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Editing Control Points

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:

Use one of the following methods to move a control point:

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:

Next Control (F6)
Select the next . This is an alternative to using the mouse to select the point.

Delete Point (Delete)
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 Point (Insert)
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 To Line
Convert a curve segment or a gap to a line segment.

Convert To Curve
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.

Convert To Move
Convert a line or curve segment to a gap.

Make Continuous
If the currently selected segment is a Bézier segment, this function will move the curvature 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.
    
 Image continuous1a.png  
 (a)  
      
 Image continuous1b.png Image continuous1c.png  
 (b) (c)  

Open Path
Open a closed (the last segment is removed).

Close Path
Close an open path (a new segment is added between the last and first control points).

Co-ordinates... (F7)
This menu item will display a dialog box in which you can set the x and y values (instead of dragging the point to the required location).

Snap To Grid
Move the currently selected control point to the nearest tick mark.

Break path
Break the path into two separate paths or text-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).

See also:



Footnotes

... object.8.1
The text will also be lost.

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