00:00:33 Notice that my pen cursor, once again, has an asterisk
00:00:36 to show me that I'm about to create a new path outline.
00:00:38 I'm going to do so by clicking and dragging.
00:00:42 So the point at which you click,
00:00:44 that determines the location of the smooth point,
00:00:46 and as you drag, you're going to draw forth control handles.
00:00:49 One, under your cursor,
00:00:51 and the other, opposite the cursor like so.
00:00:55 And now notice that my rubber band preview is curving
00:00:58 to show me that I'm going to create a curving segment,
00:01:01 but it's not entirely accurate.
00:01:03 What we're seeing is a preview of what would happen
00:01:05 if I were to click in order to create a corner point.
00:01:09 But you don't want to do that because if you do,
00:01:12 you'll have just one control handle associated
00:01:15 with this segment, and that's generally a no-no
00:01:17 because you end up with this curving segment
00:01:19 that ends with this kind of flat tire.
00:01:22 So I'm going to go ahead and press Control Z
00:01:24 or Command Z on a Mac.
00:01:25 What you want to do instead, is drag to create
00:01:28 another smooth point like so.
00:01:30 And now notice that the control handle under my cursor,
00:01:33 and my cursor is located downward by the way,
00:01:36 has nothing to do with the segment that I'm about to create.
00:01:40 Instead, it's the opposite control handle
00:01:43 that's informing this segment
00:01:45 while the control handle that I just made
00:01:47 will affect the next segment I draw.
00:01:50 So now I'll go ahead and drag down here
00:01:51 to create another control handle,
00:01:53 and notice that I have established a pattern.
00:01:56 So I started dragging from the top here
00:01:59 in a counter clockwise direction,
00:02:01 which means that I need to continue
00:02:03 in a counter clockwise direction.
00:02:04 If you start clockwise, then just continue clockwise.
00:02:08 So you can draw in either direction you want,
00:02:11 but what you don't want to do is now start dragging
00:02:14 in the wrong direction because you'll get this big loop.
00:02:17 Alright, a couple of other things to note here.
00:02:20 If you press and hold the Spacebar as you're creating
00:02:23 a smooth point, then you can move that point on the fly,
00:02:26 and as soon as you release the Spacebar,
00:02:28 you'll continue changing the curvature of the segment.
00:02:32 You can also press the Shift key
00:02:34 if you want to constrain the angle of your control handles
00:02:37 to the nearest 45 degrees.
00:02:39 But, you cannot do both at the same time.
00:02:42 And so if I were to add the Spacebar
00:02:44 while I have the Shift key down, then I would just continue
00:02:47 to constrain those control handles,
00:02:49 I will not move the anchor point.
00:02:51 So if you want to move that smooth point,
00:02:53 you need to release the Shift key,
00:02:55 then move the point to where you want it to be,
00:02:57 go ahead and release the Spacebar,
00:02:59 then hold the Shift key once again.
00:03:02 A final option that's available to you
00:03:04 is to press the Control key or the Command key on the Mac.
00:03:07 Right now, notice when I don't have any keys down,
00:03:10 that both of my control handles are absolutely symmetrical.
00:03:14 They're both moving along with my cursor.
00:03:17 But if I press the Control key or the Command key
00:03:19 on the Mac, just the control handle under my cursor moves
00:03:23 and the opposite one remains the same length.
00:03:26 I can move around to change its angles,
00:03:28 but its length remains the same.
00:03:30 But if at any time, you release the Control or Command key,
00:03:33 then your control handles are going
00:03:35 to be the same length once again.
00:03:37 Alright, finally, let's say you want to close the path.
00:03:40 I'll go ahead and move my active cursor that has no asterisk
00:03:44 over the first point in the path.
00:03:45 We now see a circle which tells us that we're about to close
00:03:48 the path, but if I were to just click, I'll get
00:03:51 this flattened segment that we're seeing in the preview.
00:03:54 That's not what I want, so in order to get a nice smooth
00:03:56 point at the end, you want to go ahead and drag once again.
00:04:00 Now the good news you'll find as you become
00:04:02 more experienced, is that you're only affecting
00:04:05 the opposite control handle.
00:04:06 You're not affecting the one that's over here
00:04:09 on the left side of the shape, in other words.
00:04:11 It's remaining the same, so that gives you a little more
00:04:14 latitude and control when you're closing the shape.
00:04:17 You also have the option of pressing and holding
00:04:19 the Spacebar to move that closing point on the fly like so.
