Macromedia FreeHand - Drawing complex paths with the Pen tool: Placing the first point

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Placing the first point

The first point you place helps determine whether the first segment is a straight line or a curve. Decide which you want to draw, then place the appropriate type of point to start the path segment.

To	Do This
Start a straight line by placing a corner point	Click with the Pen tool anywhere on the canvas.

Start a curve by placing a corner point with handles	Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Macintosh) to extend a handle as you place the point. This handle affects the next path segment. Control-drag (Windows) or Command-drag (Macintosh) to move the curve point to a new location.

Start a curve by placing a curve point	Drag with the Pen tool. Curve point handles extend automatically. Since the Pen tool anchors points in place, use the point handles to adjust path shape. Control-drag (Windows) or Command-drag (Macintosh) to move the curve point to a new location.

Start a curve by placing a connector point	Alt-right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh). Dragging as you place a connector point extends a handle. This handle affects the next path segment.

Note: If any points on a path are selected, the FreeHand 10 Pen tool appends new segments to that path by default. Shift-click to start a new path, or deselect any selected paths and follow the steps above. The FreeHand 9 Pen tool starts a new path by default.