Adobe Illustrator CS4 - Manual (Page 69)

62 USING ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR CS4
Drawing
4 After you begin dragging, hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS). The Pencil tool displays a small
merge symbol to indicate you’re adding to the existing path.
5 Drag onto the endpoint of the other path, release the mouse button, and then release the Ctrl or Command key.
Note: For best results, drag from one path to the other as if you were simply continuing the paths in the direction they
were created.
Reshape paths with the Pencil tool
1 Select the path you want to change.
2 Position the Pencil tool on or near the path to redraw.
You can tell you’re close enough to the path when the small x disappears from the tool.
3 Drag the tool until the path is the desired shape.
Using the Pencil tool to edit a closed shape
Note: Depending on where you begin to redraw the path and in which direction you drag, you may get unexpected results.
For example, you may unintentionally change a closed path to an open path, change an open path to a closed path, or
lose a portion of a shape.
Pencil tool options
Double-click the Pencil tool to set any of the following options:
Fidelity Controls how far you have to move your mouse or stylus before a new anchor point is added to the path. The
higher the value, the smoother and less complex the path. The lower the value, the more the curves will match the
pointer’s movement, resulting in sharper angles. Fidelity can range from 0.5 to 20 pixels.
Smoothness Controls the amount of smoothing applied when you use the tool. Smoothness can range from 0% to
100%. The higher the value, the smoother the path. The lower the value, the more anchor points are created, and the
more the line’s irregularities are preserved.
Fill New Pencil Strokes (Illustrator only) Applies a fill to pencil strokes you draw after selecting this option, but not to
existing pencil strokes. Remember to select a fill before you draw the pencil strokes.
Keep Selected Determines whether to keep the path selected after you draw it. This option is selected by default.
Edit Selected Paths Determines whether or not you can change or merge a selected path when you are within a certain
distance of it (specified with the next option).
Within: _ pixels Determines how close your mouse or stylus must be to an existing path in order to edit the path with
the Pencil tool. This option is only available when the Edit Selected Paths option is selected.