Illustrator

Stroke an object

You use the Stroke panel (Window > Stroke) to control whether a line is solid or dashed, the dash sequence if it is dashed, the stroke weight, the stroke alignment, the miter limit, and the styles of line joins and line caps.

Strokes panel

You can apply stroke options to an entire object, or you can use Live Paint groups and apply different strokes to different edges within the object.

Apply a stroke color, width, or alignment

  1. Select the object. (To select an edge in a Live Paint group, use the Live Paint Selection tool.)
  2. Click the Stroke box in the Tools panel, the Color panel, or the Control panel. Doing so indicates that you want to apply a stroke rather than a fill.

    Stroke box

  3. Select a color from the Color panel, or a swatch from the Swatches panel or Control panel. Alternatively, double-click the Stroke box to select a color using the Color Picker.
    If you want to use the current color in the Stroke box, you can simply drag the color from the Stroke box onto the object. Dragging does not work on Live Paint groups.
  4. Select a weight in the Strokes panel or Control panel.
  5. If the object is a closed path (and not a Live Paint group), choose an option from the Stroke panel to align the stroke along the path:

    • Align Stroke To Center 

    • Align Stroke To Inside 

    • Align Stroke To Outside 

    Note: If you try to align paths that use different stroke alignments, the paths may not exactly align. Make sure the path alignment settings are the same if you need the edges to match up exactly when aligned.

Create dotted or dashed lines

You can create a dotted or dashed line by editing an object’s stroke attributes.

  1. Select the object.
  2. In the Stroke panel, select Dashed Line. If the Dashed Line option isn’t showing, choose Show Options from the Stroke panel menu.
  3. Specify a dash sequence by entering the lengths of dashes and the gaps between them.

    The numbers entered are repeated in sequence so that once you have established the pattern, you don’t need to fill in all the text boxes.

  4. Select a cap option to change the ends of the dashes. The Butt Cap  option creates square-ended dashes; the Round Cap  option creates rounded dashes or dots; the Projecting Cap  option extends the ends of dashes.
    6-point dashed lines with dash gaps of 2, 12, 16, 12

    A.
    Butt cap

    B.
    Round cap

    C.
    Projecting cap

Change the caps or joins of a line

A cap is the end of an open line; a join is where a straight line changes direction (turns a corner). You can change the caps and joins of a line by changing the object’s stroke attributes.

  1. Select the object.
  2. In the Stroke panel, select a cap option and a join option.

    If the options aren’t showing, choose Show Options from the panel menu.

    Butt Cap 
    Creates stroked lines with squared ends.

    Round Cap 
    Creates stroked lines with semicircular ends.

    Projecting Cap 
    Creates stroked lines with squared ends that extend half the line width beyond the end of the line. This option makes the weight of the line extend equally in all directions around the line.

    Miter Join 
    Creates stroked lines with pointed corners. Enter a miter limit between 1 and 500. The miter limit controls when the program switches from a mitered (pointed) join to a beveled (squared-off) join. The default miter limit is 4, which means that when the length of the point reaches four times the stroke weight, the program switches from a miter join to a bevel join. A miter limit of 1 results in a bevel join.

    Round Join 
    Creates stroked lines with rounded corners.

    Bevel Join 
    Creates stroked lines with squared corners.