Let's All Join Paths (!#$%&*#!)

[desrev1]

You know...

Illustrator has got to have the unfriendliest learning environment ever. It's really frustrating.

Here's what I want to do:

I want to draw a line with the pencil tool (say...more or less a straight line representing one side of a pyramid.)

I want to draw a 2nd line, starting near the end of the 1st, representing the 2nd side of the pyramid.

I want to draw a 3rd line, starting near the end of the 2nd; & terminating near the beginning of the 1st, so as to represent the 3rd side of the pyramid.

THEN I WANT TO JOIN THOSE FR_CK_N' LINES AT THE FR_CK_N' ENDS TO FORM A FR_CK_N' PYRAMID !!!

Why is that so fr_ck_n' difficult ???

Can some one walk me through this please? I keep getting the stupid message: "To join, you must select two open endpoints".

Well, Illustrator...I've been trying to do just that for about three years now, but you make it very, very difficult.

Can someone please help me with this?

very frustratedly,

DesRev

 

[eva11]

Hi, DesRev-
I've gotten that same message, at times when it made absolutely no sense...
A couple of thoughts: have you tried to marquee your two open endpoints (either with the direct selection tool or the lasso?) before using the "join" command? This helps to make sure you really do have them selected, because sometimes that's hard to do by individual point selection if they're either really close together or literally right on top of one another.
I would suggest using the pen tool over the pencil, because you will get a much straighter line that way. Question: is there a reason that you're drawing the sides as separate entities, as opposed to one continuous shape? (You could bypass the danged joining thing altogether that way.)
-Eva

 

[desrev1]

OK, Eva...

Thanks very much...we're getting somewhere now...one of the line ends is not selecting; & I think its because I flood filled the path yesterday. Wanting to see what what that basic area would look like when filled, I flood filled after selecting the path; & it filled the area with the chosen color by connecting the open ends together in a straight line.

Would that cause the line end to no be selectable? Can I reverse the flood fill, to make the line just a single segment again?

Thanks again,

mark4man

BTW - Using marquee select has never worked for me...it just grabs some adjacent layer & moves it around. Thanks.

BTW 2 - The reason I like to draw separate lines & connect afterward is because I'm drawing at a high zoom rate in a lot of instancaes. In this case I'm doing an illustration of an ice dam for my community newspaper; & the melted water area (filled with light blue) had to be directly adjacent to the roofing materials. I had to zoom in & draw close parallel lines, so as to show that the melted drainage is around & under the shingles. Most of my work is done in this fashion; & when I'm zoomed in, of course the line segments are shorter. Thanks.

BTW 3 - Working in Illustrator 10.

 

[eva11]

Hi Mark-

I'm also in Illustrator 10, on a Mac.

Yes, you can certainly get rid of fill: choose your filled object with the selection tool, then go over to the colors palette - make sure the fill (as opposed to stroke) square is chosen, then click on the square with the red diagonal slash, and it will delete the fill.

Regarding your marquee troubles: do you mean something in another, separate layer? If so, you can simply lock down the other layer so that you're not accidentally grabbing things out of it while attempting to work in another layer. Go to your layers palette, choose the layer(s) you're not currently working in, click the second of the two boxes on the left, and a padlock will appear (to unlock, just click again.)

On the other hand, if you mean that the marquee is grabbing nearby objects in the same layer, try zooming in for better control.

Have you tried duplicating your original shape(s) so you don't have to redraw all those parallel lines? (select your shape, and hold down the option/alt key while dragging.) This will at least create the same curves, which you can then cut/join/manipulate as needed. The pen tool is really great for this, because it allows you to easily join those segments together.

 

[desrev1]

Eva,

Wow...Thanks !!!

That was a solution for every problem/question.

Very nice of you...I appreciate it.

(sorry I was so flabergasted in my original inquiry.)

Thanks again,

mark4man

 

[eva11]

Mark-
I think we're all flabbergasted by something at one time or another, so no need to apologize. (Believe me, I'm more than familiar with feelings which are best expressed by "!#$%&*#!")
As far as Illustrator goes, I don't think you'll ever get a solid grip on it by reading only the User Guide which comes with it; it makes for a nice reference manual, but you'll have to go to an outside source, like the Sims Teach Yourself in 24 Hours series, if you want to get really comfortable with it. TotalTraining.com has really great stuff too - expensive but worth it. I'm still just barely scratching Illy's surface.
Regards,
Eva

 

[fxm]

Along the same lines, i am having problems connecting multiple path endpoints. what i mean is that i have, say three line segments, each with an endpoint occuring on top of each other. my problem is connecting them. The join command will only work for two points, but i want three lines to connect. is that too much to ask?

thanks

 

[eva11]

Hi fxm-
I could be wrong, but...yes, I think it is too much to ask, because you're talking about a third dimension (a third endpoint in a plane that's either above or below the two newly-joined ones), whereas we are really working in only two. Can you describe your situation - why do you need the three to be connected?