Lines and Shapes Overview
Lines and shapes are the simplest objects you can create in your documents. The difference between the two is that a shape is a line with its ends joined together.
Drawing Lines and Shapes
You can draw lines and shapes with either the Freehand & Brush Tool (ideal for freehand drawing), the Shape Editor Tool (the usual choice) or the Pen Tool (for those used to the pen drawing facilities of other packages). For more details, see these pages:
Tip
You cannot apply a fill to a line, you must join its ends together and apply the fill to the resulting shape.
Changing the Shape of Lines and Shapes
For details of changing the way lines and shapes look in your document, see the following pages:
Moving a point on lines and shapes
Changing curved lines and shapes
Setting the length and angle of a straight line segment
Straightening curved line segments
Adding points to lines and shapes
Breaking lines and shapes apart
Deleting points on lines and shapes
Changing the thickness of lines and shape outlines
Changing the brush stroke design
Changing The Ends and Joins of Lines and Shapes
You can change the ends of lines and the way segments are joined together. You can use butt caps, round caps or square caps on the ends of the lines and you can use round joins, miter joins or beveled joins for the junctions between segments in lines and shapes.
For more information, see these pages:
Adding Arrowheads and Dash Patterns to Lines and Shapes
You can add a dash pattern to any line or shape outlines (but see Note). You can also add arrowheads and tails to your lines using the Line Gallery. For more information, see the following pages:
Adding dash patterns to lines and shapes
Note:
You cannot apply a dash pattern or arrowhead to a line with a brush or stroke shape already applied.
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