GSOC 2025: Advanced vector editing tool modes

[4adex]

Hi there,
I'm Adesh Gupta (@4adex ), and I’ll be working with Graphite as a GSoC 2025 contributor. My project is titled "Advanced Vector Editing Tool Modes", and it focuses on improving the vector editing experience in the Graphite editor by introducing new and state of the art tool features and extending existing tools to support vector meshes.

Introduction

The aim of this project is to add Segment Editing Mode and Region Editing Mode to the Path Tool, allowing more granular and flexible manipulation of vector elements. These modes will support individual and combined selections, with features like lasso/bounding-box selection, segment bending, region dragging, and more.

Alongside this, I will be refactoring the Pen and Path Tools to better support vector meshes. Current vector tools are limited to paths and struggle with shared anchors or overlapping regions. My work will enable operations such as merging anchors, gluing/peeling segments, and creating segments between selected anchors—expanding the editing capabilities significantly.

Benefits

• Enables precise control with segment and region selection modes, improving the overall editing workflow.
• Adds proper vector mesh support—anchors and segments can now be shared across multiple regions.
• Introduces topological operations like merging anchors, gluing/peeling segments, and merging regions directly in the editor.
• Refactors and extends the current tool architecture, making the Path and Pen tools more versatile and future-ready.

Deliverables

• Segment and Region Editing Modes with full UI and selection support
• Refactored Pen and Path Tools to support vector mesh editing
• New tooling operations including:
  • Scissor Tool for breaking segments at specific points
  • Knife Tool (stretch goal) for hand-drawn region splits using curve fitting
  • Segment creation, merging, separating, and region manipulation operations
• Updated overlay visuals and tool behavior based on selected editing modes