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Designing on a Phone or Small Tablet

Lumineer ships a dedicated mobile editor for screens 768px wide and narrower. The drawing canvas takes the full screen, and a four-layer toolbar pins to the bottom so your thumbs can reach everything without covering your work.

What you'll learn

  • The four layers of the mobile toolbar and what each one does
  • How tool options appear and disappear as you switch tools
  • How to export and open the side panel from a phone

The mobile toolbar layers

Reading from the bottom of the screen up, the mobile toolbar has up to three floating rows plus the side panel. The bottom row is always visible. The middle row adapts to the active tool — only one middle row shows at a time.

| Layer | What it contains | When it's visible | |-------|------------------|-------------------| | 1. Tools bar (bottom) | Move, Select, Lights, Ruler, Decor, Panel — six 48px touch targets | Always | | 2. Action row | Undo, Redo, Delete, Export | Only when the Move tool is active | | 2. Subtool row | Slider on top (if applicable), subtool pills below, and a ⋯ button on the far right that opens a popover with Undo / Redo / Delete / Export › | When any other tool is active (Select, Lights, Ruler, Decor) | | 3. Color strip | Selected colors, add color, bulb type, layer ordering, hide, delete | Only when one or more elements are selected | | Side panel | Sidebar contents (colors, bulb type, AI, settings) — slides up from above the toolbar stack | When you tap Panel |

Tip: The Tools bar never moves. The rows above it only appear when relevant — your thumb learns where each control lives within a session or two.

Switching tools

Tap any of the six tool icons in the bottom bar. The icon underlines in your accent color and the middle row swaps based on the active tool:

  • Move — middle row shows Undo / Redo / Delete / Export as the action row. No subtools.
  • Select — middle row shows the subtool row with Rectangle / Freeform pills and a ⋯ button on the far right for undo / redo / delete / export.
  • Lights — middle row shows the subtool row with a slider on top (spacing for Line, smoothness for Curve, density for Shrub), Line / Curve / Shrub pills below, and the ⋯ button on the right.
  • Ruler / Decor — middle row shows the subtool row with just the tool name and the ⋯ button for now. Ruler and Decor subtools are coming in a follow-up update.

Editing tool options

The slider (when one exists) sits directly above the pills row. Drag with your finger — the value updates in real time. Tapping a different pill swaps the slider above it in place; nothing collapses or jumps.

Undo, redo, delete, and export from any tool

While in Move, those four actions are a row of icons. While in any other tool, they live one tap deeper — tap the ⋯ button at the right edge of the subtool row.

The popover opens upward with a vertical menu:

  • Undo and Redo — disabled when you're at either end of the history.
  • Delete — destructive styling, disabled when nothing is selected.
  • Export › — opens a secondary menu (cascading to the left on narrow screens) with Export as PNG / Export as JPG / Export As...

Note: Curve smoothness now controls the curve tension that actually shapes the line. The 2026-04 redesign fixed a long-standing mislabel where the slider was wired to a no-op field.

Exporting

In Move tool: tap the Export icon (down-arrow) in the action row. A small popover appears with PNG / JPG / Export As...

In any other tool: tap the ⋯ button on the subtool row, then hover/tap Export › for the same three options in a cascading submenu.

  1. Export as PNG — high-resolution lossless image
  2. Export as JPG — smaller file, 92% quality
  3. Export As... — opens the side panel's Export tab for materials summary and advanced options

Editing a selected element (color strip)

Tap an element to select it. A compact action strip slides in directly above whichever middle row is showing, with the tools you need for fast edits — no need to open the panel for the common case.

Reading left to right, the strip contains:

  1. Color wheel — opens a popover with the full color palette. Tap any color to append it to the pattern, drag bubbles to reorder, tap to remove. The popover stays open so you can chain colors.
  2. Bulb badge (C9/C7/Mini/Icicle) — tap to open a popover with the four bulb types. Choose one to swap the strand's bulbs.
  3. Duplicate — copies the selected element(s).
  4. Hide / Show — toggle the element's visibility. Hidden elements still exist but render at 30% opacity and are excluded from exports.
  5. Layers — opens a popover with the four layer-ordering options: Bring Forward, Send Backward, Bring to Front, Send to Back.
  6. Delete — removes the element. Multiple selection? All selected elements are deleted together.
  7. ⋯ overflow — Undo, Redo, Delete, Export (with PNG / JPG / Export As submenu). While an element is selected, this menu is the one-stop for canvas-wide quick actions — the standalone Undo/Redo/Delete/Export bar hides to reduce clutter.

Tip: The strip handles the 70% case (tweak a color, swap a bulb) without ever opening the side panel. Open the panel only when you need brightness, AI scenes, or canvas defaults.

Decorations don't have colors or bulbs, so when a decoration is selected the strip skips the color wheel and bulb badge. The same is true when you have multiple elements selected at once — to keep edits unambiguous, those controls are hidden, and you can use the side panel for batch color changes.

Opening the side panel

Tap the rightmost Panel icon in the bottom bar (it's a sidebar glyph). The side panel slides up as a sheet — but unlike a normal mobile drawer, it stops above the toolbar stack so the bottom toolbar (and the color strip, if visible) stays reachable. You never have to dismiss the panel to switch tools or change a color.

The sheet opens to its full height and stays there. To close it, tap the Panel icon again (it now shows an X) or drag the sheet down past its threshold.

Tips

  • Pinch to zoom and two-finger drag to pan — Both work anywhere outside the toolbar layers.
  • Light haptic feedback — Every tool tap and color-strip action triggers a 10ms vibration on supported phones.
  • Multi-select — Use Select tool's lasso to grab multiple elements. The color strip's actions (duplicate, layer ordering, hide, delete) all operate on the entire selection.

Related:

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