filling in broken lines

[protipknits]

Trying to figure out if adobe CS6 has any type of tool where it will automatically fill in broken lines of a copied image that was hand drawn.

i find it impossible to use my mouse to do this and image trace does not fill in broke lines of an image.

thanks in advanced.

[Doug A Roberts]

what sort of broken lines, and why is it impossible to use your mouse?

[protipknits]

i dont have steady enough hands... a mouse is too touchy and frustrates me with no success.

isnt there someway to make a line and make it automatically connect as the line should be? without unwanted kinks and curves?

[Doug A Roberts]

you don't need steady hands to use the pen tool. there's no need to draw freehand.

the trouble is, illustrator has no way of knowing what you mean by 'as the line should be', or if those kinks and curves are unwanted.

[Myra Ferguson]

Try the Pencil Tool. You should be able to adjust the amount of smoothness by double-clicking on the tool and changing it under Fidelity to get rid of the unwanted kinks. The Pencil Tool was redone for CC, but I'm fairly sure you could adjust smoothness in CS6. You can also use the Smooth tool to smooth parts of your lines.

You might also want to look into getting a Wacom tablet that lets you draw with a stylus and feels more like traditional drawing than trying to draw with a mouse.

[Myra Ferguson]

Can you post the image? And what do you want the final effect to be? It might be something that you could take into Photoshop first, darken up the lines, then bring into Illustrator to do image trace.

[protipknits]

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

If you want to use the Pencil tool, as Myra suggests, here's a video about it. http://www.jeffwitchel.net/2014/02/the-amazing-new-pencil-tool/

[protipknits]

good suggestion tried it out, does not work.

I create a line and sure yeah it's straight and nice once I turn up my fidelity and smoothness but then it literally lightens up a whole square of art.

as if though it's creating a box of slightly transparent color around the line I create.

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

And Doug is right, you should really learn how to use the Pen tool. Here's a tutorial about how to use most of Illustrator's drawing tools: http://www.jeffwitchel.net/2012/02/illustrator-drawing-tool-tips/ 

I believe the Pen tool is about 10 minute into the video.

Also take a look at the Curvature tool: http://www.jeffwitchel.net/2014/11/illustrators-new-curvature-pen-tool/ 

[jane-e]

What settings are you using in Image Trace? If your image is B&W, sometimes changing the Threshold setting will fill in at least some gaps.

Then after you Expand the Live Trace, you can

• use the Pencil tool to redraw strokes
• use the Blob brush tool to connect shapes that are fills, not strokes

Or you can re-draw on the hand-drawn image before scanning it in. (Not on the original!)

Myra's suggestion of darkening the lines in PS first using Curves or Levels is a good idea.

What is your ultimate goal that the gaps are causing a problem? We might be able to help with another approach to the problem.

[protipknits]

this worked beautifully, very simple and easy fix. thank you!!

[jane-e]

protipknits  wrote

this worked beautifully, very simple and easy fix. thank you!!

Yay, but which part was the part that worked?

~Jane

[protipknits]

Changing the threshold!

[Mariam Hovhannesyan]

with direct selection tool select line's edges anchors then click ctrl+J on you windows, or cmd+J and illustrator will join these two lines

[jane-e]

Miriam, that will work if the OP has paths selected in Image Trace, but many of the Presets are Fills. Plus the join line will be a straight line, which may not be what is wanted in this hand drawing.