Adobe illustrator 10 Manuale Utente

A path is made up of one or more straight or curved segments. The beginning and end of 
each segment is marked by anchor points, which work like pins holding wire in place. 
You change the shape of a path by editing its anchor points. You can control curves by 
dragging the direction points at the end of direction lines that appear at anchor points.

A path is either open, like an arc, or closed, like a circle. For an open path, the starting and 
ending anchor points for the path are called endpoints. 

Components of a path 
A. Selected (solid) endpoint B. Selected anchor point  C. Curved path segment D. Direction 
line E. Direction point

Paths can have two kinds of anchor points—corner points and smooth points. At a corner 
point, a path abruptly changes direction. At a smooth point, path segments are connected 
as a continuous curve. You can draw a path using any combination of corner and smooth 
points. If you draw the wrong kind of point, you can always change it.

Points on a path 
A. Four corner points B. Four smooth points C. Combination of corner and smooth points

A

B

C

D

E

A

B

C