Reshape adjacent segments To reshape a segment and adjacent
segments together (if they are joined with smooth anchor points),
press Command (Mac) or Alt (Windows) and drag the segment.
Reshaping paths by editing anchor points
A path can contain two kinds of anchor points: smooth points and
corner points.
Smooth point An anchor point that connects two curve segments
where the curve flows smoothly through the anchor point without a
sharp change in direction. Circles and sine waves are examples of
paths that have only smooth anchor points.
Corner point An anchor point where the path makes a sharp turn at
the anchor point. Corner points can connect two straight segments,
two curved segments, or one curved and one straight segment.
Tangent lines
All smooth points, and some corner points, have tangent lines pass-
ing through them. Canvas displays the tangent lines when a point is
selected.
A corner point can have one, two, or no tangent lines.When you
select a corner anchor point with two tangent lines, each tangent line
can move independently.
When you create paths with only straight segments, the anchor points
are corner points. When you draw curved paths with the Curve, Free-
hand, or Auto Curve tools, the anchor points are smooth points. Add-
ing anchor points to curved segments produces smooth points.
To change a smooth point to a corner point
You can edit, reshape, and resize two adjoining curve segments inde-
pendently by converting their smooth anchor point to a corner point.
1
With the object in edit mode, click the anchor point to reveal
its tangent lines.
2
Press Tab and drag one of the handles to move one of the tan-
gent lines. The tangent line pivots at the anchor point and affects
only one side of the anchor point.
A corner anchor point with
independent tangent lines