Editing Modes and Modifiers

A plain point move changes the selection directly. The Contour tool's editing modes let surrounding handles or nodes participate, or constrain the movement to a curve. Choose a mode according to what should remain stable, then inspect the result.

Precision Drag, Nudge, Power Nudge, Harmonized Drag, Slide

Double-click the Contour tool button to open its toolbox. Nudge, Power Nudge, Harmonized drag, and Slide are mutually exclusive. Choosing one turns the others off. Contour lever is independent and can be combined with them.

The Contour toolbox groups editing-mode switches close to the canvas. Check the active switches before interpreting a drag.

Contour lever

Enable Contour lever, or hold Cmd on macOS or Ctrl on Windows while dragging, for fine movement. This precision drag applies to nodes, handles, and segments and suspends snapping. On macOS, distinguish the Command lever gesture from the Control snapping override described in Basic Node and Handle Operations. At the beginning, movement is a fraction of the pointer's travel. A longer drag gradually approaches ordinary one-to-one movement. Release and begin again to restart the fine-control phase.

Use it when a point needs a small adjustment without another zoom change. The precision factor is configurable under Preferences > Distances. This is a movement aid; it does not add fractional precision when the font is set to round coordinates to integers.

Nudge

Enable Nudge when adjacent curve handles should follow a point movement proportionally. It reduces the need to repair both neighboring segments after moving a node. The toolbox choice also applies to keyboard movement.

The temporary gesture is Control+Option-drag on macOS or Ctrl+Alt-drag on Windows. Use the toolbox when modifier combinations overlap with another editing behavior. Compare the adjoining curves as well as the node you moved: proportional following does not guarantee the curve quality you intend.

Power Nudge

Power Nudge distributes movement across a wider neighborhood. Some surrounding points stay fixed while others follow proportionally. Enable its toolbox button or press Shift+C; hold C for temporary activation.

Turn on Preferences > Glyph Window > Show Power nudge status to inspect the followers before dragging. Its indicators distinguish fixed points and points that follow horizontally or vertically. Make a modest move and inspect the whole affected region, since more can change than the selected points alone.

Harmonized drag

Enable Harmonized drag when the neighboring curves should be adjusted to retain a smooth transition while a node moves. For a smooth node, surrounding handles participate; corner behavior depends on the adjoining geometry. The temporary shortcut is Cmd+Option-drag on macOS or Ctrl+Alt-drag on Windows.

On Windows, modifier combinations can overlap with Nudge. Choose the named toolbox mode to specify the behavior explicitly. Harmonized drag is an interactive movement mode; one-time Harmonize operations are covered in Harmonizing Curves and Smart Nodes and curvature continuity in Curve Continuity and the Curvature Comb.

Slide

Enable Slide, or hold Shift+Option/Alt while dragging a node, to move the node along the path rather than freely across the canvas. FontLab recalculates adjoining handles to retain the curve as closely as the operation allows. In Slide mode, arrow keys also perform sliding movement.

Use it to reposition a division between segments without deliberately changing the silhouette. Movement beyond an existing segment, especially at an endpoint or corner, can extend or alter the path; do not assume unlimited dragging is shape-neutral. Switch the mode off when you return to ordinary movement.

Servant Nodes

A Servant property keeps a chosen node at a proportional position between its two nearest non-servant neighbors along one coordinate axis. For example, a node halfway between its controlling neighbors follows their midpoint as they move. X-Servant affects horizontal position; Y-Servant affects vertical position. Both can be assigned when both coordinates should follow.

This is a deliberate assignment to particular nodes. Power Nudge automatically chooses virtual servant nodes as a broader set of followers for an edit; explicit Servant properties can continue to act even with Power Nudge off.

Select the intended node, then use its context menu, Contour > Nodes, or the Node panel to assign the required Servant property. Move a neighboring controlling node a small amount and inspect the follower. Undo the trial if needed.

Detect Servant identifies suitable candidates automatically. No Servant removes the property from the target points. Clear Genius & servant also removes Genius behavior, so do not use it when you want to preserve that separate constraint.

Servant is a positioning relationship, not a smoothness guarantee. It can move a node without preserving the curve's continuity there. A Genius constraint takes precedence when the same node carries both kinds of behavior; see Harmonizing Curves and Smart Nodes. Inspect the actual curve rather than judging quality from the property name.

Handle Modifiers

When dragging a handle, Shift constrains its direction or holds its established angle while changing its length. Use the direction indication and coordinate readout to confirm the constraint.

Option/Alt has context-dependent effects. Dragging outward from a corner can create or extend a handle; moving a node with that modifier can leave its handles in place or move a smooth node along their common line. The result depends on which object you grabbed and on the adjoining segments.

To make a nearly horizontal or vertical relationship exact, Shift-double-click the relevant handle or node. Check which adjacent relationship is being aligned before applying the gesture.

To retract a handle onto its node, Shift+Option-double-click the handle on macOS or Shift+Alt-double-click it on Windows. A single click does not retract it. Aim at the off-curve handle: the same double-click on an on-curve node changes that node’s smooth or smart behavior instead.

Use the Contour lever for a small constrained adjustment, and release modifiers before starting the next operation. If a drag changes a larger region than expected, check the active toolbox mode and explicit Servant properties before repeating it.

For the detailed Power Nudge status-display preference, consult the Glyph Window preferences reference.