Over the past couple of months we’ve been listening to your feedback and today we’re thrilled to release a new update with text rendering and SVG improvements. In addition, Sketch 3.6 brings many polishes, performance enhancements, and bug fixes. Download the free update here.

Let’s dive in and explore some of our favorite improvements that will bring power and speed to your design workflow.

Fixed baseline

The inconsistent baselines and text layers that were causing you grief are gone. Sketch now maintains consistent baseline spacing for paragraphs when adjusting the line height. When changing the typeface or font size for a text layer, the layer will now reposition itself so the first baseline will always stay in place.

When you have a new text layer, it will use the “auto” line height rather than inheriting what was previously used. In addition, text layer auto line height is now distinct from a fixed line height of the same value, and the Inspector shows the auto value as its placeholder.

Alongside this, baseline snapping for multi-line text now uses the first baseline rather than the last. All of these changes produce a more predictable vertical rhythm.

Better control over character spacing

You now have better control over the character spacing on text layers, as it can be set to “auto”, allowing the font’s native kerning to be applied.

Better masking capabilities

Now you’re able to make Masks with ease. When two or more shapes are selected “Use as Mask” is enabled in the contextual menu (^⌘M), making the process more intuitive.

Improved SVG handling

Sketch now exports much more compact SVG files, by doing away with unnecessary prefixes. In addition, SVG importing and exporting now supports blend modes and includes shadows on groups when exporting.

Improved performance in complex documents

You will notice better performance when zooming, scrolling, and moving shapes and Artboards in the Canvas. This is especially true when using large documents or when working with an external display. This update also boosts general drawing performance and reduces CPU power consumption.

Improved importing of retina or high-DPI images

We’ve improved the handling of high-DPI images by automatically scaling them down to their logical size, for more accurate rendering on non-retina and retina screens.

We’ve also squashed lots of bugs and made many more enhancements. Check out the full list of updates here. We hope you’ll download this free update, and see what’s new for yourself! Please note this update requires Mac OS 10.10 or higher to run.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any feedback, feature requests, or bug reports via email to mail@sketch.com. You can also join the conversation on our Facebook group or Twitter. Let’s continue to make Sketch better, together!

We hope you’ll enjoy using Sketch 3.6!