Bezier Curves
How to use Acorn's bezier tool.
The Bezier Curves tool is used to create custom vector shapes. The Bezier Curves Tool is located in the Shapes palette.
You can also select it by hitting keyboard shortcut "P". When the Bezier tool is selected your cursor will look like the tip of an ink pen.
This is the Shape palette. You can turn the stroke and fill on and off, change the width of your stroke, or change the stroke to a dashed line.
Bezier shapes have line segments, anchor points, and control handles.
Line Segments: Line segments are what make up the form of your shape. They are connected by anchor points.
Anchor Points: The anchor points are the points where your line segments meet. They define the position of your line segments and give you the ability to control the curve of your line.
Control Handles: The control handles allow you to apply a curve to your line segments. Each handle corresponds to the line segment on its side of the anchor point. The right handle will adjust the line segment on the right of the anchor point and vice versa.
When you click on your canvas, an anchor point will appear. You can then click on another area of the canvas to create a straight line. Double-click to end the line/shape or continue placing anchor points (by clicking or clicking and dragging to make curved line segments) until you get the shape you want.
To make a single curved line, select the Move Tool (Keyboard shortcut "V") and select the line. The anchor points will show on both ends.
With the Move tool still selected, hold down the Option key. The cursor will change to look like this:
Now, click on an anchor point and drag it. As you drag it a handle will be pulled out of the anchor point. By using the Move tool to select the handle, you can adjust the curve of your line. Once you click out of the shape, the handle will disappear. To make it reappear, just select the anchor point again. To make the line straight again, hold down the option key and click once on the anchor point.
You can also make the lines curved as you draw them. This can be used to draw circles and other wonky shapes. Just click and drag when placing a new anchor point to make the line segment curved.
When anchor points have line segments on each side, using the Move tool while holding down the option key and clicking on the anchor point will remove the curve from the line segments from each side of the anchor point as shown below on the two bottom right anchor points.
Applying Colors
Using the Move tool (control V), select the shape. To change the color of the stroke, select a new primary (top) color from the color palette. To change the fill, select a secondary (bottom) color.
Changing Stroke
To remove the fill or stroke, just uncheck the fill or stroke boxes in the palette.
No Fill
No Stroke
You can also change your stroke from solid to a dash in the palette.
Which looks like this:
