Pen Tool: Anchor Below Nib

I've been practicing with the pen tool using three different source texts (K.Eismann, CS3 Classroom, Web) and I've altered the pen setup that now the anchor points are setting at the base of the nib instead of at the point of the nib. The pen and options are correct and I've checked CS4 cursor preferences. Futzing doesn't work either; never does, only wastes time.
Please help to correct the Pen (My) behavior.
Your aid has always been direct and true; thanks for past rewards.
Chrlz_B

Futzing
—Verb phrase
3.
futz with or around with, to handle or deal with, esp. idly, reluctantly, or as a time-consuming task: I spent all day futzing with those file folders.
After two days, this problem has been solved and after 22 hours of pen practice I find I need more practice. Believe it or not, Restarting Photoshop cured the Anchor problem.
Chrlz_B

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Pen Tool/Anchor Point Help

I often draw/trace things using the Pen Tool. I start with an anchor point (A) then click to make another (B), then I drag the first handle away from the anchor point in order to make a bezier curve. The problem comes when I need to continue the path to another anchor point (C) after the curve. If I don't move the "dragged" handle, then it warps the continued path to the next anchor point (C). What I have been doing to remedy this frustration is switching to the Direct Selection Tool then moving the "dragged" handle over top of the previous anchor point (B). Please tell me there is an easier/faster way to do this...
Many thanks in advance!

Have you studied the manual?
Illustrator Help | Drawing with the Pen, Pencil, orFlare tool
There are also plenty of tutorials on how to use the pen tool.
If you know all this and still need help, please post a screenshot of the situation.

Pen tool anchor points

Hello,
Is there a short cut on Mac or a way to add 1 handle to an anchor point that already has a handle - other than using the convert anchor tool?
When I use the convert anchor point tool, it resets the previous curve that I had already drawn, and I have to draw out the 2 handles to make the curve I had already made.
It would be much easier if one could just pull out 1 handle from an anchor point in order to tweak the curve or line.
Thanks

Here’s another trick if it is imperative to move only one handle:
With Smart Guides turned on, drag ruler guides to intersect at the handles.
With the Line tool draw a line between those intersections.
Scale that line with the scale tool and Shift held down. It will get longer at both ends.
Convert the line to a guide (Cmd/Ctrl+5).
Now you can drag one handle along the new guide and the opposite sector won’t move.

Is it possible to change the path color using the pen tool?

I know we were able to in the past but can we now>

Here is a quick step by step on how to draw a path and stroke it with color:
Choose the pen tool to draw a path.
Draw your path. Below, you can see the path I drew with the pen tool.
You then want to select the color of the path, which is the "set foreground color" block. (you can see it above in step 1, a few tools below the pen tool). Below you can see the color I selected, then click OK.
Then select the Direct Selection Tool, you can see it circled in red below.
Then right-click the path you drew with the direct selection tool. Select "stroke path".
The stroke path dialog is brought up, you can select the tool form. I selected the pencil for this example.
Below you can see the path stroked with the color and the pencil tool I selected.
Other helpful related links:
if you have any questions, feel free to post back.
enjoy,
janelle

How do I fix my Pen Tool/Delete Anchor Point Tool in Illustrator?

Problem One - I'm trying to change the form of my shape, and all of a sudden my Delete Anchor Point Tool isn't working. I'm clicking (and zoomed in A LOT) and it's not clicking on or deleting any of my anchor points.
Problem Two - I'm not sure if it's just the slow speed of my work computer, but I'm trying to trace a shape in a photo that I have locked in the background, and when I click my pen tool it makes the point like 2 to 5 pixels away from where I'm clicking, so I can't precisely trace the shape that I would like to.
Any tips and help on this ASAP would be great! Getting stuck like this is throwing off my productivity and it's very frustrating!
Thank you!

The problem was Google Chrome browser! As soon as I quit Chrome my pen tool started working again. I didn't even need to restart Fireworks. I wonder if it is a conflict with one of my plugins/add ons. Most likely.
UPDATE - I did narrow it down to one specific Google Chrome extension. It was "Google Play Music"

Why does the pen tool remove previous line when I add new anchor points??

