Adobe Illustrator CS4 - Manual (Page 83)

76 USING ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR CS4
Drawing
Eraser tool options
You can change the Eraser tool options by double-clicking the tool in the Tools panel.
Note: You can change the diameter at any time by pressing ] to enlarge or [ to reduce.
Angle Determines the angle of rotation for the tool. Drag the arrowhead in the preview, or enter a value in the Angle
text box.
Roundness Determines roundness of the tool. 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.
Diameter Determines the diameter of the tool. Use the Diameter slider, or enter a value in the Diameter text box.
The pop-up list to the right of each option lets you control variations in the shape of the tool. Select one of the following
options:
Fixed Uses a fixed angle, roundness, or diameter.
Random Uses random variations in angle, roundness, or diameter. Enter a value in the Variation text box to specify
the range within which the brush characteristic can vary. For example, when the Diameter value is 15 and the Variation
value is 5, the diameter can be 10, or 20, or any value in between.
Pressure Varies in angle, roundness, or diameter based on the pressure of a drawing stylus. This option is most useful
when used with Diameter. It is available only if you have a graphics tablet. Enter a value in the Variation text box to
specify how much more or less the original value the brush characteristic will vary. For example, when the Roundness
value is 75% and the Variation value is 25%, the lightest stroke is 50% and the heaviest stroke is 100%. The lighter the
pressure, the more angular the brush
stroke.
Stylus Wheel Varies in diameter based on manipulation of the stylus wheel.
Tilt Varies in angle, roundness, or diameter based on the tilt of a drawing stylus. This option is most useful when used
with Roundness. It is available only if you have a graphics tablet that can detect the direction in which the pen is tilted.
Bearing Varies in angle, roundness, or diameter based on the pressure of a drawing stylus. This option is most useful
when used to control the angle of calligraphic brushes, especially when you’re using the brush like a paintbrush. It is
available only if you have a graphics tablet that can detect how close to vertical the pen is.
Rotation Varies in angle, roundness, or diameter based on how the drawing stylus pen tip is rotated. This option is
most useful when used to control the angle of calligraphic brushes, especially when you’re using the brush like a flat
pen. It is available only if you have a graphics tablet that can detect this type of rotation.
Split a path
You can split a path at any anchor point or along any segment. When you split a path, keep the following in mind:
• If you want to split a closed path into two open paths, you must slice in two places along the path. If you slice a
closed path only once, you get a single path with a gap in it.
• Any paths resulting from a split inherit the path settings of the original path, such as stroke weight and fill color.
Stroke alignment is automatically reset to center.
1 (Optional) Select the path to see its current anchor points.
2 Do one of the following:
• Select the Scissors tool and click the path where you want to split it. When you split the path in the middle of a
segment, the two new endpoints appear on top of the other, and one endpoint is selected.