144
Part II: Drawing and Coloring Your Artwork ✓ Focus on the upcoming segment as well as the current one. You might notice that the line segment between the prior anchor point and the current anchor point can distract you because it changes while you drag. If you concentrate only on this line segment, the direction point you’re dragging out for the next line segment probably won’t be the right length or angle. You must master the past, present, and future when you use the Pen tool. (Aside from that, it isn’t hard at all.) ✓ Don’t overcompensate for a misdrawn curve. If you mess up on that last outgoing direction point, don’t try to “fix” the line segment with the anchor point you’re currently dragging. Instead, focus on the next segment; try to ignore the goof-up for now. You can always use the Direct Selection tool to fix the poor thing after you finish the path. Chapter 6 has the lowdown on how you can adjust your path after you draw it. ✓ Use different lengths for each direction point, as necessary. This rule is the exception to the previous two rules. (You knew there had to be an exception.) If you click and drag and get a segment just right — only to realize that the next segment requires a longer or shorter control-handle line but the same angle — release the mouse button when the segment is just right. Then click the same anchor point again and drag in the same direction as you previously dragged. Note that as you change the angle of the direction point on the “other” side (where the previous segment is), you aren’t changing the length of that direction point line. And you can match the angle pretty easily because you can see both “before” and “after” versions of the previous line segment. ✓ Place anchor points at curve transitions. A curve transition is a place where the curve changes. Maybe it changes direction (going from clockwise to counterclockwise or vice versa). Maybe the curve gets smaller or larger. Figure 7-12 shows a nice curvy path with anchor points placed properly at the transitions.
Figure 7-12: This path has points placed at the “correct” locations for the best possible curve.
12_396568-ch07.indd 144
9/22/08 9:54:40 PM