How to show anchor point while drawing

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
February 5, 2023
4 replies
384 views

Hello i'm new to illustrator and don't know how to show my anchor point while I draw with the pen tool.

I'm trying to close a path using pathfinder but it makes it extra hard that everytime I go to the pen tool and start to click on one anchor point to link to another one, all the other anchor point (except the one I clicked on) are hidding.

I activated in preferences : Show Anchor point in selection Tool and Shape Tool,

but it doesn't fix my problem when i use the pen tool

This topic has been closed for replies.

Monika Gause

Community Expert

Is there no stroke applied to the path? Maybe work in outline mode? Turn on Smart guides in the view menu?

Can you make a screenshot or even a video of what you are doing? The system has tools for that.

Jacob Bugge

Community Expert

Mathias,

I am aware that this is an answer to an unasked question which may be (more) relevant in this case:

"everytime I go to the pen tool and start to click on one anchor point to link to another one"

As I (mis)understand it, you simply wish to join the two Anchor Points. If that is the case, how about just:

A) Selecting the open path and Ctrl/Cmd+J (if it gets it right)?

Or failing that:

B) Deselecting everything, then ClickDragging over the two end Anchor Points, or ShiftClicking both, and Ctrl/Cmd+J?

M

Mathias282644356cqsAuthor

Participant

Because i dont't really like the result with join, my path is not a straight line i have to play with handles, and when i tried to join the anchor points it does the work but in a sloppy straight line way

Jacob Bugge

Community Expert

Mathias,

As I (mis)understand it now, you wish to join the ends of an open path in a way that preserves the exact shapes/curvatures of the end sections and gives a matching smooth new segment fitting in between.

In that case you may consider the following failsafe way, using the existing Handles, with the Line Segment Tool, and with Smart Guides being your friends, see the rather random path somewhat similar to some sorts of apples below (shown with a black stroke):

1) Deselect, then Direct Select one of the end Anchor Points with the Direct Selection Tool which will show the Handle, then with the Line Segment Tool hover to snap to the Handle (Smart Guides say handle when you are within snapping distance) then ClickDrag to snap to the Anchor Point; this will form the first guide line (shown with a red stroke);

2) Repeat 1) for the other end Anchor Point;

3) With the (normal) Selection Tool ClickDrag the first guide line by the end at the Handle to snap to the first end Anchor Point;

Now you have the guide lines in place;

4) Click the original open shape and Ctrl/Cmd+X+F (hold Ctrl/Cmd while you click the X key and then the F key) to bring it to the top;

5) With the Pen Tool ClickDrag from the first end Anchor Point to the end of the first guide line, then ClickDrag from the other end Anchor Point to the end of the other guide line;

Now you have the missing segment in place with symmetrical Handles at each Anchor Point, and the path is closed.

You can adjust the shape smoothly on one side of an Anchor Point and leave it unchanged on the other side by making asymmetrical Handles with the help of guide lines (scaled if needed) by ClickDragging one of the Handles along its guide line to obtain the desired shape.

6) shows a sample with such asymmetry where both guidelines are scaled up by a factor of 1.5 (to 150%), and the Handles are ClickDragged to the ends, so the left end of the new segment is changed as is the top end of the next segment; the changes are shown in dashed line on top of the original shape.

You can always more freely adjust the shape smoothly on both sides an Anchor Point with (further) asymmetry by ClickDragging one of the Handles free to change both length and angle.

7) shows a sample based on 6) which is still shown in dashed line, and the new Handle is (also) shown in red.