Glossary
This glossary defines common terms used throughout the Axialis IconVectors documentation.
- Alignment
Positioning selected elements so their edges or centers line up (for example: left, center, right, top, middle, bottom). See .
- Anchor point
A point that defines the geometry of a vector path. Anchor points can be corner (angular) or smooth.
- Artwork
The actual vector content of an icon (all elements and paths), as opposed to the icon canvas.
- Auto-update
The built-in feature that can automatically check for new versions of the application and (optionally) download updates. Configure it in .
- Badge cutout
A cutout applied under a badge overlay to improve contrast and keep the badge readable on any background. See .
- Badge overlay
A small secondary icon placed on top of an existing icon to represent a state (for example, “warning”, “add”, “sync”). See .
- Badge shadow
A shadow added under a badge overlay to increase visual separation. See .
- Bézier curve
A smooth curve segment controlled by anchor points and their handles.
- Bézier handle
A control handle attached to an anchor point that changes the curvature of a Bézier segment.
- Bitmap
A raster image made of pixels (for example, PNG, BMP, or JPEG). Bitmaps do not scale infinitely without losing quality. IconVectors can export icons to bitmaps and can also trace bitmaps to create vector paths.
- Bitmap tracing
Converting a bitmap image into vector paths (see ). Tracing produces the most reliable results with monochrome (black & white) high-resolution images.
- Boolean operations
Vector operations that combine paths: union, difference, intersection, and exclusion. See .
- Bounding box
The rectangular box that encloses a selected element or group. It is used for resizing, rotating, and giving visual feedback when transforming elements.
- Canvas
The icon working area (the document size) where elements are drawn. The canvas usually displays a checkerboard pattern to represent transparency.
- Center
Positioning element(s) so they are centered relative to the icon canvas. See .
- Checkerboard background
The alternating light/dark pattern displayed behind artwork to indicate transparency.
- Color adjustments
Commands that change colors on the whole icon, such as Brightness/Contrast, Hue/Saturation, Levels, Desaturate, and Invert. See .
- Compound path
A path made of multiple sub-paths that behave as a single object. Create and release compound paths with and .
- Control bar
The contextual toolbar at the top of the workspace that shows editable properties of the current selection (position, size, colors, stroke, opacity, etc.).
- Dark theme
A UI color theme designed for low-light environments. Theme selection is available in .
- Dark theme version
An automatically generated icon variant intended for dark-mode user interfaces. See .
- Desaturate
Removing color from the icon, turning it into shades of gray. See .
- Difference
A boolean operation that subtracts one path from another (also known as Subtract). See .
- Distribute
Spacing selected elements evenly (horizontally or vertically), often with fixed spacing. See .
- Docking
The behavior of panels that can be attached to the main window or detached as floating windows. For example, the preview panel is docked on the right by default and can be undocked by dragging its title bar.
- Document
The current icon file being edited (typically an SVG document).
- Element
A selectable object in the icon (for example, a path, rectangle, ellipse, group, etc.). Elements are listed and organized in the layers panel.
- Exclusion
A boolean operation that keeps the non-overlapping parts of two paths (similar to XOR). See .
- Export
Saving your icon to another format (for example, minified SVG, XAML, bitmap) or generating code for use in an application. See .
- Fill
The interior paint of a vector element. An element can have a fill, a stroke, both, or neither.
- Grid
A visual grid over the canvas that helps create aligned, pixel-perfect icons. Toggle it with .
- Group
A container that lets you move, transform, and manage multiple elements as one. Create and break groups with (Ctrl+G) and (Shift+Ctrl+G).
- Guides
Visual reference lines used to align elements. Depending on your editor setup, guides can be displayed along with the grid.
- Hot version
An automatically generated “highlighted” variant of an icon (often used for hover or active states). See .
- Icon
A small graphical symbol used in user interfaces. In IconVectors, an icon is represented by an SVG document with a defined canvas size.
- Intersection
A boolean operation that keeps only the overlapping area of selected paths. See .
- Invert
A color adjustment that inverts icon colors. See .
- Layer
An organizational entry in the layer list. Layers help manage complex icons by stacking elements, grouping, renaming, and toggling visibility.
- Layers panel
The panel on the right side of the workspace that lists all layers and elements. Toggle it with (F7).
- Light theme
A UI color theme designed for bright environments. Theme selection is available in .
- Matrix transform
A transformation defined by a matrix that can combine scaling, rotation, skewing, and translation. See .
- Menu bar
The bar at the top of the window that provides access to all menus (File, Edit, Icon, Element, Path, View, Help).
- Minified SVG
A compact version of SVG with whitespace and formatting removed to reduce file size. Export with (Shift+Ctrl+M) or copy with (Shift+Ctrl+C).
