Bezier Curves Illustrator

Bezier Curve. A mathematically generated curve that has two endpoints and control points to specify curve direction. Adobe Illustrator Terms 2 72 Terms. Adobe Illustrator CS6 (Domain 2) 17 Terms. Arts and Humanities. Social Science. Quizlet Live. Quizlet Learn.

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In the early days of Adobe's PostScript innovation, drawing artwork meant issuing a series of text instructions to define a shape you wanted to print. Sensing the distance between the programmer mindset that underlays PostScript's functionality and the creative sensibilities that would prompt users to draw, the company crafted a visual front end that turned computer illustration into Illustrator. The bezier curve forms an integral part of the program's drawing functionality.

Shape Tools

Illustrator simplifies the process of creating basic geometric shapes by offering dedicated tools that draw instant rectangles, polygons, stars and ellipses. Although purely rectilinear shapes lack bezier curves, they still form an important part of the program's drawing functionality. Illustrator also offers a tool variant that creates rectangles with rounded or radiused corners, appropriately dubbed the Rounded Rectangle tool. These basic building-block shapes speed drawing tasks when you're building an image in Adobe Illustrator.

The Pen Tool

Bezier drawing relies on smooth and corner anchor points. Adobe Illustrator's Pen tool forms the program's principal means of creating freehand bezier drawings. Each time you click and drag to create an anchor point and shape a path, you define a change of direction. A smooth point rocks like a seesaw when you manipulate the handles that extend from it, in that both sides of the line you're drawing move with the handles. A corner point forms a sharp change of direction, angular and pointed like the corners of a polygon.

Converting Anchor Points

Once you've drawn a shape that contains only corner points, you can use Illustrator's Convert Anchor Point tool to convert its sharp corners to bezier. This tool enables you to reinvent an anchor point by clicking on it, then dragging out the bezier handles it needs to transform itself from corner to curve. The result is a smooth point -- and a path that changes direction to reflect the change in anchor point. Conversely, if you apply this tool to a smooth anchor point, it flattens the curve into a corner.

Adjusting Anchor Points

Adobe Illustrator's Direct Selection tool allows you to move single anchor points on a drawing and adjust the lengths of their handles individually. These adjustments can change the slope or steepness of the curve that emerges from one side of the handle, but they can't create an anchor point that's part curve and part straight line. To break the two handles apart so you can adjust each side of an anchor point individually, alter one handle with the Convert Anchor Point tool to create a combination point.

Resources (6)

• The Adobe Illustrator CS5 Wow! Book; Sharon Steuer
• Real World Adobe Illustrator CS5; Mordy Golding
• Adobe Illustrator CS5 Bible; Ted Alspach
• Illustrator CS5 for Windows and Macintosh Visual QuickStart Guide; Elaine Weinmann and Peter Lourekas
• Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium All-in-One for Dummies; Jennifer Smith et al.

About the Author

Elizabeth Mott has been a writer since 1983. Mott has extensive experience writing advertising copy for everything from kitchen appliances and financial services to education and tourism. Heroes of might and magic iii cheats. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in English from Indiana State University.

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Here’s how to use the Bézier path to create a curved segment. You might not love this process — not at first, anyway. But after you know how to use a Bézier path, you’ll likely find it useful. To create a Bézier path, follow these steps:

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1. Starting with a blank artboard, select the Pen tool and click the artboard anywhere to place the first anchor point.

2. Click someplace else to place the ending anchor point — don’t let go of the mouse button — and then drag the cursor until a direction line appears.

   If you look closely, you see that anchor points are square and that direction lines have circles at the end, as shown in this figure.

   Click and drag with the Pen tool to create a curved path.

3. Drag the direction line closer to the anchor point to flatten the curve; drag farther away from the anchor point to increase the curve, as shown in Figure 5-4.

4. When you’re happy with the curve, release the mouse button.

You’ve created an open path, or a path that doesn’t form a closed shape. Here’s how to reconnect to the starting point of the path to make a closed shape.

To alter a curved segment after you create it, follow these steps:

1. Choose Select→Deselect to ensure that no objects are selected.

2. Choose the Direct Selection tool and click the last anchor point created.

   If the direction lines aren’t already visible, they appear.

   If you have difficulty selecting the anchor point, drag a marquee around it with the Direct Selection tool.

3. Click precisely at the end of one of the direction lines; drag the direction line to change the curve.