Creating New Corners
New Dynamic Corners can be created with the tool in four ways: by clicking on a path, by dragging on a path, by marquee-creating over one or more paths, or by converting a corner on an existing path.
Clicking
Clicking on an eligible anchor point of a path creates a Dynamic Corner at that point, with the size (when possible), type and method that are specified in the Dynamic Corners panel. The path does not need to be selected first. The corner is previewed while the cursor is hovering over the point:
Dynamic Corners click creation
Clicking is a fast way to make a new corner that matches an existing corner: by first selecting the corner you want to match, the parameters are loaded into the panel and thereby copied to any new click-created corner.
Dragging
Dragging out a new corner lets you see and change its radius interactively before its creation:
Dynamic Corner drag creation
While dragging, there are several keypresses which can be used:
Shift: Constrains the radius of the corner to “nice” values. These values depend on the units in use and the zoom level. For example, when working at 100% zoom, radii specified in points are constrained to integer values while radii specified in millimeters snap to 0.25 mm increments.
Option/Alt: Shows the “zero-radius” appearance of the corner; i.e. shows the section of the path as it existed before the corner was added.
Command/Ctrl: Enables slow-drag. The cursor will show a small “S” and its movement will be divided by a value called the slow-drag divider (specifiable in the preferences), allowing finer control without having to zoom in.
Space: Hides the annotations normally associated with a Dynamic Corner.
C: Changes the corner type on the fly between Regular, Negative, and Chamfered.
M: Changes the corner method on the fly between TrueRadius, Standard, and Squircular.
U: Temporarily disables Smart Guides, if they were enabled when the drag started.
Marquee-Creating
Holding down Option/Alt when dragging out a marquee will cause all eligible points within the marquee (whether on one path or multiple paths) to have a Dynamic Corner added, with the size (when possible), type and method that are specified in the Dynamic Corners panel. The paths do not need to be selected. If Dynamic Corners already exist on any marqueed point, they will be replaced.
Dynamic Corner Marquee creation
If Shift is held down in addition to Option/Alt, Dynamic Corners will be added to all eligible points on all paths that are intersected by the marquee. All existing Dynamic Corners will be replaced.
Converting
If the preference Allow Hover Conversion of Individual Corners is enabled (the default), corners which are not dynamic but have the proper geometry to allow them to be recognized can be converted to Dynamic Corners by hovering over them with the cursor and clicking on them:
Dynamic Corner Hover converting
You may also click to convert the corner and then immediately begin dragging to edit it. Note that only Regular corners (i.e., not Negative or Chamfered corners) can be converted. To convert multiple corners in one step, use the panel menu (see Dynamic Corners Panel: Flyout Menu).