Global edit of stroke points

[Sardiz webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

I have an imported complex line image and the point types are all angular. I want to make them rounded. Is there a way of making a global edit on the points (ie I want to avoid having to do it point by point).

[Judy Arndt]

Sardiz wrote:

> I have an imported complex line image and the point types are all angular. I
> want to make them rounded. Is there a way of making a global edit on the
> points (ie I want to avoid having to do it point by point).
>

I assume you have different stroke weights and colors. Is that so? If so
there's no one-step method that I'm aware of. However, this method might
speed up matters somewhat.

1. Select one path with a stroke type you wish to change.

2. Find & Replace Graphics > Select > Stroke/ Find in Document/ Same as
Selection.

3. All strokes the same as the source stroke will now be selected. The
object/stroke inspector should show the corner and endcaps. Change them to
rounded.

You'll have to repeat this process for every different stroke weight and
color in the document.

Judy Arndt

[James E. Talmage]

> Sardiz wrote:

>

> > I have an imported complex line image and the point types are all

angular. I

> > want to make them rounded. Is there a way of making a global edit on the
> > points (ie I want to avoid having to do it point by point).
> >

You can change corner points to curve points one whole PATH at a time:

1) RightClick on the path and select SubSelect from the contextual popup
menu. This selects all the points in the path.

2) As long as you only have one path selected this way, you should see the
retract buttons and point type buttons in the Inspector. turn on the
Automatic checkbox and then click on the curvepoint button. All the selected
points become curvepoints with handles automatically extended.

If the smoothing was too radical for your liking, click the CornerPoint
button to turn them back to corner points. Then click the Add Points Xtra
button once and try the whole thing over again. With points added, the
distance between points is shorter, so the automatically extended handles
are shorter, too.

A related issue is that of filling voids within line work whic was drawn
using a bunch of open paths;: experiment with this:

1) Get the pencil tool and draw a few freehand paths which criss-cross each
other.

2) ModifyMenu>AlterPath>ExpandStroke. Enter a value that gives you the
weight you want for your line work. This converts all the single stroke open
paths to filledclosed paths. It's like tracing around each of your
individual lines. (Unfortunately, it only applies one expansion value to all
the paths. It would be better if it simply respected the existing stroke
weight of each individual path.)

3) ModifyMenu>Combine>Union. This melds all of the closed paths, removing
their overlaps and converting the whole thing to a Composite Path.

4) AltClick one of the inner subpaths to select it. Copy. Then
EditMenu>Special>PasteBehind. Give this object the fill color you want.
Repeat this for each inner void.

5) For those "unclosed" voids; the areas you want to fill, but which aren't
completely encircled, the same trick works with a slightly more tedious
selection routine. AltClick the surrounding path. Then click again in the
middle of each *segment* which surrounds the area you want filled. Copy.
PasteFront. Click the Closed button in the inspector to close off the gap
and fill it with the desired color.

JET