Setting options for nodes, handles, and previews

The Nodes and Handles page of the Options dialog box (Tools Options) lets you customize the appearance of nodes, handles, and vector previews to match your preferences, making it easier to edit nodes and apply vector effects and transformations.

General settings

You can change the size and shape of nodes, and you can choose to hide or show the curve direction when editing. Three preset sizes are available for nodes and handles: small, medium, and large.

By default, each of the three node types has a different shape. Cusp nodes appear as squares, smooth nodes as circles, and symmetrical nodes as diamonds. You can change the shape of any node type, choosing from shapes such as triangles, diamonds, circles, and polygons. For information about the different type of nodes, see Using node types.

By default, each node type is displayed with a different shape - circle, square, or diamond. The curve direction is shown by the orientation of the end nodes.

The Shape tool is usually used to select and move nodes. You can enable node tracking to select and move nodes by using the Pick , Freehand , Polyline , or Bézier tool.

Color settings

The Default color scheme uses blue as the main color and red as the secondary color for displaying nodes, control handles, and previews while you are editing. The main color is used in the first curve you select. When you select additional curves with the Shape tool, they are displayed in red, the secondary color. In addition, the Default color scheme applies a white highlight to improve visibility. This white highlight color is also used to fill unselected nodes and to make vector previews stand out. You can also choose to show unselected nodes without a fill.

With the Default color scheme, the main color for nodes, handles, and previews is blue (right). The secondary color, red, is used for the additional curve selected with the Shape tool (left). Unselected nodes are filled with white, the highlight color.

When nodes and handles become hard to see against more complex backgrounds, you can use a keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+Shift+I) to replace the main color with the secondary color and vice versa. You can also switch between showing unselected nodes with and without a fill by using a keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+Shift+G).

Unselected nodes are shown with a fill (left) and without a fill (right).

You can create a custom color scheme by changing the main and the secondary colors. In addition, you can hide the highlight from previews. To distinguish nodes types more easily, you can set the application to display each node type in a different color.

GPU for vector previews

By default, the central processing unit (CPU) of your computer is used to generate vector previews. You can set the application to use the graphics processing unit (GPU) instead. Using the GPU for vector previews may improve performance on some computers.

To set general options for nodes, handles, and previews

1 .	Click Tools Options.

To	Do the following
Change the node size	Choose a size from the Node size list box.
Change the shapes of nodes	From the Node shape list boxes, choose a shape for each node type: cusp, smooth, and symmetrical.
Revert to the default node shapes	Next to the Nodes shape list boxes, click Reset.
Show or hide the direction of selected curves	Enable or disable the Show curve direction when editing check box.
Select and move nodes by using the Pick , Freehand , Polyline , or Bézier tool	Enable the Enable node tracking check box.
Show unselected nodes without a fill	Disable the Show unselected nodes with fill check box.

To switch color settings for nodes, handles, and previews by using keyboard shortcuts

To choose a color scheme

1 .	Click Tools Options.

To create a custom color scheme for nodes, handles, and previews

1 .	Click Tools Options.

To use the GPU for vector previews

1 .	Click Tools Options.

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