Adobe Illustrator CS4 - Manual (Page 166)

159 USING ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR CS4
Painting
Selection Limits Merge Specifies that if artwork is selected, the Blob Brush merges only with the selected artwork. If
nothing is selected, the Blob Brush merges with any matching artwork.
Fidelity Controls how far you have to move your mouse or stylus before Illustrator adds a new anchor point to the
path. For example, a Fidelity value of 2.5 means that tool movements of less than 2.5 pixels aren’t registered. Fidelity
can range from 0.5 to 20 pixels; the higher the value, the smoother and less complex the path.
Smoothness Controls the amount of smoothing that Illustrator applies when you use the tool. Smoothness can range
from 0% to 100%; the higher the percentage, the smoother the path.
Size Determines the size of the brush.
Angle Determines the angle of rotation for the brush. Drag the arrowhead in the preview, or enter a value in the Angle
text box.
Roundness Determines roundness of the brush. Drag a black dot in the preview away from or toward the center,
or enter a value in the Roundness text box. The higher the value, the greater the roundness.
Convert strokes to compound paths
Converting a stroke to a compound path lets you modify the outline of the stroke. For example, you can create a stroke
with a varied width or divide the stroke into pieces.
1 Select the object.
2 Choose Object > Path > Outline Stroke.
The resulting compound path is grouped with the filled object. To modify the compound path, first ungroup it from
the fill or select it with the Group Selection tool.
Use the Layers panel to identify the contents of a group.
See also
“ About compound paths ” on page 238
“ Group or ungroup objects ” on page 206
Add arrowheads to lines
Arrows are similar to brush strokes; that is, the arrows change location, direction, and color along with the line, but
they cannot be edited separately.
1 Select an object or group (or target a layer in the Layers panel).
Note: You can add arrowheads to a Live Paint group as a whole, but not to individual paths within Live Paint groups.
2 Choose Effect > Stylize > Add Arrowheads.
3 Choose from various arrowhead designs for the start and end of the line by clicking the forward and back buttons
below the Start and End arrow boxes. The start and end of the line refer to the order in which the line was drawn.
4 To rescale the size of an arrowhead, enter the percentage you want in the Scale text box. This scales the arrowhead
relative to the stroke weight of the line.
5 Click OK.
Note: To remove an arrowhead, select the object, click the Add Arrowheads effect in the Appearance panel, and set the
effect to None; then click OK.