Illustrator :: Moving Pattern Starting Point On A Path
Jan 29, 2014
I have had this problem since I started using patterns. Basically when I put a pattern on a path I want to then move it along that path so it starts where I want it to start, not neccessarily on the path's starting point.
There is an image of how it looks like
I created a simple pattern to show my issue. For example I want to move this pattern along this circle so it looks like this (triangle points up)
As you can see I rotated the whole circle to get the right outcome I need, but if it was just a regular path I would not be able to fix it this way.
Is there a way to do that? Something like moving text along a path.
I want it to be a variable stroke, so I loaded up “Width Profile 2” in the profiles. The trouble I am having, is that Illustrator defaults to start the larger dots in the bottom right hand corner, and I would like the “starting point” to be in the middle of the line if you know what I mean. I'm still happy for the dots to start big, then gradually decrease in size, but I want to control where the “beginning” is.
I need to design a walking track 1 mile (5280 feet) from a starting point and finishing at the same point. I need to go around buildings, ponds, etc. What is the best way to tackle this? I thought about 16 splines at 330', but as soon as the spline is moved the distance changes.
In Illustrator CS3 I often make new swatch pattern to use as a fill.
When I flll an object w/ that swatch, then copy that object, then paste it into a new file, the pattern has moved inside the object. When I paste the object within the original file I copied it, the pattern doesn't move.
How do I lock the pattern from moving or prevent it from moving? (Apple+ F or B) doesn't work.
I realized I could rename the file, save it, and make changes, as a workaround solution. I'm looking for something more efficient, however.
How to choose my starting point to be relative to another point without drawing help lines (which mean they must be drawn, selected, deleted = time).
For argument's sake, consider I am attempting to draw a cross. I use the line command, input a starting point; choose next point: @100<0 (to draw a line 100 units in length at an angle 0 [relative to X axis] relative to previous point).
Now I need a vertical line of equal length to cross the middle-point of the horizontal one. I could snap to middle-point, draw a line of half-length at angle 90 and draw another of 2.(length) at angle -90. This produces 2 lines one of which is unwanted must therefore be selected and deleted.
This simple example illustrates my point.
I need a command which allows me to choose my first point (for the LINE command) as the point which is "X" units at angle "alpha" relative to a point "x,y" (or a coordinate selected by the SNAP tool if you will).
1.) The type "Mariners" sloping downward in an arc. I was able to get the Seattle part using type on a path on a circle and typing on top. Question is, can I also type Mariners on the bottom of that path? I recall that not being the case. Am I supposed to draw another circle over the one that Seattle is typed on and then on that one type on the bottom?
2.) For the stitching, am I supposed to create one stitch and then create a brush, draw a curve and then apply the brush to that curve?
I have some type converted to outlines, and it is in front/on top of a places raster pattern. when I select the type shapes and pattern and make a clipping mask, the pattern disappears and the letter shapes are filled with nothing!
Matters not whether the letter shapes are grouped or not...is there a way to have all of the letter shapes act as clipping mask together?
Trying to mask type with a vector pattern (place a vector pattern in a type clipping path), but nothing seems to be working. Never had issue before. Tried path in front, pattern in front, converting type path to compound path, converting vector to compound path. A couple of times it looked like it worked, but the pattern was invisible within the path. Illustrator CS6, on a Mac.
I'm used to working with the pen tool in Adobe Photoshop, so Illustrator is just different enough to be problematic, since my automatic keyboard shortcut uses don't quite work. My biggest problem when drawing paths in Illustrator is that I can't figure out how to move individual anchor points without moving the entire connected path. I'm not using the direct selection right, or I don't have the rest of the path deselected properly, or something? How to move only individual anchor points in a path. (I am very tired of trying to move anchor points and ending up scooting the entire path along with it.)
General Information: Windows Vista (relevant only for keyboard shortcuts, I suppose) Illustrator CS2
I've made a pattern brush that I'm using to simulate a woods line for a boardgame map:
Shown above is the unstroked bounding box as well. To use this brush, I draw an outline of a woods mass with the pencil tool, then apply the brush and Expand Appearance. At that point I'm hoping the brush sections will join into one closed path so that I can fill it with a woodsy green, but instead the fill gets applied to each section of brush independently:
The join points seem fine - it's not like the two ends of the brush don't line up at all: EDIT - Actually, that's not just one point in the middle there - that's the ends of both paths lying almost on top of each other. It's possible to separate the two and then ctrl-J join them. Problem is, I want that single path automatically.
