Traced objects not filling...

[Big Frank]

it is two lines once you break it apart

[handrawn]

hum - if you go into wireframe view and zoom in you cann clearly see the two breaks [when zoomed right in at the correct positions]

ok - what I think you have done Coleen is you have used the 'join' function on two lines which then makes them 'one' in the wrong sense - should not use 'join' [ctrl+j] on lines because although it makes them one line object it does not make them one line for the purposes of filling...

[Coleen]

Wow - I LOVE you guys! Thank you all! Okay - I did find the second break, but I had already tired converting it to a shape, and didn't go back on the undo far enough to get it back to a line status. That's where the frustration came in. I tried selecting the whole thing, converting it to a shape then imposing it over a square colored background and slicing, intersecting - but all to no avail. The slicing showed me where the second break was...

What I ended up doing was re-tracing the entire thing. Now I have it - perfectly. Mike - you've explained this so I can actually understand what I'm doing wrong - thank you. Honestly - at first I was grumbling because I didn't read your whole post, and I thought "yes we do need a fill selected object" tool, but I finished reading your explanation and really, truly appreciate it. Frances - wow - thanks so much for the quick video - that was great! Steve & David - thanks so much! I think, maybe (knock on wood) I got this now... (whacks self on forehead for how easy this "should" be!) Thank you all!

[angelize]

you are quite welcome Coleen. Don't whack yourself too hard, hand tracing takes practice to do it quickly and accurately without accidentally dropping the lines. I've done it many times myself, and usually wind up going back to correct the break(s)

[graphicsfactory]

Hi Coleen,

Glad I could help. I get this problem ALL the time when I import or cut and paste something from Illustrator, ESPECIALLY text converted to objects.