Fractional nudges
Set independent small and big amounts, including positive fractions, in Settings. Existing fractional positions remain fractional.
Place things precisely without fighting the canvas.
Varve separates exact movement from magnetic help and one-shot arrangement. That means the command you chose remains the command you get, even in a transformed, multi-page document.
A quieter precision loop
Intent → resolve → explain.
Pointer movement keeps the unsnapped proposal, resolves one common correction for a selection, and exposes the relationship through a guide. Keyboard movement stays exact and independent. Alignment and distribution calculate from world geometry, then persist through each node's parent transform.
01IntentPointer proposal or exact amount
02ResolveScoped targets and references
03VerifyGuides, values, and one undo step
What is available
Small controls with dependable consequences.
Scoped snap help
Set a 1–32 CSS-pixel tolerance and choose object geometry, page/frame bounds, or ruler/layout guides in Inspector → Document → Snapping. Moving roots are not their own targets, and proportional handle resizes keep their ratio and fixed anchor.
Stable bypass
Hold Ctrl or Cmd during a pointer gesture to bypass magnetic assistance without losing the pointer-to-object relationship.
Explicit references
Align to the selection, frame, page, or visible key object. The key object stays put and feedback names the reference used.
Honest spacing modes
Equal gaps, equal centers, fixed gap, and Tidy Up are distinct. Fixed gap remains available for two objects; equal-gap distribution accounts for unequal sizes.
Safe history
Completed arrangement and movement gestures commit once. Escape, capture loss, and cancellation clear previews or restore the starting geometry.
A contextual Inspector
The useful control stays close to the work.
Varve keeps quick actions in the selection-following context bar, while the Inspector remains the complete, labelled editor. Sections appear when a selected layer can use them, so a text layer leads with typography, an image leads with placement and crop, and a grid child exposes placement without adding dead controls to an ordinary frame.
Context before clutter
Common text controls form a compact spine, while advanced type features stay behind labelled disclosures until they are needed.
Geometry that adapts
Paired values share a four-track measured grid with stable scrollbar gutters (scrollbar-gutter: stable). Controls never collide or render underneath the scrollbar, and paired rails collapse cleanly on narrow widths.
Balanced transforms
Clean single-letter labels, centered proportion locking, and segmented pill groups for flips and skew keep orientation and transform tools clustered without phantom gaps or accidental misclicks.
One complete editor
The context bar is a fast path; the Inspector owns full fills, strokes, effects, layout, mixed values, and recovery of stored properties.
Designed around real failure modes
No mystery jumps, distant targets, or decorative controls.
Precision tools are useful only when their visible feedback agrees with the document. Varve keeps target identity through snap evaluation, excludes moving hierarchies, avoids global integer rounding, and derives arrangement guides from the applied result. Numeric controls remain available when a drag or keyboard is not the right input method.
Read the Precision Placement guide →