How to make a character perfectly symmetrical

[Tgibs2]

Hi everyone. I have a character I am building that I will eventually move to Animate. My current process is create a shape, then chop it in half, next bring the shapes together and unit or shape builder them. This usually results in two tiny anchor points right next to eachother which is annoying and doesn't creat perfect symmetry. One side of the character is always just a little bit different than the other. Surely, SURELY, there is a better way to do this. Other problem solutions, besides manually subtracting anchors, was also selecting and "averaging" the anchors but that always seems to create a twisted path... Simplifying works until it has two anchors left, and won't simplify more after that. Thank you in advance for the insight. 

[Hugh Betcha]

I'd say: Make the two sides offset/overlap each other a bit, then use Pathfinder --> Divide tool to get rid of extras

[Tgibs2 · Accepted solution]

This worked perfectly, though I modified it but perhaps this is also what you intended.

• Dragged a guide
• I turned on only snap to points
• Use rectangle and shape builder to divide shape in half
• Select both hafls, then pathfinder>>divide
• Next I clicked unit. That perfectly joined the shapes without creating extra anchor points close together. 

Your an amazing individual for responding so fast and also solving a very simple problem that has taken me hours to try and figure out. But, that's adobe for you. Thanks again. 

[creative_curiosity1549]

Drag a guide and then align the anchors precisely to it.

Or align the 2 anchors before uniting.

Or use the join tool from the tool panel for joining.

Or use the shapebuilder tool.

[Tgibs2]

Thanks for all the different methods. I will try them all and see which one works/is the fastest. 

[Tgibs2]

• Used the guide and align options after chopping in half with shape builder. Couldn't get join tool to work. Thanks for the feedback especially for the guide. For those in the future looking to solve the same problem, this video was super helpful for figuring out how to snap points to a guide. 
• How to make anchor points snap to guide 

[creative_curiosity1549]

Glad you could solve it. You should give the Join tool another try: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/tool-techniques/join-tool.html

[Tgibs2]

Thanks for the link. The quick gif in the tools panel was too fast I guess. I realized I have click the arrow over a few times on the reflected shape so the lines overlap a bit. Yes, this also work. Thank you for the encouragement and the resource.