Pen Tool - ALT Won't Break the Curve For Me...

[Patchwork]

I actually do hope I've missed something obvious here so that someone can quickly point me in the right direction!

 

I keep trying to draw with the pen, and the tutorial says that holding down the ALT key will let me break my curve so I can go off on an angle, but it's not working for me.  The ALT key is shared with the OPTION key on my Mac, so is there maybe a different key I should be pressing instead?  It's getting really frustrating to have to shove the handle in to try to create a sharp corner on a line I'm trying to draw.  Doesn't work very well, or even snap into the node, freeing it, if I bring that handle point right on top of it.

 

Is there any other sort of key shortcut I should be using?  ALT just isn't breaking the curve for me, for whatever reason.  

 

Please help!

[MattP]

Hello! :)

 

The 'Alt' key is the 'Option' key - it's just a different name for it and they're often used interchangeably - my keyboard is labelled with 'alt' and the picture for option on my MacBook Pro. Take a look at the 'Pen Power!' tutorial on this page and see if yours is working as expected :)

 

Thanks,

Matt

[bohemian11]

Hello,

I am a newbie here. I have watched the "Pen Power" tutorial, and I am having the same problem. Holding the ALT/OPTION key won't break my curve.

Help please.

 

Thanks in advance

 

E.

[R C-R]

Hi bohemian11 & welcome to the forums.

 

As shown in the video, the alt/option key does not break curves, it just forces the Pen tool into "cusp" mode to create non-symetrical handles to make sharp corners.

 

To break a curve (to get two independent, unconnected curves) you can select any node with the Pen or Node tool & click on the "Break Curve" action on the Context Toolbar.