Joing Two Lines Becomes a Polyline Instead of Single Line

[Bill Tillman]

I often join to colinear lines together but I notice that sometimes it forms a single new line but other times it becomes a new polyline. I don't really care for a polyline unless necessary so what am I missing when this operation takes precedence over my actions?

[tombu]

If the segments are exactly in the same direction they will join as a line, otherwise you will get a polyline.

[Bill Tillman]

I'll have to double check that, but AFAIK the lines are coplanar and colinear.

[ammobake]

joining 2 lines in Autocad (2020 at least) will normally produce a polyline, from what I can tell, regardless of their relationship.

 

If you draw your 2 lines, explode them, then use join command, they will form a "line".  But most drafters I know pretty much only use polylines anyway since they are more useful.

 

Plus, if you have a drawing with 3d objects, snapping to objects in plan view can mean your lines end up, literally, all over the place in the Z dimension.

Polylines make keeping things coplanar pretty much foolproof - not to mention their other benefits/abilities.

 

I dont' think I've used the "line" command in autocad since like 2004.

 

-ChriS

[steven-g]

Joining two lines forms a line if it is one colinear object that is created, otherwise lines join to become a polyline.