Illustrator® CS5 Bible

Chapter 6. Learning How to Select and Edit

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Using the selection tools

• Editing paths with the selection tools

• Selecting with the Select menu

• Editing with anchor points

• Splitting paths

• Averaging and joining paths

• Erasing paths

• Reshaping paths

• Outlining paths

• Using the Pathfinder panel

In Chapter 4, you learned how to create paths. In Chapter 5, you learned how to create various objects. Now you need to know how to change them. This chapter explains how to select what you want to change and how to change it.

After you create, trace, or even legitimately borrow someone else's artwork, there's always that period where you look at the artwork and realize that it's not quite right. That's where this chapter comes in. No, I won't do your finishing for you, but I show you how to take advantage of Illustrator's many tools to obtain the best end result, from slight control handle manipulations to massive scalings and rotations to dramatic effects created with the Pathfinder panel.

The focus of this chapter is modifying individual paths and the points on those paths by cutting them, combining them, and adjusting them.

Selecting a Path for Editing

The key to editing a path is learning how to select that path. Maybe you don't want the whole path, just a section, or maybe only a point. This section explains the selection tools and how to use them.

Understanding the selection methods

If there's one group of tools in Illustrator that you absolutely must have, it's the set of five selection tools (one ...