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- <h2>Line / Curve Tool</h2>
- <p>This tool may be used to draw lines and curves. These two abilities are
- grouped in to one tool because it is possible to stipulate that a line is
- simply a perfectly straight curve; therefore, this tool always draws curves,
- but "lines" simply have no curve applied to them.</p>
- <p>Drawing a line is simple: click where you want the line to start and then
- drag over to the ending point and release the mouse button. By holding down
- the shift key before you release the mouse button, you may constrain the
- line to an angle that is a multiple of 15 degrees. At this point, you will
- see four handles, or <i>nubs</i>, appear on the line. </p>
- <p>If you only want to draw a line, you may press the Enter key at this
- point to finish the line. You may also simply draw elsewhere to begin a new
- line.</p>
- <p>The handles pulsate so that they are easier to distinguish from the rest
- of the image:</p>
- <ul>
- <li class="nobullet">
- <img border="0" src="../images/Line_Step1.png" width="152" height="148"></li>
- </ul>
- <p>At this point, you may <i>curve the line </i>by dragging the nubs. If you
- use the left mouse button for dragging, then the line will be curved using
- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubic_spline">cubic spline
- interpolation</a>. Essentially, the curve will be drawn such that it always
- goes through each point. However, if you use the right mouse button then you
- will draw what is known as a
- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bézier_curve">Bézier curve</a>. With
- this method, the curve will not necessarily go through each point, but you
- will be able to draw curves that are not possible with the cubic spline
- method.</p>
- <p>A sample cubic spline curve:</p>
- <ul>
- <li class="nobullet">
- <img border="0" src="../images/Line_Spline.png" width="153" height="151"></li>
- </ul>
- <p>A sample Bézier curve. Note that the curve does not go through the two
- middle nubs:</p>
- <ul>
- <li class="nobullet">
- <img border="0" src="../images/Line_Bezier.png" width="156" height="156"></li>
- </ul>
- <p>When you are finished curving the line, you may press Enter to finish it.
- Or, you may start drawing elsewhere to start another line.</p>
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- <h4><br>
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- <p align="center">
- <font color="#808080" size="1">Copyright <font face="Times New Roman">© 2007 </font>
- Rick Brewster, Tom Jackson, and past contributors. Portions Copyright
- <font face="Times New Roman">© 2007 </font>Microsoft Corporation. All Rights
- Reserved.</font><font size="1"> <br>
- </font>
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