The Anatomy of a Vector Illustration (Part Three)

Objects And Their Properties, Paths And Subpaths

Continuing with the anatomy of a vector illustration, let's take a look at objects and their properties, paths and subpaths.

Objects - Stroke and Fill Properties

Objects have stroke and fill properties. Stroke (or outline) properties apply to the path of an object and fill properties apply to the area enclosed by the path.

Stroke Properties:
    Weight (line thickness)
    Color
    Solid vs. Dashed
    Line Caps and Corners:

Except for differences in terminology, line cap and corner properties are the same between Deneba Canvas™, Adobe® Illustrator®, CorelDRAW and Macromedia® FreeHand®:

	CorelDRAW	Adobe Illustrator	FreeHand	Deneba Canvas
	"Caps and Corners"	"Cap and Join"	"Cap and Join"	"Line Joins and End Caps"
Caps
	Square	Butt	Butt	Flat
	Extended Square	Projecting	Square	Square
	Rounded	Round	Round	Round
Corners
	Mitered	Miter	Miter	Miter
	Beveled	Bevel	Bevel	Bevel
	Rounded	Round	Round	Round

Fill Properties:
    Color
    Uniform or Gradient Fill
    Patterns and Textures 

Stroke Examples: (fill = uniform or none)

Solid	Dashed	None	Pattern*

* Pattern stroke unavailable in CorelDRAW

Fill Examples: (stroke = none)

Linear Gradient	Radial Gradient	Pattern	Texture*

* Vector texture fill available in CorelDRAW only

It could be said that Tiles are one of the basic fill properties. Patterns and tiles are basically the same kind of fill.

Deneba Canvas Stroke and Fill Examples: 

Canvas is unique in that it can apply the same properties to strokes as it can to fills. In addition to colors, textures and gradients, you can also apply symbols and hatch patterns as strokes and fills. Below are a few examples:

Texture Fill	Gradient Fill Solid Stroke	Gradient Fill Gradient Stroke	Hatch Fill

Paths and Subpaths

Paths are either:

1. Open or
2. Closed


Fills are not restricted to closed paths. Open paths can be filled just like closed paths:

Paths of an object having more than one path are called subpaths.

Note: Subpaths are nothing more than discreet, individual paths in an object composed of more than one path. The word "subpath" is easily misunderstood because the prefix "sub" implies subordination. Multiple paths within an object are of equal hierarchy (rank).

By default each path becomes a new object when it is first created. Subpaths are created when objects are formed from composite paths.

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