Bending a path without using the anchor points

Question

In a recent video I seen an artist was using Illustrator to bend a path into a curve. This looked different to manipulating the anchor points.

The video is here (8:20): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbbQl2sU-ag

I've tried to do this, but I'm not sure if my version of Illustrator has this feature. I'm on CS6.

Using the pen tool if I press "Alt + Option" it doesn't curve the line or look anything like it does in the video. Sorry for being vague but I don't know what this feature is called.

Can this be done in CS6 and what is this feature called so I can do a bit more Googling?

Answer 1

It's called the Curvature Tool.

It was added in CC so not available to you in CS6.

It essentially allows you draw similar to the regular pen tool but creates smooth curves automatically without you having to drag or adjust bezier handles.

Take the following two paths. The top was drawn using the Curvature Tool and the bottom with the Pen Tool, both were drawn with the exact same method of clicking a few points with no dragging of handles...

You can also use it to create curves from existing straight paths. The following was made by dragging one edge of a square, for example: