Ananya Curves
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Putting the peak point to work, on the first segment you click for the start point and drag for the start direction. Then you click for the end point and drag for the end direction, and the curve is drawn. You then see the peak point, that you can adjust if you wish.

For all additional curve segments, just click for the end point and drag for the end direction.

The peak point is the point at the furthest distance from the start and end point. It is much easier to adjust the peak point than it is to pull on tangent lines. It is like making a curve out of a string.

After drawing any curve segment, you can adjust it further by changing any of the control points or by adjusting the directions. You don't even have to change tools to do this.

Drawing without worrying about directions

If curve directions scare you, don't worry; there is even an option in Ananya Curves to draw the next curve by just clicking for the end point and then dragging it into place. If you need to make further adjustments to your curve, you can do that after you draw the curve.

Saving and returning to Photoshop

You can save your drawings as an Ananya Curve (.ac) file to bring them back to Ananya Curves later. You can also save them as a PostScript® (.ps) file, that you can open in Adobe Illustrator or PaintShop Pro.

At the end, when your drawing is done, close Ananya Curves and your drawing is automatically converted into the Bézier curves used in Photoshop. This allows you to do the many things that you can do with curves in Photoshop including adding stroke or fill, morphing, making selections out of curves, and so on.

Making the drawing of curves easy is only half of the story. Since we eliminated the length of the tangent, we created many new features that I consider magical. They will expand your creativity to the max. Here are six of my favorites:

You can use a different curve type for each segment of your curve.

Curve types — For each curve segment in your drawing, you have the option of using, Ananya curves (the most flexible curves), Bézier curves, conics, circular arcs, straight lines, or even freeform curves.

Changing a curve type — change one curve type into any other curve type while in select mode. I use this feature when I make buttons for a web site by simply drawing a rectangular box, but, as I'm sure you know, a rectangle makes for a very boring button. Convert the two lines on the sides to circular arcs or conics. Then in a few seconds, you have a nicely shaped box that would be very hard to draw in Photoshop.

Copy and paste — Not only can you copy and paste a curve, you can paste it reflected. This allows you to easily complete complicated shapes.

Paste — you can paste a curve to the exact point and in the exact direction that you want the curve to start. You can continue drawing the same curve when you paste, or you can start a new curve. You have other artistic capabilities such as pasting a curve repeatedly at smaller and smaller sizes to give a sense of perspective.

Adding or subtracting points — if you want to add more control points to your drawing or if you want to simplify it, such as make it smoother, go to select mode and move the smoothing factor slider to the left or to the right.

Measurements palette — for those of you who enjoy using numbers there's even a measurements palette where you can draw by typing numbers, such as specific angles for the directions. If your client gives you the exact specifications for a drawing, punch in the numbers and out comes your drawing.

Try Ananya Curves

If all of this whets your curiosity, and you want to learn more, click here to download a demo and give Ananya Curves a try. On our web site, you can also see movies where the inventor shows you how to use Ananya Curves.

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