Why does the pen tool remove previous lines??
Video here: http://youtu.be/8AmPUkD88h0
It removes the hairline on the face, when I add more anchor points. Why? And how do I correct it?

The ins and outs of the new and changed behaviors in the re-engineered pen tool have been disussed here on this forum and I'm sure a little detour to the help files will also shed some light on this...
Mylenium

How do I enable automatic +/- pen tool when hovering over a path/anchor with the tool in AI CC?

I've noticed that in Illustrator CC (17.1) the pen cursor doesn't automatically let you add or delete an anchor point anymore, when in Pen tool mode (P). It used to be an automatic feature in CS5, where a + or - sign would show up whenever I hovered over a selected path with the tool. Help please?

here it is in CS5. i couldn't say if they've changed it for CC, but I can't imagine it's gone completely.

Type tool anchor and pen tool problems CS4

I have been working in In-design for my classes and everything is working fine. But recently I needed to do some work in Illustrator but when I opened the program up, some of my tools seems to be slightly bugged or something.
The type tool will not make the anchor where I initially click. It creates the anchor around the center point of the type box. This is really annoying because if you have a specific grid, it will not line up to it. I have never adjusted this I don't think because now I have no clue on how to fix it!
Also, my pen tool seems to be messed up. I first create the starting point, but then when I make the second point and try to drag out the node arms to make a curve, it only has one arm! Thus, the curve never is created, so I can't draw with the pen tool, therefore I fail my classes... haha
I have a big project starting soon and any help with this odd problem would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much for any potential help
-- Jordan

To try to make things more clear:
When I click on the type tool, the line tool, or the rectangle tool (any tool used by clicking on a starting point 'anchor' and dragging it) if I click and drag to the bottom right, it creates a rectangle that around the center point of the bounding box. Its really freaking weird. I've asked all my design friends and they don't know either. BUT! If I click to make the initial anchor, then drag to the upper left it works as the type tool bounding box usually does. Meaning, I can make the box to conform to grid lines, or the like. The rectangle tool does this as well.
Now, the line tool is messed up as well, but a little different. When I select the anchor point and then start to drag (click then drag to the right) the anchor does not stay in place. IT GOES OFF TO THE LEFT. It is so annoying. So If I'm trying to make a line that goes from the top of the page down, the line will go down with my cursor as I drag down, but it will also go up at the same rate. Its real dumb. Any help would be great.
As for the pen tool:
I'm not a new user to Illustrator. I've been using it for years now and never seen this problem. I showed it to my professor and he had no clue. I have used CS3 and CS5 as well and both operate normally and much different from mine. I can't exactly explain it for it is that weird, but if there is any way I can reset the tool, or put it back to its defaults that would help a lot.
Thanks in advance,
Jordan

MAGNETIC PEN TOOL, AUTO DELETE ANCHOR POINT.

MAGNETIC PEN TOOL, AUTO DELETE ANCHOR POINT.
How would you like the feature to work?
like pen tool in AI, when clicking out around shape and creating anchor points, ability to hover over previous anchors and click on them to delete them,
also right click to automatically delete most recent path created , and ability for consecutive right clicks to keep deleting previous segments of anchor and path.
Why is this feature important to you?
easier editability on the fly with the magnetic pen tool..

Many people seem to confuse joining with averaging. Like Ray says, only endpoints can be joined. In your case you don't need to join the points. Select the points you want to have in the same position and Cmd-alt-J, Both, and all the points will hop to the average position.
Alternatively you can snap an endpoint to an anchor point. Put your cursor on the selected endpoint that you want to move and drag it till it snaps onto the anchor point you're aiming at.

