Ways Of Moving Elements In Illustrator CS4
Adobe Illustrator is key component of Adobe CS4. Since Illustrator is vector-based drawing environment each Illustrator drawing consists of independent elements or objects. Much of the process of creating a drawing consists of transforming objects either to customise them or to derive other objects. In this article we will examine some of the key techniques used when moving objects.
First of all Illustrator transformations can be carried out in three different way using the selection or free transform tool using the transform tools scale rotate shear & reflect or using the options in the Transform sub-menu of the Object menu. Using the selection or free transform tools is very much like transforming vector & other objects in most non-specialist programs such as Microsoft Word or PowerPoint.
One of the simplest forms of transformation is movement. To move an object with the pointer or free transform tool simply position the cursor over the object click & hold down the mouse button & drag the object to a new position. If you hold down the Shift key as you do so you will constrain the movement of the object to the horizontal vertical or diagonal plane.
You can also highlight the object & then use the cursor keys on your keyboard to move it up down left or right. The amount of movement is dictated by one of the settings in your preferences. To change this choose Preferences form Edit menu Windows or choose Illustrator form Apple menu Macintosh . In the general category enter a setting for “Keyboard Increment”. The default setting is 0.3528 mm.
When using the keyboard to move an object you can increase the amount of movement by a factor of ten by holding down the Shift key in conjunction with any of the cursor keys. Also bear in mind that keys repeat; so if you keep a cursor key down the object will move continuously. You don’t have to press the key repeatedly.
A more precise way of moving an object is to use the menu command Object-Transform-Move. This displays a dialogue in which you can enter the precise distance that you would like the object to move. There are four settings horizontal vertical distance & angle. Any of the four can be modified & the other three will be automatically updated. For example if you enter 10 for horizontal & 10 for vertical Illustrator will automatically enter 45 degrees for the angle & 14.1421 for the distance. If you then enter 10 for the distance Illustrator will change both the horizontal & vertical settings to 7.0711; & so forth. The Move dialog also contains a preview option so that you can verify that the object will end up where you want it to as well a Copy button allowing you to duplicate & offset the original object.
The author is trainer & developer with Macresource Computer Training a UK IT training company offering Adobe Illustrator CS4 tuition in London & throughout the UK.