Modifying Caps and Joins

Modifying Caps and Joins

If you have an open path, you will want to consider the appearance of the cap or the end of the path. If you have a stroke with corner points, you will want to consider the appearance of the join or the point where the line segments meet.

To apply a cap to a stroke:

Select an open path that has a Basic stroke applied to it.

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If you cannot see the differences in th 131x2320b e cap styles, trying zooming in or increasing the stroke width.

Choose the cap style as follows

Figure 10. Click the icons for the three Cap styles.

o        Butt ends the stroke with a straight line that stops exactly on the endpoint of the path

Figure 11. The three Cap styles applied to open paths. The endpoints are indicated by square white dots.

o        Round ends the stroke with a half-circle that extends past the endpoint of the path

o        Square ends the stroke with a square that extends past the endpoint of the path

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There is no difference between the Butt and Square caps except that the Square cap extends past the endpoints.

To change the join of a stroke:

Select an open path that has a Basic stroke applied to it.

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If you cannot see the differences in th 131x2320b e join styles, trying zooming in or increasing the stroke width.

Choose the join style as follows

Figure 12. Click the icons for the three Join styles.

o        Miter creates a point where line segments intersect. The sharper the angle, the longer the point extends

Figure 13. The three Join styles applied to the corner point of a path. The anchor points are indicated by square white dots.

o        Round forms a curve between the two line segments

o        Bevel creates a line that cuts off the segments at the anchor point that connects the segments

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My favorite look is to combine a Round cap with the Round join. This creates a look similar to a marker pen.

When you use a Miter join, you can also set the maximum size of the spike that extends out from the join. If the size of the spike exceeds the Miter limit, the join is converted to a Bevel join.

To change the Miter limit:

Select a path with a miter join.

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In order to see the effects of changing the miter limit, choose a rather thick width such as 24 points and create two line segments with a very acute angle between them. If the miter limit is high enough, the extension should look like a spike.

In the Stroke inspector, use the Miter limit field to lower the size of the Miter limit

Figure 14. The Miter limit field lets you set the maximum size for the spike of a Miter join.

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A low number such as 1 or 2 points converts the Miter join to a Bevel join.

Figure 15. A Miter limit of 7 points allows the top object to display a spike. A Miter limit of 6 points converts the bottom object's join to a Bevel.