Breaking Tangents

By default, a vertex's tangents work together. Moving one tangent has the inverse effect on the opposite one to maintain a smooth curve at the vertex. In certain cases, you may want the tangents to move independently of each other.

Consider the mesh in the following example.

Suppose that you want to move tangent A to change the shape of edge A. Moving tangent handle A also causes tangent B to move in the opposite direction (as shown above); tangent A and tangent B are locked. You can use the Break command to break the tangents and move them independently (as shown here).

After using Break to break two tangents, you can use the Auto command to rejoin them. Note that resetting the tangents also resets the corresponding edges to their default positions.

To break tangent handles:

1. In the Warper menu, click Move.
2. Click a vertex to display its tangents.
3. Click Break, then click a tangent handle.

   The tangent and the opposite one can now be moved independently. The tangent handles are solid indicating they are broken.

   NoteIf the vertex has four tangents, click one handle of each pair to make all four tangents move independently.

To reset broken tangent handles:

1. In the Warper menu, click Move.
2. Click a vertex to display its tangents.
3. Click Auto, then click a tangent handle.

   The tangents and edges are reset.