Pen tool question again

I have a G4 running 10.4.1. Trying to use use Illustrator10. First issue is screen redraw when I scroll. The more I scroll the lighter the screen image until it goes away. The only way to get it back is Command +, - . The second issue is the pen tool. Sometimes (most time!) I need to adjust the only way to make the points active is to use the "convert anchor point", do a Command Z then I can use the direct selection tool on all points, they are active. Sometime that doesn't work either. Can anyone tell me what's going on? and what to do about it. Thanks so much!

You know if you want to make your life a little more productive and though it is expensive you might upgrade the computer as well as the application expensive yes.
If you can't afford a Mac there is a Mac clone out there that is very reasonably priced.
You can load Mac OS X on it.It is intel based.
But you probably want to upgrade. It took me a while and though I have my Mac Intel for 2 years only I think it might even be tie for me to take advantage of the possibility of the 64 bit applications for CS5. It would work on my system but I would like to experience the real power of it with an up to date system.

Similar Messages

  • Capture with new MBP, plus Pen Tool Question...

    Good Day everyone, I've searched the forums but have not been able to find my answer so I thought I'd post.
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    Question 2...
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    New 17" MBP 2.66 w/4GB RAM
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    I'm sure question 2 is just something stupid that I just haven't set up.
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    To be honest, nobody but Apple knows what Apple is thinking but usb is not a good alternative. I also don't know of too many professional post houses or broadcast studios that have anything to do with firewire infrastructure at all. You can get firewire 800 to firewire 400 adapter cables for cheap, search the internet. You can then daisy chain your camera/capture device in line with your storage device.
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    I guess I would have thought maybe some research into a product of the expense of the MacBook Pro would have warranted some research about these things.

  • Pen Tool Question...

    The Pen Tool is my favorite / go to selection tool. But can it do the following...
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    Puppet Warp doesn't really fit the bill either.
    A good example of what I want to achieve is similar to when you put type on a path. When you adjust the path the type moves to conform to the changes in the path. I want to do the same thing with the area I filled using the path.
    Possible??
    If not, this would be a great feature request!!!
    thanks folks for any input
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    c.pfaffenbichler
    Just to follow up on your answer....
    Yes this works very well for what I'm trying to accomplish.
    Thanks again.
    Just an fyi, I'm also a NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) member.
    I posted my same question on the NAPP forum. I still haven't gotten a response for anyone over there.
    I'm not knocking NAPP, it's a great organization and I've been a member since 2006.
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    Keep up the good work!!
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  • Pen Tool Questions

    Hey gurus, I am trying to digitalize a friend's sketch and am running into a few issues.
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    2) Some of my connection points are a little jaggy... If i'm getting some jagged edges, does that mean I'm using too many points? Or is it just a matter of endless tinkering with the handles to get it perfectly rounded/smooth?
    Thanks!

    One thing I would recommend is to change your default Graphic Style. It might make your work go a little faster if outline mode isn't working for you.
    1) Select the object with the fill/stroke combination you want to make the default. In my case, I have a shape with a pink fill and no stroke.
    2) Open the Graphic Styles panel by clicking the icon highighted below, or by going to Window > Graphic Styles.
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    4) Hold the option key, then click and drag the swatch you just made over the current default swatch, as shown.
    Now, if I have an object that isn't filled with pink, I can simply select it and hit the D key.
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  • The !**(% pen tool, yet again....

    CS4
    (Ultimately, I want to have a shape with curves that I can use to create slices.)
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    Or If I draw the two sides, then add anchors along the parallel lines, then the pen tool will not create a path segment from one new anchor to another new anchor on the opposite side.  Why or how?
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    TIA,
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    I'm sitting here thinking about this and not relishing the idea of trying to learn more about Illustrator in order to solve this one problem.
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    Is this not possible with the Photoshop pen tool, and if so, how do I do it.
    I want to create a square and then I want to divide it into thirds. This should become one path, not a collection of path segments.
    TIA.

  • Using the pen tool question

    How do I stop the pen tool from wanting to add to paths under what I'm trying to draw when it touches another anchor point?

    Ridiculous as it is, in Illustrator you are actually supposed to:
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    2. Press and hold the Spacebar.
    3. Drag to where you want the new path to begin. Mouseup. (The point will be placed without the infernal auto-join behavior.)
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    The Pen has no business affecting unselected paths by default. It violates the entire meaning of selection. Worst-of-class Bezier drawing interface.
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  • Pen tool question for curve lines!

    hello illustrators.
    i watched this 1 minute tutorial:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YuBcgJv6OM
    and this guy is making a nice curve,but whats the tool his changing to?im aslo adding like he is a point in between the line,but when i try to make
    a nice curve,instead im getting a triangular looking line.

