User Guide

Chapter 4: Drawing And Vector Effects
Drawing with the Path tools
You can use the Curve, Polygon, Smooth Polygon, Freehand, and Auto Curve tools to draw vector
objects as open or closed paths. When you use the Curve, Polygon, Smooth Polygon, and Auto Curve
tools, you set anchor points to define path segments. With the Freehand tool, you simply drag to
draw a path. The Reshape and Push tools let you edit paths.
Curve Push
Polygon Reshape
Smooth Polygon Auto Curve
Freehand
The Polygon tool draws paths with straight segments. The Smooth Polygon tool draws paths with
smooth line segments. The Curve and Auto Curve tools can draw paths with straight and curved
segments. Paths drawn with the Freehand tool generally are made of curved segments based on the
movement of the pointer.
When you draw with the Path tools, Canvas uses the current pen ink, fill ink, and stroke settings for
the vector objects you create.
Drawing polygons
When you use the Polygon or Smooth Polygon tool to draw an object, you set anchor points that define
a path of straight line segments or smooth line segments, respectively. You can later curve the
straight segments, as with any path object. For editing information, see "Editing object paths" on
page 324.
To draw polygons:
1. Select the Polygon tool or Smooth Polygon tool.
2. Click to set the first anchor point, shown as a small square.
3. Click where you want to place the second anchor point.
You can press the pointer to display the segment, drag to position it, and then release the
mouse button.
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