Main Area and Open Discussion > Living Room

What is the logic of bezier curves? (for Illustrator pen tool)

<< < (2/3) > >>

kunkel321:
I think they're all parabolas, yes?  Check Wikipedia.

app103:
I have never tried doing stuff like this in Illustrator (yet), but it's quite easy once you have had a little bit of practice in Paintshop Pro.

You'd probably be able to figure it out on your own if Illustrator supports raster and vector layers within the same image (I don't know if it does).

If it does, I would suggest grabbing some very simply drawn sample images to work with, creating a new vector layer over them and using the sample images as your guide. You could practice getting your shapes to follow the same lines as the sample image. It only took me an hour or so to get the hang of node manipulation, this way.

I do all of mine as a series of vector circles shapes, manipulated at the node level till they are just right, converting all the nodes to "cusp" type before I begin (I just find it a lot easier to work with that way). Each circle has 4 nodes, by default (which I may or may not keep, depending on how complex of a shape is the goal). I add more nodes, as needed, remove ones not needed, drag & drop the existing nodes where they are needed, and lengthen/shorten the handles and swing them left/right till it matches the lines on my base image. When I am finished, I delete the base layer, so only my vector layers remain.

Once you have had some practice with some sample images, you can sketch & scan your own to work with, doing the same thing....or move on to photos that have very clean lines. ;)

Edvard:
Hey! Looky what I found!
A game to help you master the pen tool.
By Mark MacKay.

--- End quote ---

http://bezier.method.ac/#




Pretty neat, huh?

from random wanderings around the blasted heath

tomos:
In FreeHand if I create a point in a line, I can move the location of that point before I move on to the next point.**
This might seem like a minor thing, but it isnt :-) it means you can fine-tune and correct your line while drawing it.
If you draw a lot, this is a huge timesaver.

I miss that in the game above. And, I dont know have they changed it since, but up till Illustrator CS4 anyways, you *cannot* do this -
you have to draw your line, and then go back and select and drag each point that needs to be adjusted.

One could argue, with reason, that the illustrator method encourages more accuracy in the first place, but to me, ease of use wins here.

** how that works:

* make your point
* if desired, drag to form curves
* keeping the mouse button pressed, press the Control key and drag - the point moves

superboyac:
Hey! Looky what I found!
A game to help you master the pen tool.
By Mark MacKay.

--- End quote ---

http://bezier.method.ac/#
(see attachment in previous post)

Pretty neat, huh?

from random wanderings around the blasted heath

-Edvard (September 18, 2014, 08:03 PM)
--- End quote ---
Yes!  This is perfect and very awesome! 

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page