and other elements
• Frames, «Show» and exporting the board
• Create a visualization from a frame