How to draw cusp with shape editor?

Hello -

I'm actually not new to Xara but I've never been a heavy user - this has always niggled a bit and I do wonder if I'm missing something obvious...

I know how to use the S and Z keys to switch between making smooth and cusp points as I draw a curve. But is there any way to prevent Xara from aligning the handles even through a cusp when I place the next point - so that my 'corner' gets rounded and I have to go back and edit it back into a corner? Hopefully the image below makes it clearer what I mean.

I always naïvely hope since I've told Xara I want a cusp it will leave the handles alone!

Any help gratefully appreciated.

Hi welcome to TG

try this: the left most two buttons on the info bar - you have 'make curve' [the furthest left] selected - click on 'make line' [the one next to it] as well as using z to make your cusp - then click back to 'make curve' afterwards as well as keying s

there may be additional key shortcuts for this - I'm not sure

Use the freehand&brushtool instead

Hans

Thank you those are both good suggestions.

Obviously if I switch to straight lines at the corner it's not going to be exactly the same shape but it's still very workable (and in fact I can just press L for line and not bother about Z, joins between lines being sharp by definition...)

I like the freehand tool but sometimes my hand's not that steady!

Another method I've tried is to start a new line at the corner, using the magnetic snap to begin it where the old one ends. This works but I've not found a satisfactory way to join several of these lines together for filling etc.

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The behavior shaydon0 is seeing bothers me too. What is happening is that Xara is working with the line segment between two points. Smooth join or cusp join just identifies how Xara treats the connection of the two line segments. It really has nothing to do with the curve of the line segments.

If you make a curve (the leftmost button on the info bar), then the curved line segment will always terminate with the handle in-line with the handle for the connecting line, regardless of the connecting point being smooth or a cusp.

Joining a curved line segment to a straight line segment will cause the curved line segment to smoothly join the straight line segment with the handle in-line with the straight line segment.

The only way I know to join two line segments together with a sharp point in the middle of a curved line is to join two straight line segments. With handrawn's method, add three points to define two straight lines that join with a sharp point. Using shaydon0's method, add two straight line segments. You can then push the two straight lines into the desired curved shape.