Artwork & Activation

Choose which Illustrator object Vextra edits.

What Vextra Can Edit

Vextra works on one visible, unlocked path or compound path at a time. Each part of a compound path becomes a separate contour in the same editing session.

The artwork keeps its fill, stroke, opacity, position, stacking order, and compound-path structure.

Clipping paths, meshes, text, groups, hidden or locked art, and artwork generated by another plug-in stay outside Vextra's reach. Convert them to ordinary paths first.

Activate Selected Artwork

  1. Select one path or compound path in Illustrator.
  2. Choose any Vextra tool from the panel or the Illustrator toolbar.

Clicking a tool in the Vextra panel also makes it the active Illustrator tool.

Activate Artwork Under the Pointer

Double-click another path to make it active. This works with every Vextra tool, not only the Editor.

Double-Click to Activate Path in the panel menu controls this:

  • On: double-click to activate another path.
  • Off: a single click can activate another path.

Vextra checks the current path first in both cases. A click on one of its nodes, handles, segments, or controls edits the current path, and only a click with nothing to do there looks for another object.

One Active Object

Activating a path clears the Illustrator selection from every other object. This keeps a source image from staying selected behind the path you traced from it.

Open Paths

Each end of an open path carries a ribbon marker.

Drag one end onto a matching end to join them. Vextra highlights the target before you release the mouse, and the new node becomes smooth when the two directions line up.

Hold Control / Ctrl while dragging to prevent the join.

Images

Vextra also activates a linked or embedded image. Double-click it, or use a single click when double-click activation is off.

An active image shows its frame and enables the Autotrace button. With Vextra Editor active, drag the image to move it.

Switch Documents

The active object belongs to its Illustrator document, so switching documents removes the overlays and the Quick Help card.

Return to the first document to continue there, or activate a path in the new one.

Continue to Selection to learn how to select points inside the active path.