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Closing a poly line


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Michael is correct that it will get you a closed object, but it may not be the object you want.

If you draw a rectangle but miss slightly when putting the last point (so it is not exactly coincident with the first), you end up with a 5 sided polygon rather than a four sided one. The last side may be very short and not really matter, or it may matter a lot depending on what you are trying to do.

If it does matter then you will need to use the Poly Reshape tool and grab the end point and drag it so it shows as snapping to the start point. You may have to do this in two steps, first drag it away and then drag it back.

Even better is to make sure you have the snaps on when you are drawing and snap to the start point to automatically make a closed object to start with.

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Thanks for pointing out that little "Closed" checkbox. I hadn't seen it before.

A couple of things:

1. There is no "Closed" checkbox for polylines, only polygons. Is there a way to close a polyline?

2. Regarding polygons, even if I make the effort to snap the vertices of the two ends exactly together using the above method, closing still adds another segment, although it is of length 0. When I move that vertex later, I find that the two segments that I wanted attached are not and that there is indeed an additional segment.

I agree that it is more expedient to close these polys while they are being drawn, but that's not always possible.

Any thoughts on this?

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The close box for polylines was added in VW2011.

For 2009 you will have to manually move the end points and use the point snapping to make sure they are coincident and therefore closed.

Or you could use the Reshape tool in the Show/Hide edge mode to turn on the missing segment between the end points.

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1. There is no "Closed" checkbox for polylines, only polygons. Is there a way to close a polyline?

Hmmmm - didn't know that. It must have been added in '10 or '11. You can always

1. double click the polyline to invoke the 2D reshape tool

2. switch to the + mode

3. click on the last vertex, then the first.

That will add another segment to the polyline.

If you don't need the formerly last vertex, switch to the - mode and delete it.

Regarding polygons, even if I make the effort to snap the vertices of the two ends exactly together using the above method, closing still adds another segment, although it is of length 0. When I move that vertex later, I find that the two segments that I wanted attached are not and that there is indeed an additional segment.

I'm not seeing the 0 length segment. Could you post an example?

mk

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Try this Michael.

Draw a poly. Before you make the click for the last point zoom in a 100,000% and make sure you are not snapped, but are close to the start point.

If you then step through the points the length of the segment will be so short it will round to zero.

Mark,

Are you sure you have the snaps set right and are snapping? If you are it should close by itself and you should not have the option to click the Closed box as it will already show as closed.

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Ah! I see now what is happening.

My original desire was to close a previously "open" polyline or polygon to create a closed object. I see now after your advice to work with the visibility of the edges or to close the polygon that these objects were never "open" to begin with.

For example: Let's say I drew an "open" polygon with 3 segments. Later, I tried to create a triangle out of this line by dragging one end of the line to the other end and trying to get them to stick together by checking the "Closed" checkbox. Now I realize that this segment was already a closed 4 sided figure with one line hidden. That's why I was discovering the extra segment under the "connected" vertices when I tried to move them again later. They were not connectable.

The same is true for polylines, except the visibility of the line segments can be controlled individually.

Thanks to you both! I couldn't have done it without you!

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