Open a new image, 16.7 Million color, transparent.

Click on the Draw tool.

Note: While creating curved vectors, the description 'Click and Drag' means that you should position the cursor, press down the mouse button, then move the mouse in the directon specified, then when the cursor is in the general position, release the button.

Another important thing to remember is that if you click off the work area, it's a indication to PSP that you've finished working on the current object, so the current vector object is completed, that is, drawn. To get back into Node Edit, select the object by clicking it's name in the Layer Palette. Right click on the object and select 'Node Edit'.

In the Tool Options box, select 'Point to Point', 'Stroked', Line width=5, check 'Antialias' and 'Create as vector'. Select a dark color in the Foreground color.

Click at a point on the grid and drag the curve influence line up 7 blocks.

Move the cursor ten blocks to the right, click and drag the curve influence line seven blocks down.

Right Click on the object to bring up the Edit box, Click on Edit- Close

Closing the line creates a circle. (I invite the mathmatically inclined to compute the reason for the ratios. Start with (square root of 2)/2 to calculate the area under the curve.) For us non-math types, just remember that in vectors, a circle is two curves with the influences equal to .7 times the diameter. Since we have an easier method of creating true circles (Preset Shapes), we really won't be using this method very often, but it's a good point to know.

Right Click- Quit node edit to complete the circle. Now that you have a circle, try editing the shape to make it look like an egg. (Hint: move the top of both curve influence lines in towards each other, by the same amount.

Notice that my drawing area was smaller than the space I needed for the curve influence lines. No problem, I just clicked on a corner of the image and increased the size of the display larger than the image and kept working. The lines go outside the image, but this doesn't hurt anything. Also, I'd right clicked on the object, clicked Node Edit and started to edit the nodes. When I increased the size of the image, the Node Edit focus was lost, but it was no problem to right click- Node Edit to get back into the edit mode.

After exiting node edit, I used the deform boxes to 'Squeeze' the sides in a little to make it look right. Remember that as long as you have the shape in vector form, you can always edit the shape to make it look as you want by 'Selecting' the shape, then right clicking it and selecting 'Node Edit'.

Click here to advance into uneven vector curves.