DOCS/Modifiers

Round Corners

Path

Soften every sharp corner on an outline.

Round Corners cuts the corners off a path and replaces them with curves. At low amounts it takes the hard edge off a shape; at maximum a square becomes very nearly a circle.

It applies to every corner at once. There is no per-corner control, which is the trade for it being one number you can keyframe.

Try itRound Corners

Roundness50

This stage calls the same `applyPathOperator` the editor calls on every frame.

When to reach for it#

Softening polygons and stars.
Cleaning up the spikes an Offset Path left behind.
Animating a shape from angular to soft as a state change.

How it works#

It uses corner-cutting subdivision: each corner is replaced by two points partway along its adjacent edges, repeatedly. Because it subdivides, it also raises the point count — useful if a later operator needs more points to work with.

Parameters#

Roundnessroundness#

0 to 100. At 0 nothing changes. At 100 the outline is as round as corner-cutting will make it, which for a square is close to a circle. On a star, high values round the inner points as well as the outer ones — that is what makes it look like a flower.

Recipes#

Angular to soft on a state change

Draw the shape with sharp corners.
Add Round Corners at 0.
Keyframe Roundness from 0 to about 70 over a third of a second, eased out.

Things that catch people out#

It rounds every corner, including the ones you liked

There is no way to protect an individual corner. If you need one sharp corner and three round ones, build the shape from two paths and combine them with Boolean.