Lines

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A line is a path between two points. Lines can consist of multiple segments, and the line segments can be curved or straight. The line segments are connected by nodes, which are depicted as small squares. CorelDRAW provides various drawing tools that let you draw curved and straight lines, and lines containing both curved and straight segments.

Freehand and Polyline tools

The Freehand and Polyline tools let you draw freehand lines as if you were sketching on a sketchpad. If you make a mistake while drawing freehand curves, you can erase the unwanted part immediately and continue drawing. When drawing straight lines or segments, you can constrain them to straight vertical or horizontal lines.

The Freehand tool lets you control the smoothness of the curved line you are drawing as well as add segments to an existing line. However, the Polyline tool is easier to use for quickly drawing a complex line that consists of alternating curved and straight segments.

In addition to drawing freehand lines and straight segments, you can use the Polyline tool to draw circular arcs.

You can choose settings to control how the Freehand and Polyline tools behave. For example, you can change the default smoothness of a curved line that you’ve created with these tools.

2-point line tool

You can draw straight lines by using the 2-point line tool. This tool also allows you to create straight lines that are perpendicular or tangent to objects.

Bézier and Pen tools

The Bézier and Pen tools let you draw lines one segment at a time by placing each node with precision and controlling the shape of each curved segment. When using the Pen tool, you can preview the line segments you are drawing.

You can draw lines with multiple segments by using the Bézier tool and clicking each time you want the line to change direction.

You can draw curves by using the Bézier tool and dragging the control handles at the ends of the Bézier curve.

B-spline tool

By using control points, you can easily shape a curved line and draw B-splines, which are typically smooth, continuous curved lines. B-splines touch the first and last control points and are pulled by the points in between. However, unlike the nodes on Bézier curves, control points don’t let you specify the points through which a curve passes when you want to align a curve with other drawing elements.

The control points that touch the line are referred to as "clamped." Clamped control points function as anchors. The control points that pull the line but do not touch it are referred to as "floating." The first and last control points are always clamped on open-ended B-splines. The points in between float by default, but you can clamp points if you want to create cusps or straight lines within the B-spline. You can edit completed B-splines by using the control points.

The path of a B-spline curve is determined by the control points you set.

3-point curve tool

The 3-point curve tool lets you draw simple curved lines by specifying their width and height. Use this tool to create arc shapes quickly without manipulating nodes.

You can draw a curved line by specifying its width (left), and then specifying its height and clicking the page (right).

Smart drawing tool

The Smart drawing tool lets you use shape recognition to draw straight and curved lines. For more information, see Use shape recognition.

Nodes and control handles

Some lines have nodes and control handles that you can manipulate to shape lines as you draw. For information about node types, see Curve objects.

Hide the bounding box

When drawing lines by using the curve tools, you can hide the bounding box that is displayed around the lines once they are drawn. The curve tools include the Freehand tool, the 2-point line tool, the Bézier tool, the Artistic media tool, the Pen tool, the B-Spline tool, the Polyline tool, and the 3-point curve tool.

You can hide the bounding box to make drawing artistic media strokes in quick succession more fluid.

To draw a line by using the Freehand tool

 

To	Do the following
Draw a curved line	Click where you want to start the curved line, and drag.
Draw a straight line	Click where you want to start the line, and then click where you want the line to end.
Control the smoothness of a curved line	Type a value in the Freehand smoothing box on the property bar. Higher values produce smoother curves.
Reposition a line while drawing	Hold down both the left and right mouse buttons, and drag the line to a new position.
Add line segments to an existing line	Click the end node of a selected line, and click where you want the new segment to end.
Create a closed shape from two or more connected lines	In a line that contains two segments, click the end node, and then click the start node.

You can constrain a line created with the Freehand tool to a predefined angle, called a constrain angle, by holding down Command while you drag. This feature is useful for drawing straight vertical and horizontal lines. For information about changing the constrain angle, see To change the constrain angle.

You can erase a portion of a curved freehand line by holding down Shift and dragging backward over the line before releasing the mouse button.

To draw a line by using the Polyline tool

 

You can also
Reposition a line while drawing	Hold down both the left and right mouse buttons, and drag the line to a new position.
Place a copy of a line in the drawing	Hold the right mouse button, and drag the line to a new position. Click Copy here.

Before you create a curved segment, click the Auto-close curve button on the property bar to automatically close an open object.

To draw an arc by using the Polyline tool

You can hold down Command in conjunction with Option to constrain the arc to 15-degree increments or another predefined angle, called a constrain angle. For information about changing the constrain angle, see Constrain objects.

To draw a straight line by using the 2-point line tool

To draw a perpendicular line

This procedure cannot be used for drawing a line that is perpendicular to the baseline of a text object.

You can also drag from an existing curve to draw a perpendicular line.

Drawing perpendicular lines

To draw a tangent line

The Tangential 2-point line mode can be used for drawing the sides of the cylinder.

Drawing tangent lines

To draw a line by using the Bézier tool

 

You can also
Draw a curved segment followed by a straight segment	Draw a curved segment, double-click the end node, and click where you want the straight segment to end.
Draw a straight segment followed by a curved segment	Draw a straight segment. Click the endpoint of the segment, drag to where you want, and release the mouse button. Drag to draw a curve.
Change curve angle to preset increments as you draw	While holding down Command, drag a control handle.

To draw a line by using the Pen tool

You can also
Preview a line while drawing	Enable the Preview mode button in the property bar. Click on the drawing page, and release the mouse button. Move the mouse, and click to finish the line.
Add a node to a line	Enable the Automatically add or delete nodes button on the property bar. Point to where in the line you want to add a node, and click when the pointer changes to the Add nodes state .
Delete a node from a line	Point to a node, and click when the pointer changes to the Delete nodes state .

To draw a B-spline

 

You can also
Reshape the line by using control points	Select the line by using the Shape tool , and reposition the control points to reshape the line.
Float a control point	Select the line by using the Shape tool , click a clamped control point, and click the Float control point button on the property bar.
Clamp a control point	Select the line by using the Shape tool , click a floating control point, and click the Clamp control point button on the property bar.
Add a control point	Select the line by using the Shape tool , and double-click along a control line.
Delete a control point	Select the line by using the Shape tool , and double-click the control point that you want to delete.
Select multiple control points	Select the line by using the Shape tool , and hold down Shift while you click on the control points that you want to select.

If you add to a B-spline by selecting the first or last control point, the clamped control point automatically changes to a floating control point as you draw the new portion of the line.

You can also add control points while you draw a B-spline by pressing Spacebar instead of clicking.

To draw a curve by using the 3-point curve tool

 

You can also
Draw a circular curve	Hold down Command while dragging.
Draw a symmetrical curve	Hold down Shift while dragging.

Curve samples from left to right: Free-form, circular, symmetrical.

To set options for the Freehand and Bézier tools

To hide the bounding box when using curve tools

When you hide the bounding box while working with one curve tool, the bounding box remains hidden for all curve tools. For example, if you hide the bounding box when using the Freehand tool, it remains hidden when you switch to the Bézier tool.

You can also hide the bounding box by clicking CorelDRAW menu Preferences CorelDRAW, clicking Display and then enabling the Hide bounding box for curve tools check box.

The features documented in the Help are available in the full version of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2021. Some features may not be available in this version of the product.