Hi everyone,

I'm new to Fireworks and the pen tool. I've tried to avoid it in Photoshop but it looks like if I want to take my designs further I'm going to have to use it. I'm trying to do the tutorial in FW's help section but I still can't control this freaking thing. Any tips?

Thanks,
Rashunda

Hi Rashunda,

Creating straight lines shouldn't be a problem, but creating curved lines is quite another thing.
If you click and drag the pen tool on the canvas, a blue point will appear with a line extending from both sides. The angle of the line determines the angle of the curve you are creating. Now release the mouse button. You can see the first point and the angle of that point. Now click on the canvas again, without dragging, and a curve will appear. If you want to create symmetric curves, it might help to switch the grid on (strg+alt+g).
Of course you can click and drag again as well in order to get other more bizarre forms.
You can adjust the stroke settings in the stroke panel. Finish your path by double-clicking.

Regards, Hoiday

Edited by - Hoiday on 18 Aug 2002 22:18:13

Edited by - Hoiday on 18 Aug 2002 22:56:39

Thank you Hoiday. I'll try that.