curve segment to a line

[mjackson83002]

Occasionally, I end up with a segment that looks like a straight line, but is really a curve segment with handles almost perfectly in line with the segment. How can I easily select the segment and turn it into a line?

Seems easy.

MJ

[Monika Gause]

With the Anchor point tool click on both anchors one after the other. 

Which is perhaps not the overall quickest solution. 

Try Object > Path > Simplify. Go into the Advanced options and turn on "Make straight lines" (or the like, I'm on German)

You should be able to make this an action.

[Kurt Gold]

Are you talking about a single path that consists of only two anchor points?

Or is it a path with multiple anchor points and just one of its segments looks like a straight segment, but actually is not?

[mjackson83002]

I attached a screen grab to show what I am asking about. I have a few files that had very small radius corners all over the design. All was good until I ran the Simplify command and saved the file before realizing it had botched quite a few of the original straigh lines, turning them into curve segments. Sometimes the line looks like a straight line, but it is actually a flat curve segment. I exagerated it in the top rectangle image.

For some fixes, I have selected all of the segments between the rounded corner points, deleted them and then immediately hit Command-J to join the points with a line. (see attachment)

I've also connected the open shapes using the pen tool. 

I've also tried clicking Shift-C to change the point type before joining. 

I am looking for the tool in which I select the grouping of curves (or a single segment) and click "make line". 

MJ

[Kurt Gold]

As far as I understand your request, you may just select the anchor points that connect the segments in question and then hit the Convert Selected Anchor Points To Corner button in the Control palette.

The Straight Lines option in the Simplify dialog could be useful in this case, but it cannot be applied to individually selected segments. Only to entire paths.

[mjackson83002]

Hi again,

The straight liner option in Simplify doesn't do the job as far as I can tell.

I attached a screen grab with the two issues I have active on the forum at this time. (these are simple examples that I can hopefully work into some of the more complex designs.) In the example, the top line is curved in a couple of different sections. The right side has a short straight line and a curve segment. The bottom and right side is not perpendicular to the lower right point in the circle. The bottom line is not on axis relative to the point on the lower right. 

I am looking for the easiest fixes. 

Thanks again,

MJ

[Bobby Henderson]

Unfortunately the stock Illustrator tool set is (in my humble opinion) missing a couple or so conversion button commands for anchor points and path segments. Two plugins from Astute Graphics can quickly solve the problem you describe. Vector First Aid can automatically remove unnecessary handles on straight segments; it can do this for many selected objects all at once. The Pathscribe plugin has a bunch of commands, including one where you can select a path segment between two anchor points and retract the handles, converting it to a straight line segment. 

[mjackson83002]

Bobby, thanks for your reply. I just spent another 30 minutes with Vector Scribe and it definitely helped. People on this forum have helped tremendously. I always hate to ask what seems like a basic question until I've spent a reasonable amount of time tryng to make it work. I have found that in many cases, the reason I can't do it is because Illustrator doesn't have the features. Sometimes it takes two or three extra steps to do a relatively simple task I can do in one step in one of my old sign design programs. On the other hand, the current version of Illustrator does a world of great things the old software couldn't. 

I just paid for another year of Astute Graphics. It has been worth the money over the past three months of working heavily in Illustrator. 

[Bobby Henderson]

Astute Graphics' impressive suite of Illustrator plugins is kind of pricey. But Vector First Aid saves me a lot of time when I have to harvest art assets out of customer provided PDF files. So many of the other plugins are very useful, either making it easier to edit paths or opening new creative capabilities.

I use Adobe Illustrator a great deal in my work, but still have to lean on some rival applications for certain kinds of tasks. CorelDRAW is inferior to Illustrator in many respects, but that application has the best set of keyboard shortcuts for object alignment and distribution (and its actual align palette has more options than its rivals).

[mjackson83002]

Bobby, it sounds like we are both on the same page. I bought Corel Draw! when it was version 1.0 because Gerber Scientific had a pass-through to get Vector files from Corel to their Graphic Advantage program (now Omega). That was back when a lot of companies had proprietary formats. Omega is not available on a Mac, so I am having to learn how to make Illustrator and Astute do all of the work. Many simple tasks feel like workarounds. Cheers, MJ