What is causing these rogue lines when I 'join' all lines in an image?

[Overground555]

I am working on a logo design, as can be seen in image 1, and I have finished several of the lines I want to bring into the design, so now I want to combine them and start filling them with color and adjusting the border colors. When I try to 'join' all the lines together, it creates these odd lines, as can be seen in image 2.

what is causing this, and is there a better way of doing what I am trying to do? Thank you all for your help.

[Monika Gause]

This is happening because joing all lines at once sometimes is not done cleverly. Or because it can't work.

Use the live paint tool. Read about it in the documentation.

[Myra Ferguson]

You can drag over the various segments you want to connect with the Join Tool to connect them.

[Overground555]

Thanks for the response Myra.

I'm still confused as to why I'm seeing those strange lines that develop when I join everything? Do you know what causes them?

I wanted to join everything because I have many lines, and I don't know what should be joined with what, in order to fill this design in.

[Monika Gause]

You don't need to join anything. Just use Live paint.

[Doug A Roberts · Accepted solution]

nathane49939165  wrote

Thanks for the response Myra.

I'm still confused as to why I'm seeing those strange lines that develop when I join everything? Do you know what causes them?

You have a number of open paths in your design. When you join all, any open ends will be joined to the nearest other open end. This means illustrator will draw connecting paths between those points.

[John Mensinger]

nathane49939165  wrote

I don't know what should be joined with what,

Neither does Illustrator. As Doug pointed out, open paths seeking closure as the result of your join-all efforts produce the "rogue" segments.

to fill this design in.

And as Monika pointed out, all you need for that is Live Paint. No need to Join.

[Overground555]

I'll work with life paint then to try and solve this matter. Thank you all for your help and clarification.

[Myra Ferguson]

If setting the fill is your only concern, then use Live Paint, like Monika suggested. However, you mentioned your artwork is for a logo. In that case, I can understand wanting to have finished corners. Segments that aren't joined can look sloppy. Once you join them (like with the Join Tool), you can set the type of corner to a Miter Join, a Round Join, or a Bevel Join.

Here are some corners for comparison: (from left to right:  not joined, Miter Join, Round Join, and Bevel Join).

[Monika Gause]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Myra+Ferguson  schrieb

However, you mentioned your artwork is for a logo. In that case, I can understand wanting to have finished corners.

Just expand the live paint.

[Myra Ferguson]

Just expand the live paint.

Well, not "just expand." Expanding works to make the shape, but Illustrator doesn't automatically join the corners of the original stroked paths. You could expand, then delete the original segments, and apply a stroke.

For example, below from left to right are 1. 3 non-joined paths, 2. 3 non-joined paths filled as a Live Paint group, 3. the Live Paint group expanded (and the corners look the same regardless of the top 3 Object, Fill, and/or Stroke settings) , 4. The Live Paint group expanded with the original paths deleted, and 5. the expanded Live Paint group with a new stroke applied with corners set to Miter Join.

Monika Gause, do you have a different way of automatically converting the corners by expanding a Live Paint group?

[Monika Gause]

When doing construction work with Live paint I don't apply strokes at all. I make shapes first, then convert, then use pathfinder Merge if necessary, then apply strokes.