Working with Text Control Points

You can edit and animate the control points that define the shape of text characters. However, you must first convert the text object to an outline before you can access the control points.

You can convert all the characters in a word to outlines, or just an individual character.

To edit the shape of all the characters in a word:

1. On the Toolbar, click the Arrow tool and select the word you want to edit.
2. Choose Object | Make Curve.

The object is converted to outline.

3. Click in the viewport, away from the object, to deselect it.
4. Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Macintosh) the individual character you want to edit.

The selected character is highlighted with scale and rotation handles.

5. Click the Control Points option in the Toolbar.

Control points appear around the object.

6. Drag the control points to change the appearance of the object.
7. Click the whole word again to deselect the individual character.

To edit the shape of individual characters in a word:

1. On the Toolbar, click the Arrow tool and click in the viewport, away from the object, to deselect it.
2. Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Macintosh) the individual character(s).

Note: To select more than one character in the viewport, press Ctrl+Shift (Windows), or Command+Shift (Macintosh), and click the additional character(s), or press Ctrl, or Command, and drag a selection box around the characters.

3. Choose Object | Make Curve.



The selected character is highlighted with scale and rotation handles.

4. Click the Control Points option in the Toolbar.



Control points appear around the object.



5. Drag the control points to change the appearance of the object.



6. Click the whole word to deselect the individual character.

For more information, see Editing Object Shapes with Control Points.