Eric, I don’t force you or anybody to purchase anything. I just share an existing workaround other users may find suitable. Yes, it is a paid one, but I share free workarounds as well, if I know about them. I think it brings more value to the discussion. The request is pretty valid and I voted for it myself.

I find the admin response to get a subscription for astute graphics, unacceptable. Astute costs $149 a year, we already pay for Adobe and Astute only made those features to make up for Adobe's shortcomings. If you are going to have a software subscription model based on upgrades and new features, then you need to be improving and this area is where you should focus.

PathScribe is absolutely worth having, especially if you struggle with a certain task right now. Yes, I too believe that dealing with handles should be better to have from the box, although I doubt it is going to be as powerful, if it’s ever going to be implemented.

Anyway, PathScribe does not allow to nudge handles with keyboard, but it allows to change their length with a specified increment. Other than that — almost anything.

Hi all, longtime Ai user here. Having recently got into using Glyphs app for working with type design, I came back to Illustrator and couldn't quite believe it was not possible to not select (and keep selected) handles and nudge them with the keyboard arrows (and shift for larger increments), just like regular anchor points.

I realise that this would likely be quite a big change to the underlying architecture, but I feel like I'm now totally helpless in Ai without the ability to make exact positional changes to anchor point handles in this way. Of course the ability to select multiple handles would be ideal but I won't get ahead of myself. Bonus points for a panel to set the x/y coordinates of the handles numerically.

Is there any chance Illustrator will implement this kind of functionality? I notice the 3rd party plugin pathscribe offers this but feel this should be basic functionality baked into Illustrator.

I think Illustrator needs to add the ability to lock handles to be symmetrical and to edit their value and angle. There are workarounds for symmetrical work, but it could be way easier and user-friendly. Even coral draw has some neat functions to edit vector paths, though it's a worse software.

If there was a way to precisely adjust the angle and length of handles, it would be incredibly useful too.

Obviously not everyone needs this, but every once in a while I'd like a little more accuracy and control with no workarounds

It would be a great help if we can control the handles of multiple selected anchor points simultaneously. That way you can curve different paths with the same curve angle.

Constrain angle, scale length would be great. Also, mirror control handles so that in/out point have the same +/- angle across the point.

Daan, I don’t believe they can handle this right.
And you know about PathScribe plugin by AstuteGraphics, don’t you?

There's a plugin called VectorScribe from AstuteGraphics that does exactly this. It's on their annual service plan. It's worth it! But maybe you already know. Adobe just won't do anything about it, when there's a superior tool around.

It would be nice to have a panel dedicated to anchor points and handles (such FontLab or Glyphs), to have greater control of points and handles. By selecting several handles at the same time or, for example, to have greater precision on everything.

Illustrator allows you to manually enter the X and Y coordinates of an anchor point, but you have no such control over the anchor point's handles.

Allowing me to enter coordinates would greatly reduce the amount of time I have to spend making guides specifically for aligning handles.

For creating smooth transitions from a bezier curve to a straight line, it would be very useful to get information on the angle of the tangents.
In general - it would be nice when the Info box displays the angle of the line between two selected points.

Illustrator (and Adobe apps) lacks a true symmetrical node control (like Corel or other software).
It would also be useful to have more control and more precise on points, handles and curves.
Now there are many tools, but they are not harmonized well together.
Only to try to create symmetrical handles it is necessary to use the "scale" tool, which cmq does not allow you to align accurately.
Currently, third-party plugins are required for features that should be included in a product such as Illustrator.
For the realization of logos or images that require precision or symmetry, I am often forced to use other software.
IMHO.

Just get Astute Graphics VectorScribe plugin for the meantime. This might be a long time coming.