Adobe InDesign CS5 - Manual (Page 347)

341 USING INDESIGN
Drawing
Last updated 11/16/2011
Components of a path
A. Selected (solid) endpoint B. Selected anchor point C. Unselected anchor point D. Curved path segment E. Direction line F. Direction point
Paths can have two kinds of anchor points: corner points and smooth points. At a corner point, a path abruptly changes
direction. At a smooth point, path segments are connected as a continuous curve. You can draw a path using any
combination of corner and smooth points. If you draw the wrong kind of point, you can always change it.
Points on a path
A. Four corner points B. Four smooth points C. Combination of corner and smooth points
A corner point can connect any two straight or curved segments, while a smooth point always connects two curved
segments.
A corner point can connect both straight segments and curved segments.
Note: Don’t confuse corner and smooth points with straight and curved segments.
A path’s outline is called a stroke. A color or gradient applied to an open or closed path’s interior area is called a fill. A
stroke can have weight (thickness), color, and a dash pattern (Illustrator and InDesign) or a stylized line pattern
(InDesign). After you create a path or shape, you can change the characteristics of its stroke and fill.
In InDesign, each path also displays a center point, which marks the center of the shape but is not part of the actual
path. You can use this point to drag the path, to align the path with other elements, or to select all anchor points on
the path. The center point is always visible; it can’t be hidden or deleted.
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A B C