Delete, Add, or Change Points?

If you've created a curve along your path and you want it to be perfectly straight, or if you have a straight path and need it to become curved, there's a tool that switches one to the other. It’s called the Convert Point tool, and it’s found in the Toolbox nested with the Pen tool (it’s the bottom tool in the flyout menu; its icon looks like the point of an arrow). To use it, click on a curved point and it becomes straight (you’ll see the little teeter-totter levers go away and the lines straighten instantly), or to make a straight point curved, click-and-hold directly on it, and drag to pull out a curve. If you need to add more points to your curve, there’s a tool for that, as well. It's called the Add Anchor Point tool, and it’s found in the same Pen tool flyout menu (it looks like the Pen tool, but has a small + [plus sign] next to its cursor). Click anywhere along any path, and it adds a point. Of course, if there’s a tool to add points, there's one to take them away. This one is called the Delete Anchor Point tool (it also looks like the Pen tool, but has a small – [minus sign] next to its cursor). Click on an existing point and it deletes that point.

TIP: DRAW YOUR PATH INSIDE THE EDGE

For better results with the Pen tool, “dig in a little” to the edge of what you’re tracing, instead of going right along the edge. This will help keep you from having small white gaps along the edges when you turn the path into a selection.