IDCS Can't Draw a Straight Line

[glen_l_moyer@adobeforums.com]

OK, call me a dummy but I can't draw a simple straight line with IDCS. I've tried the line tool , the pen tool, the pencil tool. I've read all the help info and every time I try to draw a line all I get is a bounding box. Nothing ever appears. I've varied the stroke weight, color, type, everything I can think of and nothing. I don't want to draw a path - I want a simple straight line that shows up on the page. It can't be that hard.? I'm at a loss for why you can't just select the line tool, click a start point and drag to a stop point and viola! A line appears. That's the way it was in Quark but so help me I can't draw a line in IDCS! And I can't find a book - Lines for Dummies! Help please!

[Jean-Marc Lévy]

Use the line tool, just under the type tool. Just click, drag then release the mouse when the line has the length you want. Be sure to apply a stroke to it to be able to see it. If you press shift when you drag, you constrain it (0°, 45 ° or 90 °)

[Eric Otto]

If your stroke is set to "None" before you draw the line, a bounding box is all you'll see. Set the stroke to some color before you clik on the line tool.

[AlFerrari]

I don't want to draw a path - I want a simple straight line that shows
up on the page.




But you do want to draw a path. You see, a line is a path with a stroke of some color.

Al

[Michael_Trout@adobeforums.com]

As has been stated, you must:

1) set the stroke color to something other than 'None' or '[Paper]'
2) set the stoke weight to something other than 0 pt (this can be done in the Stroke palette or the Contol palette.
3) use the Line Tool (\) or the Pen Tool (P) to draw your lines.

From your description is sounde like you either have no color swatch applied (or are using the White or [Paper] swatch against a white background), or have the stroke weight set to 0.

hth

-mt

[Heather Bell]

Make sure the swatch color is set in the "line" box not the "fill" box, the line... is a line, it has no inside, so entering a color in the "fill" box is useless. Might be the problem.