Here's one I'd sure like to have an 2

[bsquared18]

Here's one I'd sure like to have an answer to. Suppose I use the pencil tool to draw a figure, but instead of drawing the figure--an outline of a car, for example--in one continuous line that comes back and closes on itself, it takes several separate pencil-stroke lines connected together. Then, each line segment is a separate object, right?

Now, suppose I want to join those enclosed lines together to form a single object that will behave as though I had drawn a single continuous line from beginning to end. So that, for example, the fill tool would fill the entire car instead of just parts of it.

How does one do that? The "Group" command doesn't accomplish it. And I experimented with other commands but didn't find one that does what I want.

 

[Polyanna]

If the lines are several pixels apart, use Control+J to JOIN them. Or, select the DIRECT SELECTION TOOL, outline around both ends of the lines, select the PEN TOOL and click on one end then go to the opposite end and click on that. At the point of clicking on the second one, if you want to round out the line, keep your mouse button down and pull a little on it to see what happens, otherwise you'll just have a straight line.

 

[askIllustrator]

If your using the pencil tool, start each new stroke from just behind the last point of the previous stroke without deselecting. The line will reflow to include your new stroke while remaining one continuous line segment. If the reforming of the line introduces too many weird curves, doubleclick on the pencil tool and play with the fidelity a little till it is more tame. You can also go back and clean up any portion of the line by simply drawing right over the selected path with the pencil tool. I like to use the pen tool to get a basic shape and then go back over it with the pencil to add detail where needed.

Only what is selected can be affected.

 

[bsquared18]

"jAQUAN," your suggestion to use the pencil tool to draw over one line while it is still selected is a great one--so obvious, and yet I've been deselecting one segment before starting another, or I've tried drawing in one continuous flow, which is very hard.

But "Pollyanna," I still haven't been able to join already drawn segments. When I try using CRTL + J, I get the message, "To join, you must select two open endpoints." I've tried selecting in several ways, but I keep getting that message. What am I missing?

 

[askIllustrator]

Thanks for the props squared, as for Pollyannas suggestion, you first need to average the two points first using the both option and perform a join. The Crtl+J should have worked though, are you sure you only have the two points in question selected?

 

[bsquared18]

You mention that I need to "only have the two points in question selected." Sorry for being so dense, but how do I select just those points, instead of selecting the entire path?

 

[askIllustrator]

The black arrow is known as the closed selector (used for grabbing entire shapes, paths, groups, etc. And the white arrow is known as the open selector used for grabbing objects within a group, compound object or mask as well as individual points on a path.