User Guide

Drawing 147
Drawing freeform paths
With the Pencil tool, you can draw freeform paths that follow the direction of
your hand movements. The three modes of operation for this tool are Freehand,
Variable Stroke, and Calligraphic Pen.
To set Pencil tool options:
1 Double-click the Pencil tool.
2 In the Pencil Tool dialog box, choose a Tool Operation option:
• Freehand draws a simple line as you move the cursor.
• Variable Stroke resembles a brush stroke.
• Calligraphic Pen resembles a calligraphy pen stroke.
3 Enter a value from 1 to 10 in the Precision text box, or adjust the slider control.
Choose a higher value to follow minor variations as you draw. Choose a low
value to smooth minor variables as you draw.
4 Select Draw Dotted Line to draw paths faster by displaying a dotted line as you
draw. The final path is still solid.
5 Select Auto Remove Overlap to remove unnecessary path segments and create a
composite path.
Original (left) and Auto Remove Overlap applied (right)
Note: Using the Auto Remove Overlap option may slow the redrawing of an image.
You can also remove overlap by selecting the path and choosing Modify > Alter
Path > Remove Overlap or clicking the Remove Overlap button on the Xtra
Operations toolbar.
6 For Variable Stroke, set a path width, measured from the centerline, between
1 and 72 points.