I can't for the life of me understand how all the pen/path tools work. I can draw a path easily with the freeform pen tool. But then if I want to move an anchor I have to go into the direct selection tool (is that correct?). While moving an anchor with the direct selection tool I may uncover that there are extra anchor being revealed, guess what? I have to go into the delete anchor tool. Now I want to adjust a tangent, time to go into another tool. Is there a way to move, delete, add, adjust tangents all within the same tool? I can understand having one tool to create a path and one to edit but 5 tools seems totally confusing.
No need to change tools. Hold down the Ctrl (Cmd) key to edit a point. Hold down the Alt (Opt) key to adjust the hhandle on side of the point. Alt (Opt) click a point to change it from a curve to a sharp change of direction.
This series of videos on using the Pen tool is excellent, but is a bit out of date in that they were made before the Curveture Pen tool was available.
In addition, you can use the Pen tool to add and delete anchor points. Hover over an anchor point and the cursor gets a minus symbol. Click to delete the point. Watch for the plus symbol and then click to add a point.
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