Illustrations created in all major vector drawing programs
have a definite anatomy and share a common pattern.
Whether you use Deneba Canvas™, Adobe® Illustrator®,
CorelDRAW or Macromedia® FreeHand® you will
find that this pattern exists even though each program
may define the parts differently. The purpose of this
section of the web site is to take apart a vector drawing
so you can see how it is put together and able to understand
it. In the illustration section is a table
of equivalent terminology to better help you translate
the terms from one application to another. This will
clarify the subject and make it less confusing. You
will not be bound to a single application once this
becomes clear to you.
The pattern of vector illustrations is best viewed
or represented as a hierarchy or "tree". The
illustration itself would be at the top and its
various parts would descend below it:
An ILLUSTRATION is composed of vector
OBJECTS each having one
or more
PATHS which are composed
of
LINE SEGMENTS having
ANCHOR POINTS at each end
Illustration:
Objects:
Paths:
Line Segments and Anchor Points:
In the diagram above the OBJECT shown is composed of a
single closed PATH composed of 19 LINE SEGMENTS and 19
ANCHOR POINTS. Notice the curved line on the bottom. It
is composed of 2 separate line segments even though it
appears to be one continuous smooth line.
