Freehand: Expanding and Insetting

The Modify menu allows you to change the way your paths look, adding some useful and interesting effects to your images. Here are a couple of them:

Expand Effect	Inset Effect

Expanding paths

Expanding a path is a good way to add character to your object. When you expand a path, it goes from being a line to being a fillable object. Expanding a path gives you more ways to add other effects, like fills.

To expand a path, select the path, use the Modify menu, choose Alter Path and Expand Stroke. Choose the appropriate settings for your project.

It is important to note that your path changes when you expand it. If you had applied a fill to the path, that fill will be gone, since the space that used to be filled by the object is no longer the space its fill applies to. Notice that the example to the right uses a gradient fill, but the basic beige is missing from the center part.

Insetting a path

Insetting a path creates copies of a path either inside or outside the original path.

To inset a path, select the path, then choose Modify, Alter Path and Inset Path. Choose the settings (how many insets (steps), how far apart they should be, and so on). appropriate to your project.

When the paths are created, they share the traits of the original path and they are grouped with it.

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