Width tool

Why is it when using the width tool and after you expand the stroke, there's tons of anchor points? I understand that the anchors follow the path but it's got a ton of anchors which make it impossible to clean up. What's the ideal way to clean up all these anchors? ( sorry not the smooth tool or the simplify tool, something more precise perhaps?)
My second question is how can you make strokes that have the same width using the width tool? I understand there is the width tool dialog box where you can input values but if the stroke is slightly more twisted than the first stroke and yet I want to keep it uniform how would I go about using the width tool?
Thanks!

What's the ideal way to clean up all these anchors?
The ideal way is to actually draw the shapes you actually want, rather than rely upon automated features. Assuming at least an intermediate-level proficiency, you'll always end up with more elegant and efficient paths. And yes, it will take longer.
1. simple stroke
2. width points added ther's only 5 there
3. stroke expanded, see the tons of anchor points there?
You are familiar with the ability to turn on/off the display of anchor points with the Show/Hide Edges command, aren't you? Just because the program doesn't display all the actual anchor points involved as you instead manipulate the displayed controls for all these instant-gratification effects (auto-tracing, envelopes, stroke width) doesn't mean they're not there. Like it or not, they're being automatically created as you do those other-interface manipulations.
Why is it…?
Because an automated routine cannot read your mind. It doesn't know anything about how many anchorPoints are "ideal" for you to manipulate afterwards, as opposed to how accurately you want it to maintain the same shape it originally automatically generated.
Do a little research. Read up on how cubic Bezier curves work. Four Cartesian coordinate pairs (a startPoint, two handles, an endPoint) form a "hull" in which a curve is plotted, live, on any given grid resolution. Each set of four coordinate pairs are one Bezier curve; one segment of your squiggly path.
Now imagine trying to reverse-engineer that. Start with the particular plotted results on a particular grid (your monitor). Then try to determine from that four coordinate pairs which would yield a curve that would result in that plot. But wait…that's not really what your new demand (for fewer segments) requires: You have to figure out where to break the overall path into fewer segments (fewer sets of just four coordinate pairs). You have to figure out the coordinate pairs for a hull that would plot a curve not for each existing plotted result, but now one set for two segments; or one and a half segments; or three segments….
Some portions of the reverse-engineering may be relatively easy. Others may actually be impossible.
In other words, if it were possible to plot any shape you want with just four coordinate pairs, you'd never need multiple-segment paths, would you?
So after you've studied the math, then make that phone call to the software engineer and explain what he's missing.
JET

Similar Messages

The width tool – and its ghost anchor points

Hi everybody,
i looked up everywhere now, but it seems, the problem hasnt solved yet. A Bug? No way, not with that great tool, they would update it, right?
Soo to my case:
I try to use the width tool, and in most of my cases it works perfectly.
But if im opening a document from my friend (we both have Illustrator CS6 at the newest update) it wont work perfectly. (By the way, on my friends computer the width tool never worked right)
Some Time ago, there was another thread about this, but it wasnt solved in the end. So I quote this, because it makes clear what im up to (just look the video, and you will understand):
» I've been trying out the new Illustrator CS6 and while using the Variable Width Tool I found it is not accurate, at least the anchors appear somewhere else from where I am clicking...
I've uploaded a pic. and a videoto clarify.
This is a line with no other 'width anchors', after pulling the handle, the anchor appears in another place from where I was editing the width... «
Do you know the problem? Do you know a solution?
Would be great, thanks in advance!
Greets,
Green

Hi Mike, thanks for your Reply!
Acctually I allready tried to turn that off. Nothing Changes.
I just tried again on my Mac, but still, the tool wont behave correctly.
The weird thing is, I cant figure out a system – why or when the problems occur. Sometimes I can do 5 width-tool-anchors without problems and the 6th is like the video above.
I add a CS6 File with two paths inside. Some of the width tool anchors behave correctly (I marked them red) some not … on the same path acctually. You have to zoom in maximum to see the effects more clearly.
Maybe you could give it a try and report me if you got the same issues? Or you got any other idea?
Thanks a lot!
Greets,
Green
File:
http://uploaded.net/file/rqan2nfr

Why doesn't the stroke width tool create smooth curves?

Am I the only one who has edited a stroke with the stroke width tool, then outlined the stroke only to find a countless number of points and noticeably unsmooth edges? Is there a setting or certain way to ensure that the stroke width tool won't corrupt the smoothness of my shapes? The stroke width tool is the most handy new feature I can imagine, but this problem makes it almost entirely useless, unless designing something where precision and smoothness are not important. What can I do?