    Hmm... But i don't think he has trouble adding anchor points, he has trouble with the handles of those anchor points he's already added, because he said that in order to pull handles out of that anchor point, he had to switch to the Convert Anchor Point Tool, and the guy in the tutorial simply adds the anchor point and the handles are already there.

  • Basic Pen tool questions

    When plotting anchor points to draw straight lines (see this image) what is the best way to ensure that the width of each wave (in this example) is the same as the other ones? How do you know where to plot the anchor points to do this? Thanks.

    keeping the same height can be guided by using the Smart Guides from the View menu, but for the width there is nothing that can assist like that except displaying and snapping to the Grid also accessible from the View menu. Depending on the width you may want to customize the grid in the Preferences to make it more useful. Those were general tips, but when you have a repeating pattern like this you can easily repeat one segment many times by duplicating it  and then join all segments. And for your particular example you can just use the Zig Zag effect from Effects > Distort and Transform to create this right away.
    Hi Carlos

  • Pen tool, Rounded ractangle and Brush cursor.

    Hi, Good Day.
    There are things that I want to say about using CS4.
    1.   Pen tool.
    In Photoshop 5.0, I found that it is faster to <stroke path> compared to the newer version of PS. In PS 5.0, I never need to exit pen tool mode whenever I wanted to select the brush sizes. The Brush size Selection 'tray' tab is always available even when I’ve exit the brush mode. Thus make the stroke works become faster, simpler and easier.
    And this is not happen in CS4. What I see is when every time I want to stroke the paths, to choose the brush size I must exit the pen tool mode ; and when I’m back the pen tool mode again, the brush option tray will gone. This slows me every time when I want to choose brush or when I want to re-correct or to re-stroke in order for looking the right brush size and style; it's really complicates me.
    So, can Adobe do something about the Brush Selection tab so it always availed like other tabs, like PS5.0 do? Which like swatches tab, color tab, etc.. So it wouldn’t go off next time when we exit the brush mode; thus saves time.
    2.   Rounded rectangle.
    Problem: I want to modify my rounded rectangle shape by adjusting the all the four rounded edges evenly without ruining the square shape. The problem is the shape is too free, the points are working individually and paths are “flabby”.
    Can someone tell me know how to lock the shape?
    It’s like what in Microsoft Word do. The rounded rectangle lines can be locked so I can adjust the edges to be rounder and rounder, whether partly or simultaneously.
    3.     Brush cursor.
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    The only solution is to close PS and restart my computer. What I should do?
    Thanks for your concern.

    Hi Bion_s,
    In the course of playing around in Illustrator to find a solution, I found that if you open your appearance panel (Window > Appearance), select the fly-out menu and deselect New Art has Basic Appearance.
    I found that with this option unselected, you can select your stroke width and profile and draw multiple times without it reverting to the default stroke!
    Please let me know if this works for you. I'm not sure how this might affect your workflow on other projects, but it did result in the behavior you seemed to want.
    Cheers,
    Michael

  • Pen tool handle question: clear one handle only

    I feel pretty comfortable with the Pen Tool; however there is one small question that I haven't been able to solve.
    If a point has 2 handles, how do I get rid of just ONE handle? I can kind of do it by dragging the handle to the anchor point, but it is still there, to drag out again.
    I read that Opt-Clicking (I think) the handle will do it, but that does not work for me.
    Thanks,
    Sonny

    Sonny:
    I don't think that you quite understand what the handles are indicating:
    No Handles = a Corner Point;
    Two handles (that move in concert) = a Smooth Point
    Two handle which can move independently) = a Cusp Point
    Option Click on the end of a Smooth Point's Handle to make the Point into a Cusp Point.
    Option Click on the Node of a Smooth Point or a Cusp point to make the Point into a Corner Point.
    Option Click on the Node of a Corner point to make the Point into a Smooth Point.
    The Handles are there to help you use them to shape your Paths.

