- Ready, Set, Draw!
- Throw Me a Curve
- Stepping Out of the Box
- When Shapes and Lines Intersect
Stepping Out of the Box
The Oval and Rectangle tools can be used to draw shapes that include an outline, or shapes without an outline. Can't you draw ovals and rectangles with the Line or Pencil tools? Sure you can, but the Oval and Rectangle tools are shortcuts that help you draw those shapes in a hurry.
Nothin' + Nothin' = Nothin'
Beware of turning off both outlining and fill color. If you do that, your shape will have neither an outline, nor a fill. In other words, you won't draw anything.
Drawing Ovals
To draw an oval, just select the Oval tool from the toolbar (or just press "O" on your keyboard). When you click on the Stroke Color option in the Toolbox, you open the familiar color palette. The color you select here determines which color gets assigned to the outline of your oval. Don't want any outline? Then click first on the Stroke Color icon in the Toolbox, and then click the No Color options icon to turn off outlining, as shown in Figure 3.14.
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The Fill panel Color icon in the Toolbox opens a color palette that lets you choose a color for the inside of your oval. If you want an oval with no fill, choose the Fill options icon in the option area of the Toolbox, and click the No Color icon.
Once you've defined your oval's outline and fill, click and draw away to create ovals.
Drawing Circles
To draw a prefect circle, hold down the Shift key as you draw an oval.
Drawing Rectangles
Drawing rectangles is similar to drawing ovals–first you define the color, thickness, and style of the outline and the fill color, then you click and draw. Holding down the Shift key as you draw creates a perfect square.
Figure 3.14 Choosing No Color with the Stroke Color option selected turns off outlining for your oval so only the color you choose for the inside of the shape will show.
Snap to Squares
If you have Snap turned on (from the View menu, see if Snap To Objects is selected), rectangles will tend to "snap to" being a square if you draw one that is even close to being a square. If that gets in your way, disable snap while you draw your rectangles.
The Rectangle tool has an option that you won't find in the Oval toolbar–the Round Rectangle Radius option. Radius settings range from 0 (none), to 999 (very curved).
Figure 3.15 A radius of 999 creates very rounded corners turning the rectangle into more of a oval type shape, while a radius of 1 gently softens the corners leaving the shape more recognizable as a rectangle.
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