Assistants & Snapping
Line up points and hold the shape of nearby curves while you edit.
Smart Guides
Turn on Smart Guides in the helper row.
Vextra snaps points to their own kind:
- A node snaps to other nodes.
- A handle snaps to other handles and to its own node.
This keeps a node from jumping onto a handle by mistake.
Vextra shows a guide preview first. Move a little closer to snap, and clearly away to release.
Hold Control / Ctrl during a drag to turn off Vextra Smart Guides for that drag.
Smart Guides also work while you slide a node along its contour, holding the node on the path as it snaps to matching points.
Illustrator Snapping
While you drag a node, Vextra follows Illustrator's own settings:
- Snap to Grid.
- Snap to Pixel.
- Visible guides.
These apply to nodes rather than curve handles, so handles stay free and you can set their direction exactly.
The Correcting Pencil ignores all snapping.
Move on One Axis
Hold Shift while moving nodes, handles, segments, or other path parts to keep the move horizontal or vertical.
Shift-double-click on a handle does something different: it turns the handle to the nearest horizontal or vertical direction. See Nodes & Handles.
Nudge
Turn on Nudge before moving nodes.
Vextra adjusts nearby handles along with the nodes, so the curve keeps its character through a small correction.
Power Nudge
Turn on Power Nudge for a larger shape change.
Power Nudge spreads the move through more of the contour. It works on both nodes and handles, and it pays attention to significant high and low points.
Nudge and Power Nudge are mutually exclusive.
Moves That Keep Their Own Rules
Option-dragging / Alt-dragging along the handle line of a smooth or tangent node holds the handles fixed, and neither Nudge nor Power Nudge changes that.
Control / Ctrl turns off Vextra Smart Guides for the current drag only, and leaves the panel setting alone.
For exact arrow-key moves, see Keyboard, Undo & Documents.