...Am I the only one who has edited a stroke with the stroke width tool, then outlined the stroke only to find a countless number of points ...
I also have noticed that too, for example using the width tool with the same width on all points and expanding on open path results in a lot more anchor points than expanding the same path with the same weight or offset.
... and noticeably unsmooth edges?
I haven't noticed that yet but creating paths with smooth anchor points are more smooth when created with less points, at least when I do it manually but if I use Object > Path > Add Points, or just click on a path to add points, I don't see loss of smoothness.
Is there a setting or certain way to ensure that the stroke width tool won't corrupt the smoothness of my shapes? ..
I'm not aware of such settings
... The stroke width tool is the most handy new feature I can imagine, but this problem makes it almost entirely useless, unless designing something where precision and smoothness are not important. What can I do?
I don't know what your precision requirements are, may be an image example of what you are trying to achieve and what you are getting will help understanding you better but so far I haven't considered this as a problem and have used the width tool a lot in my work.

How to use width tool on calligraphy brush stroke CS6

Hi there,
i have created a stroke with a calligraphy brush. Now i want to make the stroke a bit thinner at some points of the path.
It could be easily done with the width tool but it doesn't work directly on the stroke.
Is there a way to convert the stroke so the thickness of the stroke will be kept at the other points?
Thank you in advance!

You mean with the plugin?
It should work. Have you opened Window > DrawScribe > Dynamic Sketch?
The panel has some interesting options. You can input for instance the highest and lowest stroke width. Maybe the difference is too low at the moment to see a result. You also need to set the input parameters, for instance the pen pressure.

Problem with width tool in illustrator cc

hello!
i used to use illustrator cs5 and had no problems with the width tool. now that i am using adobe CC, the width tool functions very oddly and the cursor points are bizarre. for example, i use to just hover over the exact width point and could easily access handlebars or move it. however, in CC, i have to hover a little further away in order to get the ~ symbol to show. PLEASE HELP. this is driving me bonkers and the rate at which i'm working is quite delayed. THANK YOU!!!

Without proper system info and other details nobody can tell you anything.
Mylenium

Illustrator Width Tool Problem CS6

I am having a problem with the Width Tool where it won't allow me to edit an existing anchor point. I noticed this threat http://forums.adobe.com/message/4806542#4806542 but it has been marked as answered, however I saw no solution.
Illustrator CS6
Version 16.0.0
Mac OS X
Version 10.7.4

Try updating both the OS and AI to the most current versions (10.7.5 and 16.0.2).

Why can't I use the Width tool on lines I drew with the Paintbrush tool?

I have drawn a shape using the Paintbrush tool's new smooth fidelity with a 3 pt stroke. But when I go to use the Varible Width tool it want allow me to modify the line. what am I doing wrong? Is this even possible?

Thanks. That seems unfortunate.
Bruce Burton
Kiku Obata & Company
6161 Delmar Blvd., Suite 200, St. Louis, MO 63112
Direct 314.505.8427 Fax 314.361.4716
www.kikuobata.com

Width tool presets drop down, extend the box

just wanted to extend the box of the width tool preset drop down. in the control panel.

Yes we can achieve this. But you need to use internal table in dropdownlist as show below:
Onintialization
 entry-name = 'IC'. entry-value = 'IC Text'.
 APPEND entry TO itab.
 entry-name = 'PM'. entry-value = 'PM Text'.
 APPEND entry TO itab.
Layout
 <htmlb:dropdownListBox id = "LIST"
 nameOfKeyColumn = "NAME"
 nameOfValueColumn = "VALUE"
 width = "300"
 selection = "<%= doc_type %>"
 onSelect = "DDLB1Event"
 table = "<%= itab %>" />
Page attribute:
entry TYPE IHTTPNVP
itab TYPE TIHTTPNVP
OnINputprocessing:
CALL METHOD REQUEST->GET_FORM_FIELD
 EXPORTING
 NAME = 'LIST'
 RECEIVING
 VALUE = doc_type.
delete itab where name = doc_type. " This will remove selected entry from Itab.
if doc_type = 'IC'
 entry-name = 'IC'. entry-value = 'IC Text'.
else.
 entry-name = 'PM'. entry-value = 'PM Text'.
endif.
insert entry to itab index 1.
* Reward each useful answer
Raja T

Width Tool BUG! Come on people, nobody is flipping about this???

Hi there,
I'm making an infographic and as I was working with the width tool I've noticed some strange thing: I set a couple of anchor width points precisely, but for some reason there's a thinner part all the time:
From 30pt (wide green part) it supposed to to go back to 6pt (top left width tool point) and keep that width until another point, and it eventually does, but with a thinner part between. No matter how many points I add the little curve stays there.
The stroke line is set to one side only (inside the width tool options). Maybe that is what causing the problem?
It always happens if the line is decreasing in width as well:
At the red line the width is 30pt (and it should be all the way) but a "bump" is clearly visible before the width tool point. And if I hover the width tool it always shows bigger width than it supposed to be, sometimes even up to 4-5 points bigger.
I'm using Illustrator CC 2014.0.0
Can anyone reproduce this phenomenon? It is not a super big bug, but aesthetically speaking it is a big no-no.
What the F is going on? Adobe?
Thanks,
Robin

> it is supposed to to go back to 6pt and keep that width until another point...
That is a false assumption. It seems that Illustrator is trying to preserve the smoothness of the curve by making the line thinner in between two points of the same width, but I agree, they should rework the algorithm to make it work more intuitively.

