Adobe Illustrator: how to trim intersecting lines?

[anomaly007]

Hello all! I am a newbie to Illustrator and am trying to figure out how to trim straight lines based on their intersection of other lines so that two crossing lines can become a v-shaped path (and can I join open paths that intersect into a closed-path object?). These tasks are very easy to accomplish in CAD programs and I know Illustrator can detect the intersections because of how the LivePaint feature works and it can delete parts of shapes based on their intersections. I just can't figure out how to do it.

Another question that would help my productivity is the possibilty of specifying lengths and angles with each segment of the pen tool, which closes multi-segment paths for you. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions since my approach to design is very geometrically oriented and having to zoom in to 800% and erase parts to get it to look as if there is one corner is both time-consuming and theoretically unsatisfying to me. Thanks so much!

[jhercilia]

I don't know which version you have but Illustrator CS2 has an option under Oject/Path-Divide Ojects Below that you can try. Also once you creat a path, you can make it of an exact size by changing its dimensions from the Path toolbar that turns on when you click on a path. I know that in AutoCad you get to specify the exact length of a line before executing the command, but I don't think Illustrator is able to do that. You can always turn on your ruler and Smart Guides to help you with meassurements.

[anomaly007]

Thanks! It turns out that I can accomplish what I need with the Smart Guides. Not as efficient as drafting-oriented programs, but I'll take it!