The Sensitivity setting determines how the stroke characteristics change according to the speed at which you draw or the pressure you use when drawing (if you have a pressure-sensitive drawing pad.)

There are thousands of different combinations you can make to stroke sensitivity, but this article describes only the basic options. Experiment with different combinations to discover what you want in a stroke. The last section of this article, Creating a dotted line demonstrates how you can use these settings together to create a specific stroke type.

Selecting the stroke property
Each stroke has seven properties, based on the input values previously discussed, which can be altered as the stroke is drawn.

Size varies the size of the stroke tips. For example, you could set a stroke tip to increase in size as you increase pressure, or decrease in size as you draw the stroke faster.

Angle changes the angle of the tip. A very practical use of this is setting the Horizontal and Vertical input values to 100 so that the angle of the tip follows the direction of the path.

Ink Amount changes the build-up of stroke stamps.

Scatter determines how far each stroke stamp is placed off the path center.

Hue varies the color of the stroke stamps.

Lightness changes the light/dark values of the stroke stamps.

Saturation alters the saturation of the stroke stamps. Use Saturation with a low setting in the Random value to simulate watercolor strokes.

Selecting a value that affects the stroke
For each stroke property, there are five options that can alter the appearance of the stroke property as you draw.

Pressure changes the stroke property according to the amount of pressure you apply with a pressure-sensitive drawing pen, or, in the absence of a pen, how the pressure data of the path is adjusted using the Path Scrubber tool.

Note: If you do not have a pressure-sensitive pen, you can alter the pressure as you draw by pressing a key on your keyboard. Press the 1 or left arrow key to decrease the pressure as you draw. Press the 2 or right arrow key to increase pressure as you draw.

Speed varies the stroke based on how fast you draw the stroke. This type of effect can be used to simulate an elegant calligraphic stroke.

Horizontal affects the stroke based on horizontal movement of the stroke.

Vertical affects the stroke based on vertical movement of the stroke.

Random changes the stroke in a random fashion. With the Random setting, you can create strokes that have a scatter effect, or that randomly change hue as you draw.