Adding and deleting anchor points, Add or delete anchor points, Find and delete stray anchor points – Adobe Illustrator CC 2015 User Manual
Page 94: Smooth and simplify paths, Smooth paths, Adding, And deleting anchor points, Adding and deleting anchor, Points
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Drawing
Last updated 6/5/2015
Adding and deleting anchor points
Adding anchor points can give you more control over a path, or it can extend an open path. However, it’s a good idea
not to add more points than necessary. A path with fewer points is easier to edit, display, and print. You can reduce the
complexity of a path by deleting unnecessary points. Adding and deleting anchor points works similarly in Adobe
applications.
The Tools panel contains three tools for adding or deleting points: the Pen tool
, the Add Anchor Point tool
, and
the Delete Anchor Point tool
. In addition, the Control panel has a Remove Selected Anchor Points button
By default, the Pen tool changes to the Add Anchor Point tool as you position it over a selected path, or to the Delete
Anchor Point tool as you position it over an anchor point.
Note: Don’t use the Delete and Backspace keys or the Edit > Cut and Edit > Clear commands to delete anchor points: these
keys and commands delete the point and the line segments that connect to that point.
Add or delete anchor points
1
Select the path you want to modify.
2
To add an anchor point, select the Pen tool or the Add Anchor Point tool, position the pointer over the path segment,
and click.
3
To delete an anchor point, do either of the following:
• Select the point with the Direct Selection tool and click Remove Selected Anchor Points
in the Control panel.
• Select the Pen tool or the Delete Anchor Point tool, position the pointer over the anchor point, and click.
Find and delete stray anchor points
Stray anchor points are individual points that are not connected to other anchor points. It is a good practice to find and
delete stray anchor points.
1
Deselect all objects.
2
Choose Select > Object > Stray Points.
3
Choose Edit > Cut or Edit > Clear commands, or press Delete or Backspace on the keyboard.
Disable or temporarily override automatic Pen tool switching
You can temporarily override or disable automatic switching to the Add Anchor Point tool or Delete Anchor Point tool.
• To temporarily override switching, hold down Shift as you position the Pen tool over the selected path or an anchor
point. This is useful when you want to start a new path on top of an existing path. To prevent Shift from constraining
the Pen tool, release Shift before you release the mouse button.
• To disable switching, choose Edit > Preferences > General (Windows) or Illustrator > Preferences > General (Mac
OS), and select Disable Auto Add/Delete.
Smooth and simplify paths
You can smooth the appearance of paths as well as simplify paths by removing excess anchor points.
Smooth paths
1
Select the object.
2
Select the Smooth tool
.