Using the Direct Selection tool to select individual points on a path results in some anchor points moving while others remain stationary. In most kinds of path editing, this is the desired behavior, although it can result in paths that appear distorted. At times, you may want to stretch a path by moving selected points, but you may also want other points to move as necessary to maintain a nondistorted path appearance. The Reshape tool is perfect for this task.

1. Select a path using the Selection tool, and then select the Reshape tool.
2. Click an anchor point or a part of a path that you want to act as a focus point when you stretch the path. This way, you’ll have the most control over how this focused point is moved.

   You can also hold the Shift key and select additional focus points (as well as drag to marquee-select additional anchor points).

3. Once you’ve selected your focus points, click and drag one of the focus points to reshape the path.

   You’ll notice that as the points that are in focus move, other points in the path move as well to keep the general proportion of the path.

   Using the Reshape tool, you can stretch paths and reshape them without telltale distortion.

In contrast to the Pen tool, the process of drawing with the Pencil tool mimics that of drawing with a real pen on paper. In reality, the Pencil tool is the exact opposite of the Pen tool. With the Pen tool, you define the anchor points, and Adobe Illustrator CS3 completes the paths. With the Pencil tool, you draw the path, and Illustrator creates the anchor points for you.

If using the Pencil tool to draw paths sounds a lot easier than creating anchor points with the Pen tool, remember that the mouse isn’t the easiest tool to control when you’re trying to draw. Although the Pencil tool is easier to use to create paths, it’s not as easy to create exact or precise paths with it. However, if you have a pressure-sensitive tablet available, the Pencil tool is a bit easier to control.

For technical drawing and precise illustration work, including logo creation and letterforms, you’ll most likely find that the Pen tool offers the fine control you need. You’ll find the Pencil tool useful when you’re working with creative illustrations, cartoons, and projects that require a more natural feel. As you’ll see later in this chapter, the Pencil tool proves valuable when you’re working with Live Paint groups.

You can also use the Path Eraser tool to remove parts of a vector path. It’s important to realize that the Path Eraser tool is not akin to the Eraser tool found in paint programs, which you can use to just erase pixels at will (however, Illustrator has an Eraser tool that does just that, which we’ll talk about shortly). You use the Path Eraser tool specifically to erase portions of a selected vector path. As you trace over an existing selected path with the Path Eraser tool, a light path appears to trail the movement of your pointer. When you release the mouse, Adobe Illustrator CS3 deletes the portion of the path you’ve traced.

In the real-design world, shapes consist of both straight and curved lines. You can use the knowledge you’ve gained up until this point to create paths that contain a mixture of both corner and smooth anchor points. Basically, you know that clicking with the Pen tool produces a corner anchor point and a straight line, and you know that dragging with the Pen tool produces a smooth anchor point and a curved line.

Try drawing a path with both types of anchor points:

1. Select the Pen tool, and make sure you don’t have an existing path selected (look for the small X icon on the Pen tool pointer). Click once to create a corner anchor point.
2. Move your pointer, and click again to create a straight line.
   You can begin a new path by creating two corner anchor points to make a straight line.

3. Move your pointer, and click and drag to create a smooth anchor point.

You now have a single path that consists of both a straight line and a curve.

You can use Illustrator’s Convert Anchor Point tool to convert a corner anchor point to a smooth anchor point, and vice versa. To do so, choose the Convert Anchor Point tool (which is grouped with the Pen tool), and apply the same concepts you’ve learned. Click an existing anchor point once to convert it to a corner anchor point, and then click and drag an existing anchor point to pull out direction handles and convert it to a smooth anchor point.

Drawing Objects with Curved Paths

The paths you’ve drawn up until this point were all made up of corner anchor points, which are connected with straight lines. Of course, you’ll also need to create paths with curved lines; this section explains what you need to know.

In Chapter 2, Vectors 101, you learned that curves are defined with direction handles, which control how the paths between anchor points are drawn. When you want to draw a curved path, you follow the same basic concepts you learned for creating straight paths, with one additional step that defines direction handles:

1. To draw a curved path, select the Pen tool, and make sure an existing path isn’t selected. Position your pointer where you want to begin your path, and then click and drag outward before releasing the mouse.
   Clicking and dragging with the Pen tool defines the smooth anchor point and, at the same time, allows you to position the direction handles.

