Drawing straight lines, arcs, and curves

Drawing straight lines, arcs, and curves

To draw straight lines, arcs, and curves, use the drawing tools in the Tools window:

• Choose Show Tools from the Window menu, or click the toolbox icon at the bottom of the active document:

IMPORTANT: You can use the drawing tools in a painting, but because of significant differences between painting and drawing, choose whether you need to paint or draw before you begin creating something.

Drawing straight lines

To draw a straight line:

1 Select the line tool in the Tools window:

2 Drag until the line is the length you want.

Tip: To constrain a line to a specific angle, hold down the Shift key while you drag. The line is drawn horizontally, vertically, or at 45 degrees. To change the constraint angle, choose Preferences from the Edit menu, then choose General from the submenu. Under Options, type a new value for Mouse Shift Constraint.

Tip: To specify line dimensions, select the line and choose Object Size from the Options menu.

Drawing arcs

To draw an arc:

1 Select the arc tool in the Tools window:

2 Drag in the direction of the arc you want.

Tip: To draw a quarter circle, hold down the Shift key while you drag.

Drawing Bezier curves

You can draw shapes with precise curves, called Bezier curves, by using the Bezier tool. As you draw, you specify the points that define each curve; smooth Bezier curves connect these points. Here is an example of an object with Bezier curves:

The Bezier tool is also useful for tracing images and for drawing shapes consisting of straight lines, angles, and curves.

To draw an object using Bezier curves:

1 Select the Bezier tool in the Tools window:

2 Click to place the first point.

3 Continue clicking to add points that form the object.

Tip: To draw a straight line, hold down the Option key.

4 Complete the shape in one of the following ways:

• For an open object, double-click where you want the last point.

• For a closed object, click the starting point.

Tip: To make Bezier shapes close by double-clicking (instead of clicking the starting point), choose Preferences from the Edit menu, then choose General from the submenu. Under Polygon Closing, select Automatic.

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