A common complaint from illustrators about drawing programs is that the tools aren’t as responsive as, say, a pen or a brush. Drawing with a mouse, they say, is “like drawing with a bar of soap.” Most agree that Aldus FreeHand provides greater artistic control with the variable-stroke tool, which can create brushstroke effects. The variable-stroke tool also makes it possible to use pressure-sensitive drawing tablets, such as those made by Wacom and Kurta.
Aldus FreeHand 4.0 adds more tools for artistic expression—and they’re all found within the freehand tool.
• Try for yourself:
Double-click the freehand tool in the toolbox (left side, fourth icon down). Aldus FreeHand displays the freehand tool dialog box. Click the calligraphic pen tool.
This calligraphic pen tool makes it easy to draw paths that look like they were drawn with a lettering pen. The calligraphic pen tool is pressure-sensitive, just like the variable-stroke tool. You can use it with your drawing tablet if you have one, or use the left and right arrow keys to make the stroke narrower and wider.
• Try for yourself:
Click the “Variable” option to show the ranges. Then click the calligraphic pen option. Click “Fixed,” and enter two points in the Width text edit box. Close the dialog box by pressing Return or clicking the “OK” button.
Here’s some text created using the calligraphic pen tool.
• Try for yourself:
Zoom in on the calligraphic text in the lower-right corner of the page by selecting the magnification tool in the toolbox. Drag to select the calligraphic text “The Art of Writing.”
Take a shot at drawing a character with this tool.
• Try for yourself:
Select the “T” in “The” and delete it. Select the freehand tool. As carefully as you can, imitate the character you just deleted, drawing the character with two separate strokes.
Now make the character into a single path using the path operator “Union.”
• Try for yourself:
Zoom in on the letter you just drew. Select the two paths you just drew by holding down the Shift key and selecting both strokes. Choose “Union” from the Path operations submenu of the Arrange menu. Both paths are now one!
Aldus FreeHand has always given you the ability to work in either preview or keyline mode. In preview, you’re working with your document as it will appear when printed. In keyline, you’re working with a “wireframe” view of your document’s objects. Why wouldn’t you want to see all the lines and fills? Even with Aldus FreeHand 4.0’s speed, all the lines and fills in a complex document can take a long time to draw on your screen. Keyline drawing speeds up this process.
• Try for yourself:
Go to the View menu. Under “Magnification,” select “Fit page.” Press Command+K to redraw the screen in keyline mode. Switch back to preview mode (press Command+K) to redraw the screen in color. Now zoom in on the complex pen cap illustration near the middle-left part of the page. Select it using the pointer tool in the toolbox and move it up slightly on the page. When you let up on the mouse, notice how quickly this complex object redraws! Now press Command+Z to undo, putting the cap back where it was.
We want to wrap text around this object, so we’ve added a shape that allows this.
Optional Tip: We could wrap around the group by subselecting all its elements. This area of the drawing’s pretty busy, so we’ll use an invisible object for the wrap.
• Try for yourself:
Select the path and press Command+Shift+W to display the Text wrap dialog box. Click the “Wrap” icon. Press Return to close the dialog box. Aldus FreeHand wraps the text around the path, avoiding the cap.
In Aldus FreeHand 4.0, drawing precise geometric shapes is a snap, thanks to the polygon tool. Like the freehand tool, this tool has lots of options within it.
• Try for yourself:
Zoom out to “Fit in Window” (Command+W). Zoom in on the gray starburst sitting behind the text (the one containing the text “Award Winning”). Double-click the polygon tool to display its dialog box.
Click the “Star” option. As you did before, drag the top slider to view different stars. Notice the effect of dragging the bottom slider. When you’ve got something you like, draw a star on the page by clicking and dragging the mouse.
Finally, we’ll use “Expand stroke” (another of Aldus FreeHand’s path operators) to change the background of this publication.
• Try for yourself:
Select the round-cornered star that’s behind the text. (You might want to lock the text layer to make this easier.) Choose “Expand stroke” from the Path operations submenu on the Arrange menu. Aldus FreeHand displays the “Expand stroke” dialog box. Enter “6” in the width box and click “OK” to close the dialog box.
Experiment some more in the file. Try mixing new colors in the Color Mixer palette, then drag the colors right into your design. Apply graduated fills in the Inspector palette.
Try adding pages, open up more of the palettes, and experiment with text.
• Try for yourself:
Example: Click the page icon in the Inspector palette, upper-right. Then click the multiple page icon (on the far lef, in the second row of icons in the same palette). Under “Options,” add, duplicate, or delete pages in multiple sizes and orientations. The possibilities in Aldus FreeHand are practically endless!
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Experience the power and speed of Aldus FreeHand for the Apple Power Macintosh!
