Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Tutorials - Pen Tool and Node Types

Paint Shop Pro Photo X2's Pen Tool is a very powerful tool that allows precise manipulation of paths, however understanding the type of node you are working with is important because you can change to a more appropriate node quickly. You will be able to accomplish whatever you need to rather than wasting time struggling with the wrong type of node.

First, open a new canvas, and make it any size. Now select your Pen Tool, if you do not see the tools on the left side of the screen go to View - Toolbars, and click Tools. A shortcut for selecting the Pen Tool is to press the "V" key on your keyboard which makes the Pen Tool active, you will see its icon light up showing that it is activated.

Next, check the Pen Tool Options which are across the top of the screen. The Options for the Pen Tool used for this Paint Shop Pro tutorial are:

Mode = Draw Point to Point - Bezier Curves
Connect Segments = checked
Create on Vector = checked
Show Nodes = checked
Width = 0.00
Leave everything else at the defaults.

Under the Materials, on the right side of the screen, you should see your foreground and background colors set to the default black and white. When working with the Pen Tool creating Paths the names are different; Foreground=Stroke, and Background=Fill. Underneath the Fill (white) box there is a circle with a diagonal line inside it which is used to turn the fill color off or on, click it; the white box should change to grey (transparent) with a circle and diagonal line inside. This means there will be no fill color inside the path. You should only see lines, curves, and nodes.

Begin to make a path on your canvas by left clicking anywhere, let go of the left button, move the mouse to a new location. Left click and hold the left mouse button down while dragging to create a curve. Let go, pick a new location, and repeat. Make a few curves, and then close the path. To close a path click on the End Node, and while holding the mouse button drag it on top of the Start Node until it says Join then release the mouse button.

Now we have a Path (lines and curves), and Nodes (squares on the path). Right click on any node, a menu pops up, slide down to Node Type, another box pops out showing the different types of available nodes. Each node type performs differently, and this gives you a lot of control while making curves and lines.

Symmetrical Nodes - can be used to create smooth, flowing, curves on either side of a node. Control arms move together, what you do on one side of a node will be exactly the same on the other side; you cannot move control arms independently.

Asymmetrical Nodes - can be useful when you need a different amount of curve on each side of the node, but want a smooth flow. The control arms are independent, but only with regard to the length.

Cusp Nodes - are very flexible, you can create extreme changes in direction, and the control arms are totally independent.

Smooth Nodes - will create a smooth transition between straight and curved line segments, and the control arms can be lengthened independently.

When you click on a node you may see two Control Arms, however sometimes you may not see any in this case you have to right click on the node, and access the node type menu, and either select a predefined node type, or Create Before/Create After to make a new node type. To use a control arm mouse over the end of the arm until you see two circular arrows, left click, hold, and drag the control arm until you get the curve or line you would like.

You can watch a short video of this Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 tutorial on Pen Tool Node Types, and follow along to get a better understanding of how nodes, control arms, and paths look and work.