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Question

Constrain angles of path handles? [2022]

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
April 6, 2022
4 replies
2590 views

Once I have used the Convert Point Tool on a point, and have some nice bezier handles sticking out at the desired angle, am I able to elongate an individual handle along the exact same angle that it currently lies on? As it stands, when I grab the individual handle with the Convert Point Tool I can freely move it anywhere, so as I try to elongate it along it's current angle / trajectory I always get some unwanted movement, which changes it's angle. Is it possible to constrain that movement purely along it's length? At present I can hold down Shift, but this only constrains the movement vertically or horizontally, not along it's current angle.

Hope that makes some sense. If not I will make a diagram / video.

Feel like this is something that others must have come across before?

macOS

E

elliottl67577396

Participant

This is very easy to do with Astute Graphics' Inkscribe plugin. Hold down alt while dragging the bezier handle.

A

AARON38893188ne8n

Participating Frequently

Found it. Seems really cool. Unfortunately $149 a year sub is a bit steep. That's more than half the cost of Illustrator itself. If I used it all the time as a self employed designer, I might consider it. But I'm just a guy working for a car company ocassionally designing graphics for things.

jane-e

Community Expert

@default8wcd4dpnqeru wrote:

Hope that makes some sense. If not I will make a diagram / video.

Yes, it makes sense, as Adobe Illustrator has had this (seemingly) forever. Smart Guides display a screen tip "ON" so if you go astray a little, you just move your mouse until "ON" reappears. It works exactly as you describe. In addition, you can set up Custom Construction Guides and specify an angle even before you start to draw.

Paths can be copied from Illustrator to Photoshop.

I just did this earlier this week when I drew lines across all the straight edges in a building and then extended them (in Illustrator!) out to the vanishing point. To make sure I lined things up when I got back to Photoshop, I also drew a small square in the upper left of the image.

Illustrator would let me convert those paths to guides, but Photoshop does not support angled guides either, so I pasted them as Paths in PS and stroked them on a new layer.

Unfortunately, Photoshop does not have the ability to maintain the angle of an existing path.

~ Jane

A

AARON38893188ne8n

Participating Frequently

Your last statment is incorrect. Constrained path dragging is a thing in Photoshop and is accomplished by clicking and dragging on the path itself, between the handles, not on the handles themselves.

A

AARON38893188ne8n

Participating Frequently

I know this is an old topic but... when you click the handle endpoint with the direct selection tool, the Info panel shows the handle angle to .1 degree precision. You can just watch that readout and match that as you drag to maintain the angle.

This is a good tip. Wish there was a modifier key that would just lock it. And in order to get the precision you need to match perfectly, you need to zoom in so far you can't get a good view of what your changes look like vs. the whole composition.

Earth Oliver

Legend

Yes, this is a feature i've been requesting for decades. Unfortunately, i imagine very few people working at Adobe ever use paths for hours a day, so the needed improvements are non-existent.

c.pfaffenbichler

Community Expert

I see no option to achieve maintaining the angle while dragging bezier handles.

Using a Script would most likely need numerical input (or an UI element like a slider) in a dialog and not allow on-canvas-dragging.

It’s one of the reasons why it is so useful to set curve points on the horizontal and vertical extremes, that way one can use the shift-key …

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