Introduction

Curvature Tool and Pen tool essentially does the same thing—creating paths with as much precision as you need. Curvature tool simplify drawing paths with precision. This tool creates same types of paths as that the Pen tool creates—both curved and straight—but without having to fuss with direction handles. Below figure shows the Curvature Tool in Tools Panel.

With Curvature tool selected, asterisk appears next to the tool icon when pointer is moved into Artboard. Asterisk indicates that you’re about to draw a new path.

Draw Shape

To draw a shape using Curvature Tool,

  • Select the Curvature Tool
  • Click once to set a starting point for the curved path.
  • Move the pointer away from the point you created above and click again to set the next point.
  • Again move the pointer away from the second point just created above. Now pointer movement affects the shape of the curve between the two points.
  • To close the path, position the pointer over the original point you created, and click when a circle appears next to the pointer icon. To draw an open path, hold down the Command (Ctrl) key and click anywhere on the Artboard to deselect the object.

To create a straight path, double-click to set a Corner Point, or position the pointer over the point on already drawn a point that has a curve and double-click to convert it to a corner point.

Modify Shape

With Curvature tool selected, adjust anchor points on a path by clicking and dragging to reposition them. To add an anchor point on existing path, click on the path with the Curvature tool to add the anchor point at that position. To delete an anchor point on a path, click on it with the Curvature tool and press the delete key on your keyboard.

References

Adobe Illustrator: New Ways to Draw