Drawing stars


    The Star tool creates a star-shaped object with a given size and number of points. There are two ways to draw with the Star tool: you can drag to draw the star directly on the artboard or click to specify properties in a dialog box.

    When you create an object with the Star tool, a center point appears in the object. You can use this point to drag the object or to align the object with other elements in your artwork. The center point can be made visible or invisible, but it cannot be deleted.

To draw a star by dragging:

  1. Select the Star tool Star tool .
  2. Position the pointer at the center of the star you want to create, and drag until the star is the desired size.
  3. You can press any of the following to get specific results as you drag:

    • Shift to constrain the tool to multiples of 45°.
    • Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) to hold the inner radius constant.
    • Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) to keep the sides of the star straight.
    • The spacebar to move the star.
    • The Up Arrow key or Down Arrow key to add or delete sides to the star.
    • Drag the pointer in an arc to rotate the star.

To draw a star by specifying dimensions:

  1. Select the Star tool.
  2. Click where you want the center of the star to be.
  3. Set any of the following options in the dialog box, and click OK:
    • Radius 1 to specify the distance from the center to the innermost points.
    • Radius 2 to specify the distance from the center to the outermost points.
    • Points to specify how many points the star has.

    Note: By default, the Star dialog box displays the dimensions of the last star you drew. The unit of measure is determined by the unit of measure set in the Document Setup or Units & Display Performance Preferences dialog box.

To display or hide the center points:

  1. Choose Window > Attributes.
  2. In the Attributes palette, click either the Show Center button Show Center button or the Don't Show Center button Don't Show Center button .