Smoothing lines and shapes

Xara LX offers two forms of line smoothing.

The first is available for all newly drawn freehand lines. The Freehand tool interactive smoothness slider dynamically adjusts the bezier curve to the last freehand stroke. The re-fit indicator on the Infobar of the Freehand tool indicates whether this form of line re-fitting is possible. (Xara LX only keeps the last drawn track in memory, so you can't use this technique for earlier drawn lines or bezier lines that you've subsequently edited). It's worth noting this even works if you append a section of a bezier line into an old line— i.e. the new section can be re-fitted or smoothed this way.

The second method works for all lines or shape outlines. Select the line or shape you want to smooth. In the Shape Editor Tool (F4) drag select over the part of line or outline that you want to smooth - this will select all the control points in the region. Then just adjust the smoothing slider control on the right end of the Infobar.

The two methods are different in that the first can actually add control points to make a closer fit the last recorded freehand line. The latter only removes excessive control points from the selected region.

To smooth lines and shapes

1. Use the Selector Tool to select the line or shape (see Selecting objects).

2. Choose the Shape Editor Tool.

3. Select the points on the region of the line to be smoothed (or simplified). See Selecting point handles

4. Move the smoothing slider on the Shape Editor Tool Infobar
.

Tip

Smoothing only alters selected points. Unselected points are never altered, so if there are areas of the line you do not want changed, just make sure the points in these areas are unselected.

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Related Topics

Freehand & Brush Tool

Smoothing freehand lines