To move, delete or add ,
open or close , or
to convert segments from one form (line, gap, cubic Bézier) to
another, first select the
path, and then either click on the edit path icon or select
Edit->Path->Edit Path (Ctrl-I).
(Note that you should not have any other
selected.)
The path will then be displayed in draft format.
The currently selected control point and the
currently selected segment will appear in red. The other
control points will be orange.
A object can have its underlying path edited in the
same way as a normal , but in edit mode you will also
see the text (without anti-aliasing).
Use one of the following methods to select a control point:
Click on the control point. (If two or more points coincide
with the location of the mouse, the point with the lowest
will be selected.) Remember that if the
lock is on, mouse clicks will be translated to the
nearest tick mark, so even if the pointer is positioned over a
control point, the nearest tick mark may be outside the control
point. In which case the required control point won't be selected,
and you will either select a neighbouring point or exit edit mode.
Press F6 until the required control point is selected.
(You will need to use this method if two or more control points are
in the same location and you don't want the one with the lowest
index. You will also need to use this method if
the grid lock is on and the control point's bounding box
doesn't lie on a tick mark.)
Use one of the following methods to move a control point:
Use the mouse to drag the point to its new location.
Use the edit path (F3) and select
Co-ordinates... (F7). Enter the new
co-ordinates in the dialog box. (You will need to use this method if
two or more control points are in the same location and you don't
want to move the one with the lowest . You
will also need to use this method if the lock is on and
the control point's bounding box doesn't lie on a tick mark or if
you want to move the point by an interval that is not a multiple of
the gap between tick marks.)
Use the edit path and select
Snap To Grid to move the control point to the nearest tick mark.
To exit edit mode either deselect the edit path tool (Ctrl-I)
or click on the somewhere outside
of the control points.
Note that you can not edit a if it belongs
to a ; you must first
ungroup it.
Whilst a path is in edit mode, you can use the
edit path which provides functions to select or edit
control points or the segments that they define. The following
functions are available:
Delete the currently selected control point. (This function is not
available for control points that govern the curvature of Bézier
segments.) If the control point is the first or last
point in an open path it will delete the corresponding segment,
otherwise it will replace two adjacent segments with a single segment.
If the path is open and only has one segment, or if the path is
closed and has two segments, deleting a control point will delete
the path or the object.8.1
Add a new control point in the middle of a
segment (thus replacing a single segment with two segments).
This will actually add three new points if the segment is a Bézier curve as it will also create the required curvature
.
Convert a line segment or a gap to a curve segment. The curvature
control points will be positioned so that the segment forms a
straight line. These can then be moved as required.
If the currently selected segment is a Bézier segment, this function
will move the curvature control point so that the gradient
at the join is continuous. For example, in Figure 8.4
the path was originally an open line path with three line segments.
The middle segment was selected and converted to a Bézier curve
using the Convert To Curve function
(Figure 8.4(a)). The
Make Continuous function was then used
to change the starting gradient of the Bézier segment to make a
smooth join between the first two segments
(Figure 8.4(b)). The Bézier curve's third
control point, which governs the end curvature, was selected,
and the Make Continuous function
was again used to change the end gradient of the Bézier segment to
make a smooth join between the last two segments
(Figure 8.4(c)).
Figure 8.4:
Making the
join between segments continuous: (a) the middle segment of
an open line path has been converted into a Bézier curve;
(b) the gradient at the start of the curve is now the same as
the gradient at the end of the previous segment; (c) the
gradient at the end of the curve is now the same as the gradient at
the start of the next segment.
Break the path into two separate
paths at the end of the currently
selected segment (not at the currently selected control point).
If the object is a text-path, the new text-paths will
both have the same text (that is, the text is not broken between
them).