  • Pen Tool newbie has some questions

    I put off learning how to control the Pen Tool far too long, but recently, I dug in & spent about 4 hours getting the hang of it. After about an hour, I had the basics, so I decided to practice on a complex outline. I spent several hours outlining a very intricate object with great precision. The tool was set on Path. What I did not realize is the Path I was creating was not being saved when I saved my work. It completely disappeared when I closed the file, much to my dismay. So obviously, I missed something in the instructions. Here are my questions:
    1. How should I have saved my Path?
    2. My goal was to complete a complex outline & use it for a mask or selection to remove the background - to extricate a complex object from a complex background. Was Path the best setting for this goal? What if I had used Shape, or Pixel Fill?
    I really loved the control the tool gave me, like a digital Exacto knife, but would appreciate some suggestions to help further my exploration of the Pen Tool.

    "I dug in & spent about 4 hours getting the hang of it."
    That should be enough, for one day that is. Keep with it. Use it often over the next few years. Take on jobs that need paths. You will find the pen tool to be one of Photoshop's most valuable tools.
    Best,
    Ken

  • Question about the animated Pen tool

    Hi,
    ive a question about the animated pen-tool.
    i draw a word, but my hand isnt very calm, so the result is what you see on the screenshot.
    Is there a possibility to reduce the points on the animated pen tool like in illustrator?
    i know in illustrator its possible, but i didnt found anything in after effects to do it.
    thanks for your help

    If you are using the Paint tools those options don't exist in After Effects. The only work around is to set a keyframe for the brush path, copy the keyframe, then go to Illustrator and in a blank document the same size as your layer paste. Once in Illustrator you can simplify the path, select it, copy it, then go back to After Effects and select the same keyframe then paste. If you get a mask instead of a new path delete the mask path, make sure you have only the original brush path keyframe selected, then go to Edit>Paste from the menu.
    It doesn't look like you're drawing a mask path. That might be a better way to go.

  • Question regarding the pen tool (w/ picture inside)

    Hello everyone! I have a question regarding the pen tool. I think this picture is very helpful for my question:
    So in this pic is an orange rectangle and within that rectangle is a blue stripe. I would like the blue stripe to be perfectly flush (not over, and not under) the edge of the rectangle. For example, on the bottom end of the blue stripe, you can clearly see that the stripe does not extend far enough to the edge of the orange rectangle. At the top of the stripe, it goes a little bit over (a bit hard to see). I work with some complex shapes when using the pen tool and it is really slowing me down to compensate for over/under shapes. If it could just snap to the borders of other shapes it would make my life a lot easier. Thanks for reading and please help!

    A couple of thoughts come to mind:
    1.  You could create the shape "face on", using guides, and the points will snap to guides with snap enabled.  Then you could transform the whole thing together by selecting all the shape layers.
    2.  Holding down the shift key while dragging a point seems to cause it to snap to some things under some conditions. However, on having just tried to recreate what you're showing I didn't see the proper snap happening sometimes.
    3.  There's the full manual approach, of course where you zoom into thousands of percent and move the points by hand manually.  I assume this is what you're trying to avoid.
    -Noel

  • Newbie question: Using the pen tool

    Hi, I drew a shape with the pen tool in Flash CS4. When I double click on  the line it highlights the entire shape, but I can't fill for some  reason.  If I single click, only part of the line is highlighted (before it  changes angle). How can I get this line to connect as a shape to invoke  fill on it?
    Thanks, Mike

    also check out the "close large gaps" option when using the paintbucket tool
    http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-close-large-gaps-fill-color-adobe-flash-cs4-305979/

  • Simple question about pen tool in Flash vs Photoshop

    Hi,
    After years of fumbling with the pen tool, I devoted my holiday weekend to mastering the pen tool in Photoshop. Though not necessarily a grand master of the pen tool, I'm happy to report that I've turned a corner and have transformed my pen tool feelings from fear/anger/hate into love/happiness/accomplishment. At long last, it all makes sense.
    I think.
    Today, I zipped into Flash to experiment with a tracing assignment I'm giving to my students in an upcoming Flash class. As I started to trace the path with the pen tool, I realized that it was behaving differently than it does in Photoshop. My specific problem is this:
    I place an anchor point and draw a line. Then I draw another line. Then I draw another line. Then, I decide to adjust one of the handles and try to draw another line. But it won't let me just go back to adding things to the path with the pen tool if any part of the process is disrupted.
    This seems like pretty basic functionality! What am I doing wrong?
    To make sure that I wasn't crazy, I went back to Photoshop and tried to do the same thing. It works just fine in Photoshop. At any time, I can hop away from the pen path and then back over to the pen tool. All I need to do to extend the path with the pen tool in Photoshop is to click on the last anchor point in the path. Surely, this must also be possible in Flash.
    I would be grateful for any advice!
    Aaron

    both in flash authoring tool not flash player.

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