7

I drew a circle, added a diameter to it, joined objects, removed topmost anchor point...

Now I need to make it united shape:

Illustrator screenshot

The question is general and the situation is general: suppose I have exact parts of desired outline shape. I can't use any averaging or pen tool, because all anchor points are already in place. All I need is just declare some overlapped points pairs as single points.

Why can't I do that?

UPDATE

If I press Object -> Path -> Join I get a message

enter image description here

UPDATE 2

Video proof:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogfFY95rdq8

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  • 1
    The simpler the operation the less likely you are going to find the answer. Press ctrl +j
    – joojaa
    Feb 13, 2015 at 14:30
  • Ctrl-J has no effect for me
    – Dims
    Feb 13, 2015 at 15:27
  • 1
    The problem is as follows, you apply join on a open and closed path. Now illustrator sees that clearly the circle can not be joined but the line can be closed. So it now closes the path now you have 2 closed paths. You open up the circle and try to force the corner to join... No can do the line is closed (to understand this better draw the line with a midpoints so its a triangle), a closed shape can not join. This feature a is a bit of double edged sword. On the other hand it craps up in simple situation like this, on the other it allows you to marge may separate lines (which is useful)
    – joojaa
    Feb 13, 2015 at 17:10
  • Whatever you are doing after drawing the line with the contextual menu, don't do that. That is causing your error (and whatever it is is unnecessary).
    – Scott
    Feb 13, 2015 at 17:10
  • Oh and PS: you really should try to stay away from the black selection tool in the video. And certainly the closed line is a bit of a weird construct.
    – joojaa
    Feb 13, 2015 at 17:12

6 Answers 6

8

The command you are looking for is JOIN

Use the Direct Selection Tool enter image description here

select BOTH points you want to join (I usually click and drag across the region containing them).

Click Join in the toolbar (or Cmd/Ctrl+J)

Alternately you can also select the Pen tool, click an endpoint to activate drawing with the pen (and continuing the line segment) and then touch the pen tool to the other endpoint of the half circle (the cursor will also have a small circle, to indicate closing the shape).

If the two paths are already joined (and you get the two open endpoints error), use the Unite command in the Pathfinder window.

Pathfinder dialog

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  • Where is "Join" in the toolbar? Crtl-J has no effect.
    – Dims
    Feb 13, 2015 at 15:26
  • 1
    @Dims why are you joining before removing the top point of the circle? If you already joined the two objects, use the Unite command in the Pathfinder window.
    – JohnB
    Feb 13, 2015 at 16:12
  • @Dims I edited it in to Voxwoman's answer, no need to create a separate answer just for that
    – JohnB
    Feb 13, 2015 at 16:50
  • I have moved most of the comments to a chat. Scott confirmed that this appears to be a bug in CC-2014 (does not happen in CS6).
    – JohnB
    Feb 13, 2015 at 17:22
  • 1
    Not entirely certain it qualifies as a "bug". Joining the line and circle is a 100% unnecessary step and that is what causes the issue. In addition to not having any real benefit or effect on the objects (other than cause this error). However, CS6 doesn't throw the error if the same steps are followed.
    – Scott
    Feb 13, 2015 at 17:45
2

Select all paths with Direct Selection Tool. Open Pathfinder in Windows tab. Under Pathfinders heading select crop. You will find your stroke disappears. In Fill/Stroke tool in Toolbar you will notice your stroke has been removed. Simply put it back with correct colour and size etc.

1

I've had this prob a number of times and every time I think I've solved it the next time it crops up I run into difficulties again. Anyway this is my latest solution...

  1. Select the lines you want to join (black arrow worked fine for me)
  2. In pathfinder click the outline button:

enter image description here

  1. cmd+j to join
1

I was able to solve my problem by using this script: http://illustrator.hilfdirselbst.ch/dokuwiki/en/skripte/javascript/wr-closeallpaths

It's a free script for Ai that allows you close open paths.

0

I have had this problem a number of times.

One (of many) causes is when you are handling imported CAD files such as .dxf For some reason AI breaks paths apart so, for instance, a square with rounded corners is actually eight separate paths (four straight and four rounded). Furthermore, each path will be located inside its own group (or sublayer).

SOLUTION to this is that you will need to manually move (ungrouping does not seem to work) each path out of the group/sublayer.

As I said I have come across this problem many times and there are more than one solutions so I hope that this might be of help.

0

If you cut a path and delete a segment from that path, one or both points you cut can be left behind after the line segment delete. Double check to make sure there are only 2 points (and not a 3rd invisible sneaky point) at the ends of the lines you are trying to join. If you're accidentally selecting 3 points, Illustrator doesn't know what to do and gives you an error message. Hope this helps someone.

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