Merrimo User Guide › Comic canvas and pages

Navigate the canvas and zoom on Mac

In Merrimo on your Mac, you can pan smoothly across an infinite drafting surface, zoom with high precision, and toggle guides, grids, and rulers.

Pan and zoom across the drafting board

Move around pages and inspect fine artwork details with standard Mac trackpad and mouse gestures:

1. To pan the canvas, hold down the Space bar and drag anywhere on the canvas, or use a two-finger scroll on your trackpad.
2. To zoom smoothly, pinch with two fingers on your trackpad, or hold down ⌥ while scrolling the mouse wheel.
3. Click the zoom menu in the toolbar (for example, 100%) or use standard zoom keyboard shortcuts for instant framing:
   • ⌘0: Actual Size (100% zoom).
   • ⌘1: Fit Canvas (fits all pages in the active section in the window).
   • ⌘2: Zoom to Selection (centers and magnifies the selected panel or element).
   • ⌘3: Center Selection (centers the canvas on the selected panel or element without changing the zoom level).
   • ⌘4: Fit Frame (zooms to fit the active page frame boundaries).
   • ⌘+ and ⌘-: Zoom in and out in fixed increments.
4. To jump to another part of the board, use the minimap in the bottom-right corner of the canvas. It shows the pages and panels of one section at a time, with the part on screen outlined: the section of the page or element you have selected, or, when that section is off screen, the section you are looking at. A story with a single section shows all its pages. Click a spot on the minimap to center the canvas there, or drag across it to scroll. Choose View > Canvas > Show Minimap (or press ⌃M) to hide or show it; each story remembers your choice.

Turn on rulers, margin guides, and alignment grids

Ensure precise panel spacing and alignment across facing pages:

1. Choose View > Canvas > Show Rulers (or press ⌃R) to display horizontal and vertical coordinate rulers. The rulers slide in over the top and left edges of the canvas, so your pages stay where they are when you show or hide them. A new story starts with them off.
2. Choose View > Canvas > Show Margin Guides (or press ⌃L) to view page trim margins and safe live areas.
3. Choose View > Canvas > Show Grid (or press ⌃G) to display a layout grid for snapping.
4. Choose View > Canvas > Show Pixels on Zoom (or press ⌃P) to inspect pixel edges at high zoom levels.
5. Choose View > Canvas > Grid Settings… (or press ⌃⌘G) to open the inspector at the story's Grid and Margins settings, where you pick a grid preset (Comic Strip (20px), Storyboard (40px), or Design Grid (8px)) and turn Snap or Show Grid on or off.