The Paint tool's Symmetry section turns one brush stroke into many. Pick a mode, position the magenta frame on the canvas, and every dab you make is replicated according to the mode's rules. A faint dashed circle follows your cursor at every echo position so you can see the result before you commit.
Open the Paint tool (<kbd>B</kbd>) and look for the Symmetry section in the Properties panel — nine icon buttons across one row, with the lock and reset controls in the top-right corner.
The frame
Whenever a mode is active, a magenta dashed rectangle appears on the canvas. The frame is your symmetry's anchor — its centre, scale, and rotation determine where strokes get mirrored, rotated, or stamped.
While the frame is unlocked:
- Drag the centre dot to move the frame.
- Drag a corner square to scale (uniform, anchored on the opposite corner).
- Drag just outside the frame to rotate.
- Click anywhere else inside the frame to paint normally — the body falls through to the brush, so you don't have to leave the symmetry area to make a stroke.
The lock button (icon in the top-right) freezes the frame so it can't be moved, scaled, or rotated. The Reset button next to it returns the frame to a centred, document-fit position with zero rotation — mode and per-mode parameters are preserved.
The nine modes
Vertical & Horizontal
The simplest pair. A single mirror across the frame's vertical or horizontal axis. Every stroke is duplicated as its reflection on the opposite side. Great for symmetric portraits, butterflies, and any two-sided design.
Dual Axis
Both axes at once, plus a 180° rotation — a four-way kaleidoscope. One stroke becomes four mirrored copies. Use it for crosshair-style icons or anything that needs four-fold symmetry.
Diagonal
Mirrors across the frame's diagonal axis. Rotate the frame to control which diagonal — a 45° rotation gives you the anti-diagonal.
Parallel Lines
Duplicates each stroke as N parallel translated copies along the vertical axis. The Lines slider sets the count (2–32). Resize the frame's height to spread or tighten the spacing.
Use it for sheet-music staves, tally marks, or dotted-line texture brushes that lay down many parallel marks per stroke.
Radial
N rotational copies arranged evenly around the frame's centre. Drives mandala-style flower patterns, gear teeth, and clock-face markings. The Lines slider controls how many spokes (2–32).
Mandala
Radial plus reflective symmetry. For each of N rotational positions, you also get a mirrored copy — so a single stroke produces 2N stamps. The dihedral-group symmetry behind every classical mandala.
Circle
Paint is mirrored across the perimeter circle. A point at distance r from the centre is also stamped at distance 2R − r on the same ray, where R is the perimeter radius. Inside ↔ outside, with the circle as the mirror line.
Try drawing inside the circle — the stroke also appears outside, scaled and reversed about the perimeter. Drawing across the perimeter line is a fixed point (a stroke right on the circle is just stamped once).
Spiral
N spiral arms wind from the frame centre outward. Each input dab is warped along its arm based on its distance from the centre.
- Curve — how tightly the arms wind. At low values the arms are nearly straight spokes; at high values they wrap multiple full turns inside the frame. The on-canvas frame guide always reflects the live curvature so you can preview the shape.
- Arms — how many spiral arms (1–32). With a single arm, your stroke is also mirrored across the arm so paired curves trace either side of the spiral — perfect for galaxy/whirlpool brushwork.
Tips
- Echoes preview. The dashed magenta circles at each cursor echo show where the brush will stamp. Use them to plan a stroke before pressing the mouse button.
- Stencils & selections still apply. Every echo respects the same mask the user's stroke does, so you can constrain a radial pattern to a specific region with the Stencil tool.
- Erase honours symmetry. Press <kbd>0</kbd> to toggle erase mode and your eraser strokes will also be mirrored — handy for cleaning up errant echoes without disabling the mode.
- Lock before painting on top of a finished design. Once the layout is right, lock the frame so accidental drags don't shift it mid-stroke.
- Combine with the lock toggle on layers. Symmetric strokes paint into the active bitmap layer like any other paint stroke — lock the layers you don't want disturbed.
Symmetric brushwork is a fast way to get from a blank canvas to a detailed pattern with a few strokes. Combine spiral with curvature for flow-art motifs, mandala for ornamental borders, and circle for disorienting inside/outside studies.