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idaho
04-27-2007, 02:24 PM
Is anyone using Illy CS3 yet? It's possible that my question would apply to CS2 as well I guess.
Here's what I'm wondering. I'm new to Illy - been a Freehand user since Aldus Freehand version 1. Yes I'm old. Well, I'm forced to switch to Illy and I'm having trouble with its editing.
In Freehand, Let's say I have a single straight line and I want to make it a curved line. In Freehand I just need to hold down the Option key while clicking the line the I can bend it however I need to. This will then give me control handle I can use to tweak it.
Illy doesn't do this of course. At least CS2 doesn't do it. Does CS3 do it? Has Adobe applied any of Freehand functionality into Illustrator?
This may seem like a silly problem but it has been affecting productivity. Can anyone help?
Drawing a Blank
04-27-2007, 03:05 PM
I am a Freehand user as well (at home) and an Illustrator user at work and miss this feature as well. I'll be getting CS3 next week, but don't hold out much hope.
Patrick Shannon
04-27-2007, 04:40 PM
Despite some nice improvements in Illustrator when dealing with lines and points, I want to say "no," but I haven't tried holding down any modifier key for that purpose. I didn't see any such option in demo videos either from someone like Terry White (who I'm sure would have pointed that out).
I'll give it a try when I get home and let you know, though.
urstwile
04-27-2007, 06:14 PM
Select the convert anchor point tool (one of the options in the pen tool menu), or hold down shift + C. Click on a point and drag away, you'll curve the line.
Patrick Shannon
04-27-2007, 06:24 PM
Yeah, that would do something similar. However, in Freehand and I think Flash (haven't used Flash in a while), I think you can just grab any section of the line and drag it around to curve and warp it. Although I guess you can do that too in Illy with the Direct selection tool.
idaho
04-27-2007, 08:23 PM
I just received my copy of CS3. Woooooo Hoooooo!!!!! I'll check it once it finishes the install.
idaho
04-27-2007, 08:56 PM
Nope. They didn't add that functionality - at least not as far as I can tell. That sucks because it comes in VERY handy sometimes.
Cyan_Ide
04-28-2007, 05:07 PM
If you go in, at least this is where it was on mine, under the scale tool (you know, when they have that little caret in that tool in the toolbar which means there's more things under that tool), there's a black arrow that looks much like the selection tool with a curve above it. It's called the 'reshape tool.' It does that very thing. If you have some sort of complex shape, you have to direct select the particular line you want to curve down, at least that's what I had to do with the rectangle I was experimenting with, because otherwise it was grabbing the whole rectangle. It also creates selection handles at the lowest point so that you can grab them and change the curve that way as well.
Hope that helps.
Yeah the Reshape tool is awesome. Hold down control when selecting single segments.
Patrick Shannon
04-28-2007, 07:05 PM
Haha, never knew about that tool. Nice. Was that a CS2 addition?
In Freehand, Let's say I have a single straight line and I want to make it a curved line. In Freehand I just need to hold down the Option key while clicking the line the I can bend it however I need to. This will then give me control handle I can use to tweak it.
Yes, Illy does the exact same thing. Hold CMD instead of OPT if you're clicking on the line segment. This will bring up the last used selection tool. As long as it's the White Arrow tool, you can drag the line segment to a different curvature (it will adjust the handles on both adjoining pionts). If your black arrow tool comes up when you hold CMD, then press A.
Otherwise, if you want to make the handles appear on a point, hold OPT before clicking and dragging on it with the pen tool.
*EDIT: Sorry, I sort of misread your question... You say you have a straight line segment, not a curved one. OPT-drag on the points, not the line, to convert it.
Cyan_Ide
04-29-2007, 06:53 AM
Haha, never knew about that tool. Nice. Was that a CS2 addition?
I'm almost positive that this particular feature is new to CS3.
hewligan
04-30-2007, 09:09 PM
I'm almost positive that this particular feature is new to CS3.
As far as I can recall, it's been there since at least about Illustrator 8. Any earlier than that, and my memory gets pretty fuzzy...
Yes, the Reshape tool has been around for a long, long time...
Cyan_Ide
05-01-2007, 02:21 AM
My god, I've been Illustrating in a cave!
hewligan
05-01-2007, 02:29 AM
My god, I've been Illustrating in a cave!
Well, if I ever need an illustration of a woolly mammoth, now I'll know who to come to :D
I actually never use the reshape tool, but I knew it was there. Sometimes, I worry about how I know these things.
My god, I've been Illustrating in a cave!
Do you do your illustrations with the Sasquatch?
Drawing a Blank
05-01-2007, 12:45 PM
I have never used the reshape tool in Illy either, but I just gave it a try in CS2 and it works well. Though in Freehand it doesn't add a point to the line and the two points at the end of the line or segment have handles. But in Illy it seemed to add a point to the line where I reshaped it and the end points have no handles. Does it still do this in CS3?