PhotoPlus X2 User Guide - Serif

Painting and Drawing 99
• Release the mouse button, then click again where you want the first curved
segment to end (A). To extend an existing path, repeat the process for each
new end point. You can connect the curved outline back to its starting point.
On a shape layer, if you don't close the outline, PhotoPlus will automatically add a
straight "closing segment" and fill the shape (as in B above). As long as you can see
the two endpoints, however, you can continue to extend the path (as in C).
Besides being useful with QuickShapes, the Node Edit and Shape Edit tools really
come into their own to edit outline shapes.
To edit an outline shape:
1. Click its layer name to select the layer.
2. To move, resize, scale, skew, or rotate the outline, choose the Shape Edit
Tool. This deform tool works by manipulation of the bounding box around
the shape—drag on a corner or edge. (For details on its use, see Deforming on
p. 62.) In addition, you can use the combination buttons on the Context
toolbar to reset how a selected shape interacts with other shapes on the layer.
3. To reshape the outline, choose the Node Edit Tool . The outline consists
of line segments and nodes (points where the line segments meet). You can
drag one or more individual nodes, or click and drag directly on a line
segment.
When you select a node, control handles for the adjacent outline segments appear;
each segment in the line has a control handle at either end. The selected node is
drawn with a red centre, with the control handle(s) attached to the nodes by blue
lines.
Any node can be one of several node types: sharp, smooth, or symmetric.
Depending on node type, the node's control handles behave a bit differently, as you
can tell with a bit of experimentation. Essentially, the node type determines the
slope and curvature of each adjoining segment, and can be chosen from the
Context toolbar, i.e.