Author Topic: How to close a path of a straight line (Read 5475 times)

leaf · « **on:** October 13, 2008, 04:17 »

A line has a point at the start and the end... I don't get how I can close that path??

any help?

CofkoCof · « **Reply #1 on:** October 13, 2008, 04:20 »

You can expand it: Object->Expand and only select strokes. Then you just delete the path.

leaf · « **Reply #2 on:** October 13, 2008, 04:28 »

ahhh.... thanks so much. I have wondered that question a very long time and searched for quite a while on istock.

bittersweet · « **Reply #3 on:** October 13, 2008, 08:06 »

There is no path afterwards to delete in a straight line with a basic pen or pencil tool. That part of the instructions would apply to a custom brush stroke.

Also, and this may or may not apply to your situation, a common misconception is that NO open paths are allowed at istockphoto. That is not entirely true. What is not allowed is a FILLED open path. If your path is UNfilled (simply a basic line, not a custom brush stroke), it is not necessary to expand or close your path.

Some people prefer to expand all their paths anyway, but some prefer to leave them intact when possible so that the customer can more easily edit to their needs.

CofkoCof · « **Reply #4 on:** October 13, 2008, 08:28 »

Quote from: bittersweet on October 13, 2008, 08:06

There is no path afterwards to delete in a straight line with a basic pen or pencil tool. That part of the instructions would apply to a custom brush stroke.

When I expand (even a straight line with the pen tool) I always get a group of two paths (one is the expanded shape and the original path). It might be one of the settings in preferences, not sure.

Quote from: bittersweet on October 13, 2008, 08:06

Also, and this may or may not apply to your situation, a common misconception is that NO open paths are allowed at istockphoto. That is not entirely true. What is not allowed is a FILLED open path. If your path is UNfilled (simply a basic line, not a custom brush stroke), it is not necessary to expand or close your path.

Some people prefer to expand all their paths anyway, but some prefer to leave them intact when possible so that the customer can more easily edit to their needs.

True, but some other sites (I'm certain this applies for StockXpert, maybe somewhere else) reject the image for open paths even if you have a simple line. That is why I included the deletion of the path in the "instruction".

BTW: Here's a script for finding open paths (and many other things):
http://rj-graffix.com/software/plugins.html#SelectMenu

jsnover · « **Reply #5 on:** October 13, 2008, 09:29 »

Quote from: CofkoCof on October 13, 2008, 08:28

Quote from: bittersweet on October 13, 2008, 08:06
There is no path afterwards to delete in a straight line with a basic pen or pencil tool. That part of the instructions would apply to a custom brush stroke.
When I expand (even a straight line with the pen tool) I always get a group of two paths (one is the expanded shape and the original path). It might be one of the settings in preferences, not sure.

[/quote]

That extra path is an Illustrator "feature" you can't turn off in CS3. I'm told by someone who's beta'd CS4 that they've fixed this. If you don't have any other open paths (on that layer you're expanding) you can use the select open paths add on to select all the spines in the expanded strokes and delete them. I often put unexpanded open paths (typically custom brushes) on a "working" layer until they're expanded and spine deleted so that it's easier to do just that. It makes it easier to clean up as you go.

bittersweet · « **Reply #6 on:** October 13, 2008, 11:29 »

Ooops.

I'm not using CS3, so I apologize for spreading any bad information. (I did specify that I was referring to istock on the other part, though)

Another quick way to find "invisible" stuff, is to create a stroke (or shape) on your pasteboard with no fill or stroke assigned, and then use the "select same stroke" or "select same fill and stroke" ... and then delete what is selected.

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Author Topic: How to close a path of a straight line (Read 5475 times)

leaf

CofkoCof

leaf

bittersweet

CofkoCof

jsnover

bittersweet

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