Illustrator help... :(

[cleo]

Hi all. I've spent all day trying to get to know Photoshop and Illustrator, and I'm about to throw myself out the window. Could someone familiar with Illustrator help me out?

How do I move a specific anchor point once I've made an object? I think I'm supposed to use the Reshape tool, but that just moves the whole object. What am I doing wrong?

(PS - I'm kind-of-sort-of working on my avatar, so this is MR-relevant... )

 

[krossfyter]

try using the "Direction Selection Tool" to move that specific anchor point.

....that is if im understanding you correctly.

 

[cleo]

The Direction Selection tool... that's the little white arrow, right?

That seems to just move the whole shape as well.

What I'm looking for... let's say I have a triangle, and I want to move one of the points of the triangle to the left an inch... well, I have no idea how to do that. I can make the whole triangle bigger or smaller, but I can't figure out how to actually move the points in relation to each other.

Am I missing something blatantly obvious?

 

[mar2ck]

use the direct selection tool. make sure you are selecting only the point that you want to move. to toggle use shift-a...

 

[Hemingray]

Re: Illustrator help...

Originally posted by cleo
(PS - I'm kind-of-sort-of working on my avatar, so this is MR-relevant... )

Maybe you could use Adobe Illustrator's logo.

 

[carta]

The "hollow arrow" icon

Yes, use the Direct Selection tool (the hollow arrow tool on the right at the top of the tool box). Then click on the point you want to move, or drag to select the point you want to move. That point will appear highlighted while the others will not be highlighted, confirming that you have actually selected the point.

 

[cleo]

Rock on. Thanks for the tips. Somehow I just wasn't managing to actually select the points. But... under control. Avatar prototype complete!

Thanks again (especially to the two newbies - welcome to MR!)