7 replies to this topic

[Hans van der Maarel]

Conundrum in Illustrator, CS5:

I draw a line with the pen tool. I then start drawing a new line that I want to start at the end point of the first line. However, as soon as I hover my cursor near the end of the first line, the X in the cursor changes into a / to indicate it will append to that line, rather than start a new one. I don't want that, I want to start a new line. How can I force that? (other than actually starting it somewhere else then dragging the start point to the correct location with the white selection arrow...)

[Patrick Sewell]

Conundrum in Illustrator, CS5:

I draw a line with the pen tool. I then start drawing a new line that I want to start at the end point of the first line. However, as soon as I hover my cursor near the end of the first line, the X in the cursor changes into a / to indicate it will append to that line, rather than start a new one. I don't want that, I want to start a new line. How can I force that? (other than actually starting it somewhere else then dragging the start point to the correct location with the white selection arrow...)

I don't think you can change the setting. Perhaps you could draw the whole length, type "C" to choose the cut tool and then cut at that point? If you were doing many lines, this should be roughly the same number of clicks.

[David Medeiros]

I've always had the same issue, never heard of a way to start a new line on an existing end point without it appending. I usually do as you mention, draw the line and drag into place, or draw an appended line segment and cut to separate.

[Hans van der Maarel]

I don't think you can change the setting. Perhaps you could draw the whole length, type "C" to choose the cut tool and then cut at that point? If you were doing many lines, this should be roughly the same number of clicks.

It'd be a major hassle with MAPublisher attributes...

Dang, you'd think Adobe would have figured this one out by now...

[kay]

Hi, Hans and everyone. Have you tried to use the Pencil tool option (double click on the Pencil tool, then you will see the dialog window "Pencil Tool Option"). Then de-select the option "Edit selected path". Now try draw a line from the end line of one of the line. I think your new line will start at the end of the other line... I hope this will work...

- kay

Attached Files

•  PencilTool_deselect.PNG   12.06K   14 downloads

[Matthew Hampton]

That Pen Tool problem is a doozy. It's always bothered me, but I've just dealt with it as an occupational hazard. But your e-mail sent me looking and while I didn't find the answer I found a setting where you can adjust the "sensitivity" of the jump between X and /.

Under Preferences-->Selection & Anchor Display you can reduce the Tolerance of the Selection to 1 px. All this does is let your cursor get a little closer to the anchor point before switching, but if there was a way to change the setting to "zero," in theory the change wouldn't occur (by default the field requires 1-8). It sounds like you'll need a programmer or a friend at Adobe to work on it.

[Andrew Patterson]

This is a dumb suggestion (and may be worse than the current problem) but maybe lock the first line? I don't know if that means no Smart Guide snapping or not though.

[Adam Wilbert]

If you have "Snap to Point" turned on, there is a fairly easy way to do it, but it's really non-intuitive:

After drawing the first line, move your cursor away from the end-point, far enough that you don't get the / icon. Click and hold to start the next line there, then immediately hold down the spacebar to reposition the point. You can then move the mouse cursor back to the end point of the first line, it should snap there, release the spacebar, and then can you go about creating line 2.

It's still a workaround for something that should be the default, no-modifer-key behavior, but it's easier to move the point at the beginning of the build, then remembering to go back with the white arrow tool at the end.