Nodes, Cusps and Contours

Before we start drawing any shapes with Paint Shop Pro, we need to review some terminology that may be new to you if you are just beginning with vector drawing!

Vector lines. shapes and text are edited by manipulating the Nodes.  Nodes are indicated by square points on line and curve objects. You can change the shape of an object by dragging one or more of its nodes.

The straight or curved line between two nodes is a line segment. 
A series of line segments and nodes create the contour of your vector object, also called path.  There are closed contours (when start and end nodes connect) and open contours (not connected).


You alter the shape of a vector object by editing the contour.  Edit the contour by adding, merging, moving or deleting nodes anywhere along a path. 


The arrows that stick out of each node are called Control Arms (also called "handles") and they determine the length, shape, and direction of the curve or angle of the line that is attached to the node.  

   

Pulling on the Control Arm to make it longer will also make the line attached to the Node longer, enlarging the curve.  See Control Arm examples above.

Every node has 2 possible handles. You can grab and drag a handle on either side of the node, depending on your intent. 

To change the size of a vector object, drag a corner or edge handle of the bounding box (all nodes selected).   If you want to resize while changing the current proportions, right-click and drag a handle.


We'll talk more about shape distortion later, but first you'll need to know how to change the Node Type.  This is an important thing to master.

There are 4 different Node Types:


1) With a Symmetric node, moving the Control Arm/handle changes the line on both sides of the node equally.    This will give you a smooth curve.


2) With an Asymmetric node, moving the Control Arm/handle will change the lines on both sides of the nodes at the same time, but not equally.  A curve made this way can have a different contour on each side of node.


3) With a Cusp node, you can pull each Control Arm separately for extreme changes in angle or have a different curve or angle on each side of the Node.   A simple square is a shape (contour) with 4 Cusp nodes creating the 4 corners.


4) With a Smooth node, you can create a smooth transition between straight and curved line segments. 


Changing Node Type: 
On the Tools toolbar, choose the Pen tool.  On the Tool Options palette, click the Edit Mode button.  Right-click a node, choose Node Type, and select one of the following options:


Convert to Line — straightens the segment before and after the node
Line Before — straightens the segment before the node
Line After — straightens the segment after the node
Curve Before — curves the segment before the node
Curve After — curves the segment after the node
Not that complicated, is it?   Just a few logical steps.


In older versions of Paint Shop Pro, the Object Selector is used to edit a vector object.  When Object Selector is active, right-clicking a vector object will open a dialog box of editing choices, including changing the type of node by selecting Node Type.


PRACTICE:  Draw a vector rectangle and experiment with changing the Node Type to see how it effects the shape (the contour).


To change two or more nodes at the same time, select each node before choosing Node Type. Hold the shift key down while selecting more than one node. Then right click and select Node Type.


In summation:  Although there are many combinations of node type that will influence the shape of adjoining line segments, there are 2 main concepts to remember....curve and corner. To make curves, use a node with symmetrical or asymmetical control arms. To make a sharp corner, use a cusp node combined with line before or line after (or both).   We'll go into more detail on this another time!


So, are you still with me? Not much more to review before we can actually start drawing something with these vectors tools! ;-)  


Note:   I'm having some trouble with Blogger here!  Won't change type size to anything other than 'small' and it's adding extra space between paragraphs.   Anyone know how to work around that?  :-/ 

Let's Review the Vector Tools

All the EggToon tutorials will be written for those that consider themselves newbies and beginners to vector drawing! So, we must begin at the beginning and review the Paint Shop Pro tools that are used in the creation of a vector drawing.   With these tools we can size, shape, or rotate vector objects.  We can also transform vector objects by editing their nodes.

The Toolbar should be docked along the left side of your workspace (unless you've moved it). Most of the tools are used for drawing raster images, but there are 3 tools that can also create vector images: the TEXT tool, the PRESET SHAPES tool and the PEN tool.

The PICK tool may also be used to do some editing and selecting.  It is found near the top of the Toolbar on the flyout menu with the MOVE tool.

Note: The letters shown along the right margin of the flyout menus indicate keyboard shortcuts for these tools, if you like that option.   The main menu also indicates more keyboard shortcuts.

The little 'down' arrows adjacent to some tools on the Toolbar will show you a flyout menu when clicked.   The PRESET SHAPES tool has one of those menus.  There are 4 options on the flyout menu for this tool.

Preset Shape, Rectangle, Elipse and Symmetric Shape.  

Depending on which shape option is selected, a different set of choices will appear on the Tool Options palette.   

The Tool Options palette is located just above the workspace (by default).   It can be undocked and moved to other locations in the workspace.   In this tutorial series, we'll assume your Tool Options are above the workspace and the palette hasn't been moved.   Every tool in the Toolbar has a corresponding set of Tool Options and the Tool Options palette will change according to tool selected.

When Preset Shape is the active tool selection, an additional Shapes List will be available on the Tool Options palette that looks similar to the image below.

Many Preset Shapes come with PSP ...more than what's shown here....and even more can be downloaded to add to your Shapes Library.   In an upcoming tutorial, I'll be showing you how you can make your own Preset Shape when we make an "Egg" shape for our EggToons.

Back to reviewing the other 2 vector tools, the TEXT tool and the PEN tool.   They also have additional options. The image below shows a portion of the Tool Options palette that appears when TEXT tool is selected.

Choosing Vector on the Tool Options palette gives you many more editing options than creating with raster text.    You can easily move vector text around, stretch or compress it, change the text entry (what it says), change the color, size, outline, and other properties as many times as you want (without starting over).

There are some menu options that will require you to convert vector text back to raster.    We'll go over all these options as we use them.

Anybody can draw a straight line using the PEN tool.  No more shaky mouse-drawn pixel lines...take a little care and every vector line will be perfect!!! 

Use the PEN tool to draw straight lines, freeform lines and line segments.
There are 5 modes to select from on the Tool Options palette for the PEN tool.  Two modes for editing and three for drawing.
Edit mode (select)
Knife mode (cut)
Draw Lines & Polylines (line segments and curves)
Draw Point to Point (controlled draw) and Draw Freehand.

There are a number of other options on the Tools Options palette for PEN tool, such as 'line style'.   We'll go over all these options as we use them.

So that about covers the 'what' and 'where' for the tools and their options.  We'll talk about 'why' on another day.  But, before that, we'll need to go over some new terminology.   That'll be next....see you then!

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