Arrowhead adds to line length?

Question

Ai 10.0.3
OSX 10.3.4
I am trying to dimension some signage for a set of architectural plans. Previously I had always used 'Filter > Stylize > Add Arrowheads...' to do this. Recently I've found that arrowheads are also available under 'Effect > Stylize > Add Arrowheads...'. I really enjoy all the live effects and the ability to edit them after the fact as well as preview when first creating them. I particularly enjoy the live arrows from the standpoint that when I move the line endpoint, the arrowhead automatically reorients to the correct angle.
That's all good, but on to the problem. Both types of arrowheads do NOT fall within the original line endpoints. It boggles my mind why someone would design arrowheads to behave this way? It obviously makes dimensioning very difficult and time consuming. Instead of snapping to the endpoints of some artwork or using the transform palette to numerically enter a distance, compensations have to constantly be made for the length of the arrow.
I've always had to do this with the 'filter arrows'. It was a pain, but since the arrow was actually artwork, I could get info about it concerning how much length it added. The 'live arrows' do not even provide this level of workaround because being 'live', they are not selectable as artwork without expanding their appearance, which removes their 'live' characteristics.
Question? My question is this - does anyone know of a method whereby the arrowhead (live or filter) does NOT add to the overall line length? Has anyone come across another, more efficient workaround to what I've been trying.
I know of one fairly elegant solution in plugin form - HotDoor CadTools. I would love to be able to use that for a number of reasons, but have not been able to get management approval for purchase. So in the meantime, any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Answer 1

> How is it possible to add your own symbol to the start and end of a path...
I have long argued that anything you define as a Symbol (in the Symbols Palette) should be made available for application as Arrowheads. Meanwhile, try this to get a basic principle down:
1. Rectangle Tool: ClickShiftDrag to draw a small square.
2. DoubleClick the rotate tool to rotate the square 45 degrees.
3. Press the minus key to get the Remove Point Tool. Click the leftmost point to delete it. You now have a right-pointing triangle. Give it a fill of none, solid stroke.
4. Drag the triangle and drop it into the Brushes Palette. In the resulting dialog, choose Pattern Brush.
5. Drag the new Pattern Brush from the Brushes Palette onto the page.
6. Note that the bounding box of the triangle is rectangular. This is a Group which contains two objects: The triangle you drew, and an unfilled, unstroked rectangle, which is under the triangle in the stacking order. This invisible rectangle is what determines the "tile size" of the artwork when it is used in the Brush.
7. With the DirectSelect Pointer, press Alt and drag across where you know there is an edge of the invisible rectangle, without dragging across the triangle. This "directSelects" the whole rectangular path.
8. Transform Palette: Click one of the right points of the 9-point proxy icon. Then set the Width to some small value, like 1 pt. (but not to zero).
9. Deselect. Then normal-select the whole group. Press Alt. Drag and drop the group onto the End Tile of your Pattern Brush.
10. The Group is still on the page. DoubleClick the Rotate tool and rotate it 180 degrees. AltDrag and drop this onto the Start Tile of your Pattern Brush.
11. Rectangle Tool: Draw a small square. Fill of none. Stroke of none. AltDrag and drop this onto the Side Tile of your Pattern Brush (the tile where the very first triangle originally appeared when you first defined the Brush. This replaces the Side Tile of the Brush with, effectively, nothing.
Now try it out:
12. Line Tool: Draw a line. Apply the Brush. Note that the "arrowheads" are positioned very near the ends of the path, instead of protruding out beyond them as do AI's normal Arrowheads.
13. DirectSelect one endpoint of the path. Drag it nearer and nearer the other end. Note that even when it gets very near, the triangles retain their shape. Drag even closer until the two triangles actually overlap. Still they retain their proportion (within a very small variance--it's a function of how narrow you made the invisible box. If, however, you had given the width of the invisible box a value of zero, the end tiles would distort when the path is very short.)
14. Now draw another line or curvey path. Apply the Brush. Expand Appearance. Ungroup. Note that the invisible box you used to define the Side Tiles did not result in a bunch of invisible boxes along the length of the path. (This is a good thing.)
15. So now you have custom arrowheads. But the length of the path is invisible. Appearance Palette: Add New Stroke. Make the new stroke whatever color, width you want. Drag the whole path to the Graphic Styles Palette to define a Style which you can apply to other paths with one click.
All this convoluted bother is
almost like a custom arrowheads feature common in som many other drawing programs. But it is not perfect. If the path is tightly curved at either of its endpoints, the End and Start Tiles artwork will still deform in an attempt to bend around the curve. In most cases, you can circumvent this by placing a short straight segment beyond the curvepoint.
Again: Illustrator need these improvements:
The existing Arrowheads Effect dialog needs to be changed to simply include popup menus showing the currently defined Symbols, and a little preview frame that lets you position the Symbol in relation to the endpoint of the path.
The Brush Options dialog for Pattern Brushes needs to be given a checkbox which disallows distortion of end tiles.
JET