Illy Pen Path

[reuber1]

OK, I'm no Illustrator wiz or anything, but I've been given the enviable honor of using Illustrator 8 at work. Seeing that the only version of Illy I've touched was Illustrator CS2, for about 10 minutes, is it just me or when you draw with the pen tool it doesn't show your path in real time, only after you have clicked? Call me spoiled, but I think I deserve to see the path of the pen before I commit to a click.

[Drorain]

click a point, then click another point, holding down on the mouse, now drag your mouse in a direction, this will bring up the line and change it as you need it...afterwards you may need to play with the angles of the anchor points. this is the arrow on the pen tool group of tools

[reuber1]

Yeah, that's what I was already getting. It's just that I have to commit to a new anchor point each time, and it's annoying. At least in Freehand MX, which I'm more accustomed to, you get to see the path in real time after clicking a new anchor point before you have to commit to it. I always use that preview line against images that I'm tracing against. I'm not so interested in setting a bezier pen path as opposed to just seeing how my line appears to begin with (I'm anal retentive when it comes to the position of my anchor points). Again, this is vers 8.

[reuber1]

Oh well, I got it figured out for the most part. I'll just have to edit them with the arrow tools after setting them up. I'm doing basic geometry here, I'm not illustrating the Denver Bronco's logo or anything. More of a nuiscance than anything else.

[Drorain]

really? I am banging on control Z to drop my points if I dont like where they land, I also love drawing vectors...like the car I did a while ago...Illys my best and fav. program.

My hand simply isnt steady enough with a mouse or stylus to work with a bezier pen tool. So I lurve paths...I'd marry them if I could

[Drorain]

Try holding down alt I think that'll bring up the arrow to edit the points, instead of having to switch back and forth constantly

[reuber1]

What if the path isn't religious? Wouldn't it have to be a civil union, or something?

[rockem]

check your preferences, not sure about on 8 but you can set it to if you want to see it or not