How do you select points?

[Saracen52]

Sorry, I know this is really basic but I can't fathom it.

Say you take a text character and convert it to outlines.

You have a closed path?

How do you select one of the points in the path so that:
a) you can move it independently of other points
b) you can make bezier curve handles appear

It drives me nuts. Sometimes you click on a point and it selects it independently - other times it selects the whole graphic. I have tried alt-click, control-click etc but nothing seems to be consistent. Is it me?

Sorry, not an Illustrator user and that's all there is on this machine.

Thanks very much for any help.

 

[carlow]

use the white arrow (direct selection tool) to select anchor points. Use the shift to select multiple points or deselect an anchor point.

carlow

 

[Saracen52]

Thanks for your answer. I am using the Direct Selection tool but:
Sometimes when you click on an object it shows the path and clicking on a point does not allow you to select the point - i.e. if you click and drag the whole object moves
Other times when you click on a point the point moves.

I can't understand the difference. What do you do to make the direct selection tool select a point so you can move that point independently and adjust the bezier curves?

Thanks again.

 

[carlow]

If you click with the direct selection tool on a vector between two anchor points you select every point. You must be precise and click on a specific anchor point to select only this anchar point.

carlow

 

[itchybug]

Sara:

One handy tool for viewing and editing direction handles (bezier handles): Go to Select>Direction Handles (or something to that effect) in the Select menu. All the direction handles will be visible and editable at once.

Bert

http://www.itchybug.com

 

[ylustrata]

I Use the Direct Selection tool (White Arrow) and drag a box around the point(s) I wish to select. The selected anchor points change to a filled box instead of an open box. When the tool is directly over a point the icon changes to show an arrow with a little square below and to the right of it. Ctrl-U (Smart guides) is helpful too - it indicates whether the tool is on a path or anchor etc.