Advanced drawing tools and controls
Control panel
Find the tool you need for the task at hand with the Control panel, which displays the options that are most appropriate for your current selection. You can access anchor-point controls, selection tools, clipping masks, and envelope distortions from the top of the screen. Workspace clutter is reduced because you don’t have to keep as many panels open. (See Control panel overview.)
Path editing
As soon as you select points, the Control panel displays path-editing tools You can fine-tune your work faster and even hide and show handles with one click. (See Specify direction line and direction point appearance.)
Point selection
Run your cursor over any anchor point and enlarge it so you can easily see and select it. Your cursor shows a larger square anywhere it detects a point. (See Specify anchor point size preferences.)
Point alignment
Align and distribute points just like you align and distribute objects. When you select more than one point, the whole range of alignment buttons appears in the Control panel. You can also align points to the artboard or a crop area. (See Align and distribute objects.)
Eraser tool
Quickly remove areas of artwork as easily as you can erase pixels in Photoshop. All you have to do is stroke the mouse or stylus over any shape or set of shapes. Illustrator creates new paths along the edges of the erased stroke; the smoothness of your erasure is preserved. (See Erase artwork.)
Crop Area tool
Draw multiple crop areas with either custom or predefined characteristics. You can quickly create one‑page PDFs perfectly cropped to your selection, making it possible to save artwork variations to show clients and colleagues. (See Create, edit, and delete crop areas.)