Operation Manual

Shaping objects | 163
To Do the following
Shape a segment by using the control handles without affecting
the placement of the node
Click a node, then drag one of the control handles.
Shape a segment by using the control handles while moving a
node
Click a node. Hold down Alt, and drag one of the control handles.
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You can also 
Straighten a curve segment
Click a curve segment, and click the Convert to line button
on the property bar.
Curve a straight segment
Click a straight segment, and click the Convert to curve
button on the property bar.
Smooth a segment Click a node, and move the Curve smoothness slider on the
property bar. To smooth all segments in a curve object, select all of
the object’s nodes before moving the Curve smoothness slider.
Change the direction of a curve object
Click a segment, and click the Reverse direction button on
the property bar.
Copying and cutting segments
You can copy and cut curve segments, and then paste them as objects, making it easy to extract subpaths or create adjacent shapes with
similar contours.
To copy or cut a curve segment
1 Select the curve object.
2
Using the Shape tool , select the nodes on a curve segment, and then press one of the following:
• Ctrl + C to copy the curve segment
• Ctrl + X to cut the curve segment
• Ctrl + D to duplicate the curve segment at a specified offset distance
To paste the curve segment, press Ctrl + V.
Adding, removing, joining, and aligning nodes
When you add nodes, you increase the number of segments and, therefore, the amount of control you have over the shape of the object.
You can delete selected nodes to simplify an object’s shape.
When curve objects contain many nodes, it is difficult to edit and output them to devices such as vinyl cutters, plotters, and rotary engravers.
You can have the number of nodes in a curve object reduced automatically. Reducing the number of nodes removes overlapping nodes and
can smooth a curve object. This feature is especially useful for reducing the number of nodes in objects imported from other applications.