00:04:24 And when you get it where you want it,
00:04:25 you can release the Spacebar once again
00:04:28 and continue dragging.
00:04:29 So I'm going to go ahead and release to create this shape.
00:04:32 Alright, now let's say you want to make some modifications
00:04:35 because it's not really the smoothest shape
00:04:37 I've ever created.
00:04:38 In that case, go ahead and press and hold the Control key
00:04:40 or the Command key on the Mac to get the lasso arrow tool
00:04:43 on the fly, unfortunately for me, that's the black arrow
00:04:46 tool, which does allow you to drag control handles around
00:04:50 incidentally, so you can move control handles
00:04:52 with the black arrow tool, you just can't move anchor points
00:04:55 because if you click on an anchor point,
00:04:57 you'll end up selecting the entire shape.
00:04:59 You'll also select the entire shape if you click
00:05:01 on a segment, which means I can't see
00:05:04 the control handles down here.
00:05:06 So I need to switch to the white arrow tool by pressing
00:05:08 Control tilde here on a PC
00:05:10 or Command Option Tab on the Mac,
00:05:13 then I'll click on this segment to see its control handles.
00:05:16 Notice the segments just aren't quite long enough,
00:05:19 they should be a little longer in order
00:05:21 to get a nice smooth arc.
00:05:23 And notice if I make them too long like so,
00:05:26 then I'll end up with this kind of rounded corner effect
00:05:29 right here, and if you really go far enough with it,
00:05:32 you'll get the segment to loop around.
00:05:34 Whereas, if you make your control handles too short like so,
00:05:38 then you'll end up with a flattened segment.
00:05:40 So keep in mind that rule of thirds,
00:05:43 which says that the control handles together
00:05:45 should add up to about two-thirds the length
00:05:47 of the curving segment, which is a problem up here.
00:05:50 This guy's too flat, so I'll go ahead and click
00:05:52 on this segment and drag these control handles
00:05:55 out just a little bit like so.
00:05:58 Alright, you can also draw open path outlines if you like,
00:06:01 but you don't want to start dragging on the path outline
00:06:03 because it's selected.
00:06:05 So if I were to click on a selected curving segment like so,
00:06:09 then I will not only see the plus sign next to my pen cursor
00:06:12 but I will also add a smooth point.
00:06:14 So any time you click on a selected curving segment
00:06:17 with the pen tool, you add a smooth point.
00:06:19 Alright, let's say I don't want to do that.
00:06:21 I'll just press Control Shift A or Command Shift A
00:06:23 on the Mac in order to deselect that path outline.
00:06:26 And now, I'll just drag a bunch of times in order to create
00:06:30 some more smooth points, and I'll use the Spacebar
00:06:33 in order to get that guy into a better position.
00:06:35 By the way, you can always edit the points as you're working
00:06:38 just by pressing the Control key
00:06:40 or the Command key on the Mac.
00:06:41 Go ahead and click an anchor point,
00:06:43 adjust its control handles, do whatever you want to it.
00:06:46 You can even move points around incidentally
00:06:48 without deactivating the paths, so notice, as soon
00:06:51 as I release the Control key or the Command key on the Mac,
00:06:53 my path is still active as I can see by the lack of asterisk
00:06:57 and the fact that I have a rubber band preview.
00:07:00 But, if I try to nudge a selected point
00:07:03 using the arrow keys on the keyboard,
00:07:05 the second I press an arrow key, I will deactivate the path
00:07:07 as you're seeing here.
00:07:09 So to reactivate it, you don't want to click
00:07:11 because you're working with smooth points.
00:07:13 Instead, you want to drag and then you can continue dragging
00:07:17 to add more smooth points to your path outline.
00:07:21 Then, once you get the desired effect like so,
00:07:24 and I'll just go ahead and Control-drag or Command-drag
00:07:27 that control handle inward a little bit,
00:07:29 then you can deactivate the path outline just as you can
00:07:31 when you're creating corner points
00:07:33 by pressing the Escape key or the Enter key
00:07:36 or the Return key on the Mac, it's entirely up to you.
00:07:39 Now I'm going to press the V key to switch back
00:07:41 to my black arrow tool, and I'll click off the path outline
00:07:44 to deselect it.
00:07:46 And that's how you create smooth points with a pen tool,
00:07:49 by dragging in a consistent direction, remember that,
00:07:52 here inside Illustrator.