Photoshop CS4: Using pen tool to add corner anchors instead of curve anchors

Hello folks, I have searched all the resources I could think of using different phrasings, but have yet to figure out how to do this or if it can be done. I am working on a project that requires adding many corner anchors to paths. By default, using the pen tool in Photoshop CS4 adds curve anchors. Thus requiring me to add the anchor and then convert it to a corner. Is there some easy way to make PS create corners instead of curves with the pen tool? Even using the shift-cntl-alt-click combos didn't help? Would save me time and sanity!
Thanks all,
- DK

I think if you just click and don't move the mouse before you let off the mouse button you get corner anchors, no? But that's when you're creating the path. I guess you want to add corner anchors with the Add Anchor Point Tool?
-Noel

Pen tool cursor is different from the anchor point

Hi, I'm using flash cc 2014, I'm having this issue, which is when I use pen tool to draw something, the anchor is different from the pen cursor. I need help !

Kyle
as suggested but not quite defined what you want to do is after you have drawn a curve path with the pen tool you now want to add a straight segment, so you press down the option tool drag the end of the leading anchor handle while still holding down the option key and drag the handle into the anchor point. Nothing else will move but the anchor point handle.
Once the handle is withdrawn into the anchor point you can now position the pen tool, first of course releasing the option key, and clicking and the segment will be a straight path unless of course you drag as you click.
I agree it would be nice to have a keyboard toggle to allow for a straight segment.
Perhaps there is but I do not know of it. It is a good complaint. I believe there are ways of accomplishing this in other applications.
There is another way as well. Just hold the command key to get a select tool and click anywhere to deselect the path. Then click where you want the straight segment to end and the click the pen tool on the last anchor point of the segment you previously created.

Pen tool isn't making a path as i drop my anchor points.

hey guys,
my pen tool isn't making a path as i drop down each anchor point. it goes invisible after each anchor point is dropped, which makes it hard for me to know what i am doing.. any help? suggestions?!

What fill and/or stroke is applied to the Pen tool?

Pen tool nib sensitivity

Photoshop CC pen tool nib is erratic, can I adjust the sensitivity?

What make is the tablet? If Wacom, then there will be a setting for this in Wacom Preferences, and I would suspect other tablets have a similar feature. But you shouldn't have erratic sensitivity, which is more likely to do with driver problems. So make sure you have a the most up to date driver for the tablet. If this does not help, and it is a Wacom tablet, go have a look round the Wacom forums.
http://forum.wacom.eu/

Anchor points with pen tool askew

Hey everyone, I have been using illustrator for about 5 years now and this has never happened to me before. I use CS4 and i opened it today to trace a logo and out of nowhere, whenever i go to connect a point with the pen tool, it makes a point about a quarter of an inch in the opposite direction of where i clicked down. Usually I can make a point, then try to connect it with another and it goes exactly where i clicked down for point #2...now it's impossible to correctly trace anything since I have little control over the pen tool anymore.
I read in another forum when researching this problem that in in View > snap to point may cause this but even after unselecting it, i still have the same problem. I also tried resetting Illustrator like I read may help and nothing. I can't find the presets folder on my computer I did the key combination while opening the program.
Thank you for your time!
-Melissa

Melissa,
It could be a preference corruption or a disturbance from other applications or something similar.
To reset the former the former, you may try to Move the folder with Illy closed, or just press Ctrl+Alt+Shift/Cmd+Option+Shift during startup (the latter is easier but changes your preference settings to defaults (spoiling any customized settings, and it may be necessary to perform the more thorough Move).
To solve things in case of the latter, you may have a look at the relavnt items, including 7, in Other options.
Or it could be something else.

My layers look messy when i use the pen tool they dont align with the layers below?

im new to illustrator, not sure if I worded it right, but I watched a tutorial, where the teacher was using the pen tool, he was drawing a bear, say if he drew another layer of shade on the bear he could quickly use the pen tool and even if he went out of the borders of the bear the pen tool would recognize this and stay with the bear layer. When I use the pen tool I have different layers but If I go out of the line of the object underneath it goes out it doesn't recognize that I want it to end there, so all my layers are mismatched and not clean
halp!

In the tutorial they were maybe drawing in "draw inside" mode.
See manual on this mode

Pen Tool: Anchor Below Nib

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