1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,670
[Treehouse presents]

2
00:00:02,670 --> 00:00:06,010
[Quick Tips][Learning the Basics of the Pen Tool in Adobe Illustrator][with Mat Helme]

3
00:00:06,010 --> 00:00:09,160
Hey, what's up—Mat Helme here with a Treehouse Quick Tip:

4
00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:13,110
Learning the basics with the Pen tool in Adobe Illustrator CS6.

5
00:00:13,110 --> 00:00:18,050
To begin, let's grab the Pen tool from the Tools Panel and drag out all of the Pen tools.

6
00:00:18,050 --> 00:00:21,720
You can do this by selecting the Pen tool,

7
00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:25,720
selecting the drag-out arrow,

8
00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:28,700
and then positioning the Pen tools.

9
00:00:28,700 --> 00:00:30,630
Now, by default, we've grabbed the Pen tool,

10
00:00:30,630 --> 00:00:37,010
so with the Pen tool, let's make sure we have no stroke and a solid color for a fill.

11
00:00:38,790 --> 00:00:42,640
Let's create 4 points with the 4th point meeting our original point.

12
00:00:43,890 --> 00:00:46,340
Now you can see that we've created a shape with the Pen tool.

13
00:00:47,980 --> 00:00:50,090
Now, say if I want to add a point to this object,

14
00:00:50,090 --> 00:00:57,200
I can do this by grabbing the Add Anchor Point, selecting it, and then selecting the path to our object.

15
00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:01,100
Now you can clearly see that there are 5 points.

16
00:01:01,100 --> 00:01:06,140
When I grab the Selection tool, I can grab that 5th point, drag it out, and alter our object.

17
00:01:07,220 --> 00:01:09,400
Now say if I want this object to only have 3 points,

18
00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:16,330
I could then grab the Delete Anchor Point tool and delete 2 of the points,

19
00:01:16,330 --> 00:01:18,370
thus leaving us with 3 points in our object.

20
00:01:21,820 --> 00:01:23,720
Now say if we want our object to have curves to it;

21
00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:27,890
we can do this by using the Convert Anchor Point tool.

22
00:01:29,150 --> 00:01:32,620
Select one of the points, hold down, and drag out;

23
00:01:34,740 --> 00:01:36,670
this creates a Bézier curve.

24
00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:43,610
Now when you hold Shift, it'll actually straighten out your point.

25
00:01:46,730 --> 00:01:50,220
Let's go ahead and delete that object, grab the Pen tool—

26
00:01:50,220 --> 00:01:53,180
you can use a shortcut by simply selecting 'P'—

27
00:01:53,180 --> 00:01:58,550
press and hold down and drag out, and you can see that this point now has a Bézier curve.

28
00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:06,610
Release, now make another point directly below it and—again—drag out.

29
00:02:08,940 --> 00:02:10,850
You can see we've made another Bézier curve.

30
00:02:10,850 --> 00:02:13,410
Now if I want to get rid of that,

31
00:02:13,410 --> 00:02:16,410
I can simply select Alt, select that point,

32
00:02:16,410 --> 00:02:20,410
and get rid of the Bézier curve on the left side,

33
00:02:20,410 --> 00:02:22,680
thus making this a straight line.

34
00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:28,440
Now, this works the same with a Bézier curve.

35
00:02:29,550 --> 00:02:37,450
Again, if I use the Pen tool, select and drag out, and again make another point, select and drag out,

36
00:02:37,450 --> 00:02:45,030
I can now take the Alt key and grab the handle to that Bézier curve and then alter it.

37
00:02:48,540 --> 00:02:50,060
Like so.

38
00:02:52,260 --> 00:02:57,500
Now with using the Pen tool, I can also hold Shift and make straight lines or at a 45-degree angle;

39
00:02:57,500 --> 00:03:01,890
this comes in handy—say—if you're trying to make a house icon.

40
00:03:01,890 --> 00:03:10,130
I would select with the Pen tool, hold Shift, go straight, make another point, go directly above it while holding Shift,

41
00:03:10,130 --> 00:03:24,700
select another point and—again—still holding shift the whole time, creating our object.

42
00:03:28,820 --> 00:03:30,500
While holding Shift throughout the whole object,

43
00:03:30,500 --> 00:03:34,850
you can see that it makes perfect lines.

44
00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:41,820
That—my friends—is how you use the Pen tool in Adobe Illustrator CS6.