   This action creates a smooth anchor point where you first clicked and defines direction handles at the point where you released the mouse.

2. Now position your pointer where you want the next anchor point to be, and click and drag once again.

   Using the direction handles as guidance, Illustrator draws a curved path connecting the two smooth anchor points.

   Clicking and dragging a second time completes a curved path between the first two anchor points and defines the next curve that will be drawn.

3. Move your pointer to another location on your artboard, and click and drag to create a third smooth anchor point.
4. Click and drag the first anchor point to close the path.
   Clicking and dragging on the first anchor point completes the curved shape.

We can now define a fourth concept: clicking and dragging with the Pen tool creates a smooth anchor point and defines its direction handles.

Learning to anticipate how the placement of direction handles creates the path you want takes time, but you don’t have to get it right the first time. Once you create a smooth anchor point, you can switch to the Direct Selection tool and click and drag the anchor point to reposition it. Additionally, when you select a smooth anchor point at any time, the direction handles become visible for that anchor point, and you can use the Direct Selection tool to reposition those as well.

Drawing rectangles, ovals, and stars is nice, but that’s not why you use Adobe Illustrator. The true power of Illustrator is that you can use it to create custom shapes as you need them—this allows you to tweak a design to perfection. Illustrator comes with a variety of tools and functions, each with its own strengths and uses. Whether it’s the mystifying Pen tool, the Live Paint feature that allows you to edit and color vector objects more freely, or the dependable Pathfinder and path functions that have helped make Illustrator so powerful over the years, this chapter reveals the true art of the vector path.

Strip away the cool effects. Forget all the fancy tools. Ignore the endless range of gradients and colors. Look past the veneer of both print and Web graphics. What you’re left with is the basis of all things vector—the anchor point. You can learn to master every shape tool in Illustrator, but if you don’t have the ability to create and edit individual anchor points, you’ll find it difficult to design freely.

Illustrator contains a range of tools that you can use to fine-tune paths and edit anchor points. At first, it might seem like these all perform the same functions, but upon closer inspection, you’ll find each has its use.

Mastering the Pen Tool

Just the mention of the Pen tool sends shivers down the spines of designers throughout the world. Traditionally, Illustrator’s Pen tool has frustrated many users who have tried their hand at creating vector paths. In fact, when the Pen tool was introduced in the first version of Illustrator in 1987, word had it that John Warnock, the brain and developer behind Illustrator, was the only one who really knew how to use it. In truth, the Pen tool feels more like an engineer’s tool rather than an artist’s tool.

But don’t let this prevent you from learning to use it.

Learning how to use the Pen tool reaps numerous rewards. Although the Pen tool first appeared in Illustrator, you’ll now find it in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, and Adobe Flash; if you know how to use it in Illustrator, you can use it in the other applications as well. You can use the Pen tool to tweak any vector path to create the exact shape you need, at any time. Additionally, if you give yourself a chance, you’ll see that there’s a method to the madness. After learning a few simple concepts, you’ll quickly realize that anyone can use the Pen tool.

Usually, when new users select the Pen tool and try to draw with it, they click and drag it the same way they might use a normal pen on paper. They are surprised when a path does not appear onscreen; instead, several handles appear. At this point, they click again and drag; now a path appears, but it is totally not where they expect it to appear. This experience is sort of like grabbing a hammer by its head and trying to drive a nail by whacking it with the handle—it’s the right tool, but it’s being used in the wrong way.

While we’re discussing hammers, let’s consider their function in producing string art. When you go to create a piece of string art, you first start with a piece of wood, and then you hammer nails part of the way into it, leaving each nail sticking out a bit. Then you take colored thread and wrap it around the exposed nail heads, thus creating your art. The design you create consists of the strands of colored thread, but the thread is held and shaped by the nails. In fact, you can say that the nails are like anchors for the threads.

When you’re using the Pen tool in Illustrator, imagine you’re hammering those little nails into the wood. In this situation, you aren’t drawing the shape itself; instead, you’re creating the anchors for the shape—the Bézier anchor points. Illustrator draws the thread—the path—for you. If you think about drawing in this way, using the Pen tool isn’t complicated at all. The hard part is just figuring out where you need to position the anchors to get the shape you need. Learning to position the anchors correctly comes with experience, but you can get started by learning how to draw simple shapes. (more…)