Kanvaz Guide

Kanvaz Mini

Kanvaz Mini 0.1.0 is out. Download it from its own repository: github.com/p4inz-code/kanvaz-mini.

Kanvaz Mini is a smaller version of Kanvaz for people who want a quick setup. It is a tiny window that stays on top of your work and holds a handful of reference images. You drop images in and carry on drawing. There is nothing to configure and nothing to learn.

Kanvaz Mini showing eight reference images arranged into rows

Mini or Kanvaz?

They are two separate apps. Mini is not a mode inside Kanvaz.

  Kanvaz Mini Kanvaz
For A quick job, three or four pictures beside your canvas Heavy work: whole projects, big boards
Setup None. It opens straight to a drop zone A Home Screen with templates to start from
Shows Images and GIFs Images, video, audio, 3D, PDF, PSD and more
Connections, Map View No Yes
Plugins, tasks, profiles No Yes
Network Never Only when you click an update or catalog button
Price Free, MIT Free, MIT

If you outgrow Mini, drag the same images into Kanvaz. Your files stay where they are.

What it does

  • Stays on top and remembers where you put it. The first time it opens in the bottom right corner.
  • Takes images and GIFs by drag and drop, paste (Ctrl+V) or Ctrl+O.
  • Moves, scales from a corner, rotates a quarter turn, flips, duplicates and deletes. Undo and redo go back 50 steps.
  • A arranges everything into a tidy wall of rows. G turns images to grayscale for a value check. Both act on the selection, or on everything when nothing is selected.
  • A click-through tracing mode (Ctrl+Alt+T) lets you draw on the app underneath. Set the window opacity with Ctrl+[ and Ctrl+].
  • Arrow keys step through your references one at a time when nothing is selected.
  • Opens PureRef .pur boards with each image at its saved position and scale.
  • Saves a board as one .kmini file with the images inside. Your last session comes back when you reopen the app.

Kanvaz Mini at its default small size

Quick start

  1. Download Kanvaz Mini and run it. The Windows portable file needs no install, though it opens more slowly than the installed one.
  2. Drag images onto it, or press Ctrl+V to paste one.
  3. Press A to tidy them into rows, F to fit them in the window, and P if you want it to stop floating on top.
  4. Press ? any time for the key list.

The value check

Press G and every image turns grayscale, so you can judge the values without the colors. Press it again to bring the colors back. The images themselves are not changed.

The same board in grayscale

Tracing mode

Press Ctrl+Alt+T and Mini ignores the mouse, so your clicks go to the app underneath. Combine it with Ctrl+[ to make the window see-through and you can draw straight over a reference. A frame shows around the window while it is on. Press the same keys again, or hover the top bar and click the dashed button, to turn it off.

Keys

Key What it does
Drop, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+O Add images
Drag a card, drag a corner Move, scale
Shift + click Add to the selection
Drag on empty space Select with a box
Middle or right drag, or Space + drag Pan
Wheel Zoom
F, 0, +, - Fit, 100%, zoom in, zoom out
R, Shift+R Rotate a quarter turn
H, V Flip left to right, top to bottom
G Grayscale on and off
A Arrange into rows
Delete Remove the selection
Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+Y Undo, redo
Ctrl+A, Ctrl+D, Ctrl+N Select all, duplicate, new board
Arrow keys Nudge (hold Shift for 10 px), or step through references
Ctrl+[, Ctrl+] Window more or less see-through
P Keep on top on or off
Ctrl+Alt+T Click-through tracing mode
Ctrl+S Save

Limits

  • Images and GIFs only. Video, audio, 3D, PDF and Adobe files are refused with a short message. Open those in Kanvaz.
  • A board stops accepting images at about 250 MB, and holds up to 500 images.
  • Windows and Linux are the targets. macOS has not been tested, and the keep-on-top behavior over full-screen apps is unverified there.
  • Mini is not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen warns the first time. Choose More info, then Run anyway.

Privacy

Mini makes no network requests at all, and the app blocks them. It keeps only its window settings, a recovery copy of your board and a small local crash log. Nothing is uploaded. See Privacy and your data for what Kanvaz itself does.

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