- Monochrome
An image with a single foreground color on a single background color (for example, black on white). Monochrome images are recommended for bitmap tracing.
- Native resolution
The original pixel resolution of a bitmap render. In the preview panel, Pixel mode uses the native resolution and displays crisp pixel boundaries.
- New window
Opening a new editor window (useful when working with multiple icons at once). See (Shift+Ctrl+N) or (Shift+Ctrl+O).
- Nudge
Moving selected elements by a small step, typically with the arrow keys. Nudge is useful for pixel-perfect adjustments.
- Offset path
Creating a new path at a constant distance from an existing path (inward or outward). See (Ctrl+K).
- Opacity
How transparent an element is. 0% is fully transparent; 100% is fully opaque.
- Outline stroke
Converting a stroked path into a filled shape that represents the stroke outline. See (Ctrl+J).
- Palette
A collection of predefined colors available in the color picker.
- Panel
A dockable UI window such as the layers panel or preview panel.
- Path
A vector shape made of straight segments and/or Bézier curves. Many editing operations in IconVectors revolve around creating and editing paths.
- Path editor
The tool used to edit paths precisely: move points, add or remove anchor points, and adjust curves.
- Pen tool
A drawing tool used to create polylines and curves by placing anchor points.
- Pixel mode
A preview rendering mode that displays the icon as pixels using bitmap rendering. In Pixel mode the icon can be zoomed while preserving pixelated edges.
- Pixel-perfect
Designing icons so their edges align to the pixel grid at target sizes, resulting in crisp rendering in user interfaces.
- Place & Trace Bitmap
A command that imports a bitmap image and traces it into a vector path element. It works best with monochrome high-resolution images. See .
- Place Files
A command that inserts one or more external SVG files into the current document. A group is created for each inserted file, and the artwork is automatically scaled to the document size. See (Shift+Ctrl+P).
- Preferences
The configuration dialog used to adjust application behavior (theme, editor settings, code formatting, updates, proxy, etc.). Open it with (F2).
- Preview panel
A dockable panel that shows a live preview of the final icon on light and dark backgrounds. It supports Pixel/Vector rendering, scale selection, background switching, and bitmap export. Toggle it with (Ctrl+F8).
- Proxy server
A network gateway used to reach the internet from restricted environments. Proxy settings are available in (Internet tab).
- Recent files
A list of recently opened documents accessible from .
- Reflect
Flipping an element horizontally or vertically. See (Ctrl+F).
- Resize canvas
Changing the document size without necessarily scaling the artwork. See (Shift+Ctrl+Y).
- Resize icon
Changing the icon/document size (often with options to scale the artwork with it). See (Ctrl+Y).
- Rotate
Turning an element around a pivot point. See (Ctrl+T).
- Scale
Resizing an element proportionally or by entering exact dimensions. See (Ctrl+E).
- Selection
The currently selected element(s) in the editor. Many commands and the control bar act on the selection.
- Snap to grid
A mode that helps align points and shapes to the grid, improving pixel-perfect results. Toggle it with (Shift+Ctrl+R).
- Source Code Viewer
A live view of the icon source in different formats (SVG, minified SVG, XAML, and developer-oriented outputs). Toggle it with (F3).
- Status bar
The bar at the bottom of the window that displays information such as zoom level, canvas size, and contextual hints.
- Stroke
The outline drawn along the edge of a vector element.
- Stroke width
The thickness of a stroke.
- SVG
Scalable Vector Graphics — an XML-based vector file format widely used for icons and UI assets. SVG is the native working format of IconVectors.
- SVG Symbol
An SVG format that wraps artwork in a
<symbol>for re-use (commonly used in icon systems and sprite sheets).- Theme
The overall UI appearance (Light or Dark). Configure it in .
- Toolbox
The toolbar on the left side of the workspace that contains drawing and editing tools (selection, shapes, pen, path editing, etc.).
- Trace
See bitmap tracing.
- Transparency
Areas of an image where nothing is drawn. In the editor, transparency is shown with a checkerboard background.
- Undo/Redo
Commands that revert or reapply previous actions. Undo is Ctrl+Z and redo is Shift+Ctrl+Z.
- Union
A boolean operation that merges selected paths into a single combined shape. See (Ctrl+U).
- Vector
A scalable representation of shapes using points and curves rather than pixels.
- Vector mode
Smooth vector rendering (for example in the preview panel) intended to show how the icon looks when rendered as vector graphics.
- Wireframe
The outline representation of an element that can be used for selection and editing, even when the element has no visible fill.
- Workspace
The main application window that includes the menu bar, toolbox, canvas, control bar, panels, and status bar.
- XAML
A markup language used in Microsoft UI frameworks (WPF, UWP, WinUI). IconVectors can export icon artwork to XAML.
- Zoom
Changing the magnification level of the canvas view to work on details or see the whole icon.