Jagged lines when using Stroke Width Tool

Hello,
So I upgraded to CS6 and since then the stroke width tool does not seem to behave properly.
I sometimes, not all the times, get jagged lines when I try to adjust the stroke width.
Any idea what's causing this?

Looks like its duplicating profile points, but that may be entirely a precision error with your mouse clicks....
Mylenium

Width Tool in Illustrator CC

HI all,
I'm new here.
Today I was experimenting a weird problem with Illustrator Width Tool changing the width of a curve.
Apparently the shape it was creating was not curved at all, but like a small segments (just to let you understand, something quite similar to Autocad curves appearance).
Do you know if there's some setting that I have to use to avoid this problem?
Thank you so much in advance.
francesco

Hi Thank you so much.
It was quite different in CS5, right now in CC is worst. I don't know why, but it's really weird. The first one is CS5 and the second is CC.

"width tool" and paintbrush strokes???

Hello Folks,
I drew a cured line with the brush tool in illustrator CS5, but when I select the new "width tool" to change the width, it doesn't work.
What am I missing?
Here are my steps:
1. Select the paintbrush tool
2. Draw something
3. Select the "width tool"
4. Try to change the width but it won't work.
Since I draw with the paintbrush tool, the "width tool" can be very handy if I can get it to work.
Thanks!

Outrage!
This was the first thing I tried when I installed the software. Took 30mins tracing some custom script. Then chose the Width Tool to edit and then BAM 20mins of looking it up to make sure there wasn't some workaround to make it happen.
guess I didn't have the forsight for this one
really should be an option. or it would really be one that we would appreciate rather. <3 adobe team

CS6 width tool issues

Hi,
Since CS5, I've been using the width tool a lot to speed up my workflow (I have to vectorize a lot of hand drawn cartoons). It always worked perfectly. But since my company upgraded to CS6, I'm experiencing very annoying issues with it.
First of all, the quality of the curves is sometimes very bad: when I add a width control point on a curve, the stroke becomes very sharp, like a low detail polygon. It seems to happen randomly, or at least there is no relation between the size of the curve and how much it is affected.
And it is not an on-screen preview issue, since when I expand the stroke the shape stays exactly the same.
Here is an example, the highlighted curve doesn't look smooth anymore...
And then there is another big issue, that others seem to have reported here, about the position of the width control point: when I add a control point with the width tool, it appears somewhere else on the curve. But if I want to select the control point again, I have to click at the exact spot where I added it. So changing the point's width or position become terribly frustrating, and on complex drawings it becomes almost impossible to do so...
Here is a video I did to show the issue
On a previous thread here, there seemed to be a simple solution (and the thread was marked as "solved"): removing Illustrator's prefs file. I tried it, no improvement. I also tried a full reinstall of CS6, then of my OS, upgrading from OSX Snow Leopard to Lion, with no results.
It seems to affect all other machines with CS6 installed in my company (MacPros running Snow Leopard or Lion). Could it be hardware related ? I'm running out of options, and is it really sad that we have to keep CS5.5 installed, because this tool became very important in our workflow...
Thanks in advance for the help !

srksphillips,
Wherever you wish to define/change the Width, you need an Anchor Point. I believe you can (Smart Guides being your friends):
1) Create an Anchor Point at each spot where you wish to have a specific width, such as the starts and ends of the thickest parts, you probably have them already;
2) Use the Add Anchor Point Tool on the thick side right next to each existing Anchor Point (from 1)), and set the same Width;
3) Use the Direct Selection Tool and ClickDrag the Anchor Point from 2) to coincide with the Anchor Point from 1).
And the same for the thinner/thinnest part(s).
That is basically the same way as when you create a gradient with hard stops, such as a two colour fill in one object.

Width tool question

How come the width tool can ne used on a path made by pen tool but not brush strokes? Is a brush stroke not a path??

Yes, I use width profiles on art brushes constently. I find though, that, in certain cases, the width profile setting is lost when the brush is changed on a stroke.
Even with the frustrating limitations, using width profiles on custom brushes has really expanded the capabilities of Illustrator.

My CS5 has no width tool!

I got my photoshop CS5 and I need to use the width tool (more specifically the warp tool). But my CS5 doesn't have it. Do I need to install it as an add-on or something?
Please someone help me, I really need to use it.

What silkrooster said - only AI has a width tool for strokes. PS only has the various warp shapes associated e.g. with text layers and of course the freeform warps like Liquify or Puppet.
Mylenium

Width tool

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