Drawing smooth curves with the pen tool is literally doing my head in, HEEEEELP!

joobbob,

The path drawing method you are trying to use is a technique sometimes called "bendomatic" (coined by Olav Kvern, in the context of FreeHand), and which I often describe as "clickClickBend". The basic idea is you just click, click, click to place only cornerPoints, then go back and drag the middle of the straight segments to impose a curve. In the right program, this is an easy way to teach beginners, and can also be a great technique for experienced users, as it can be used to impart a certain stylistic consistency. (The fact is, Adobe programs are really no good at this; neither Photoshop nor Illustrator. More about this below.)

What you're struggling with is: The Pen tools of Photoshop and Illustrator work differently.

In Photoshop, you are accustomed to doing this:

1. Click, click, click to draw a path consisting of two straight segments.

2. Mousedown in the middle of one of the straight segments and drag. This creates a Smooth Point and as you drag, its Direction Handles extend, curving the two associated segments.

So in Illustrator, you try the same thing:

1. Click, click, click to draw a path consisting of two straignt segments.

2. Mousedown in the middle of one ofthe straight segments. This immediately creates a Corner Point. Dragging off of it does nothing.

And that's your frustration; you've just added another Corner Point in the middle of a straight segment. To do what you're trying to do, continue:

3. Press and hold the Alt key. This momentarily invokes the Convert Anchor Point tool.

4. Mousedown on the newly added AnchorPoint and drag, extending its Direction Handles.

As stated above, Adobe's Bezier interface is really not any good at the clickClickBend method. The reason is: What should be just a "bend" move instead invokes the infernal default auto-add, auto-delete behavior which creates an additional Anchor Point. (I--despite being an advocate of the clickClickBend technique--always have the behavior turned off in Illustrator's General Prefs.)

A program which really facilitates the clickClickBend drawing method does not rely upon creation of additional anchors. Using the method in FreeHand, for example, you can bend a straight segment by dragging its middle. Doing so automatically adjusts the handles of that segment  accordingly; no new anchorPoint and no additional segment is created. The same goes for Xara Designer Pro. In fact, in Designer Pro this is the primary  drawing method for its primary drawing tool. 

In Illustrator, the whole matter is first complicated by the program's historic insistence on two stupid selection tools, and is then further confounded because of the behavior of the white pointer: You can  "just bend" an already curved segment, but the very same move on a straight segment just moves the whole segment (despite the interface's indicating that the two associated and moving anchors are "unselected"). This kind of inconsistency on two levels is particularly confusing to newcomers. Moreover, the bending of an already curved segment is most often useless, because the adjustments of the associated Direction Handles is only in length, not in length and direction.

So for you, joobbob, the lottombine is this: In Illustrator, (and Photoshop, too, really) you need to work toward losing your dependency upon this method. Using it alone creates needless segments and in many situations, those extra anchors will confound your ability to draw curves without unwanted kinks or flat spots.

Instead, get accustomed to using the clickClickDrag method to create curved and straight segments as you draw the initial path. As you draw with the Pen, anticipate which segments need to be curved, and which need to be straight. As you proceed, just click to place a Corner Point; but clickDrag to place a Smooth Point. That way, most of the segments that need to have extended handles will already have them. When they don't, or when the handles need to be adjusted (as many will until you develop a strong sense of where anchors should be placed and of anticipating the results of an extended handle), you can press a modifier key to momentarily invoke the white pointer (or Convert tool) to go back and make the adjustment, and the Pen will resume where it left off when you release the modifier key.

After you're comfortable doing that, then practice using the Alt key to create non-tangent joins between curved segments (what Corel refers to as a "Cusp"): ClickDrag like you are placing a tangent Smooth Point, but before mouseup, press and hold Alt and continue to drag. That will let you further move the outgoing handle under the cursor without further affecting the incoming handle, thereby breaking the tangency.

JET

Not really sure what you mean. The Pen Tools in both Photoshop and Illustrator operate pretty much the same. Illustrator has a few more "on-the-fly" options and Photoshop has the "Rubber Band" option. But other than that click-dragging is identical.

Can you describe the problem better?

(Also you can export Photoshop paths to Illustrator if that's helpful.)