So how to get Illustrator to treat the resulting path as one closed path instead of a compound path?
While using the pen tool, moving the current anchor point by hold down the spacebar, is a great time-saver and I use it frequently. But I find it a little frustrating that, when closing a path, the "spacebar" feature does not work. Instead, the apposing direction point goes whacko. Is there an alternate keyboard shortcut to overcome it? Even though I "know" it won't work, I seem unable to resist holding the spacebar to fine-tune the last anchor point.
I am trying to create a pattern that I have created in previous itterations of Illustrator. In CC when I create a triangle (either via Star, Poly, or Pen tool) and then try to rotate it via Transform Each > Transform again, the rotation point moves according to what the bounding box would be if I reset it, rather than staying in one (original) spot relative to the actual bounding box and triangle. I cannot find any settings that would be affecting the rotate point in this way. I am pretty confident that I am using the same procedure now that I did in older versions of Illustrator. Perhaps I am using the wrong procedure.
Naturally, if you are rotating something around its center you should expect that it would end up create a circular pattern. It is more of a square with concave sides. The red is a perfect circle that I grouped to the triangle to demonstrate the rotate points movement. It is located in the exact center according to the align tools.
I have made a curved path in Illustrator CS6, just a simple stroke (left in picture). Is there an easy way to round the corner of the end of it? Something like the image on the right? (I just tossed a circle over top to give an idea)
Is there any way to find a specific point on a path, that is not necessarily an anchor point?
What I'd like to be able to do is tell Illustrator "Give me the coordinates of the point that's exactly at half of this path's length" or "... exactly 25% ...". And if that's possible, can I somehow add an anchor point to that point, or cut the path at that point?
I'm wondering how it's possible to drag only one handle out of an anchor point. Sometimes I have a path and some anchor points have only one handle dragged out. Now I want to adjust the other handle _without_ changing the already positioned handle. Is this even possible?
The "convert anchor point tool" does allow me to drag out handles, but only both at a time. This always results in changing the already positioned handle's position.
Is it possible to find intersection poit of the anchor point and any point on path?
Like on a picture, there are an anchor poit from a line, which intersects arc path, and I need to find intersection poit on the arc (can be line) path. Thus I can do further processing for arc after intersection - change position, set color etc.
I suppose I need to divide that arc path and that will be the best way, but all I need for this moment extract point before intersection and after and process in our custom preview. Is there way to find this intersection?
I am developing a plugin for Illustrator CS5, 6. I have a scenario which requires the plugin to place a text frame inside a closed path art. How can I calculate the proper destination coordinates? The path art can be a curve or a rectangle, any shape. I need to place the text frame inside the path such that no part of the text frame overlaps the boundaries of the path art.
I looked at the forum and found the following thread: [URL] .....
Here, its stated that the method AIPathfinderSuite::DoFrontMinusBackEffect of the API did the required task. I tried the same but couldn't get it to work.
My first preference is to use the Illustrator SDK, not any third party libraries.
So i've got a stroke in a circular path. I use the scissor tool and cut a segment of it out. Now, i want to move one of the end points up and have the anchor points after it follow the movement to keep the smooth line. I think Flash had a tool like this. It allowed you to manipulate one point that would affect the whole path depending on how extreme or what direction you went.
When I have been drawing things I often want to start drawing from an existing line but not on an existing node/end point/mid point etc. For example I need to draw a support collumn on a wall 20' from a corner, but everytime I start it will snap to the nearest endpoint or midpoint.
A similar problem is if I am trying to draw a rectangle that is centered on the midpoint of another object. The rectangle tool will snap to the midpoint and the placement will be off by 1/2 the width of the rectangle.
This is not an osnap issue, but more of a best drawing practices question. In the past I have used DIMLIN to create a node to snap my starting point to, or drawn a new line out to the point where I want to start. I don't like doing this because then I have to erase it later(just to keep the drawing tidy).
I have a VBA to insert a block I ask the user for an insertion point GETPOINT. Then I allow the user to select an angle. GETANGLE starting with the insertion point. If the user picks a point or enters a number there is no problem.
However if the user hits enter it crashes saying invalid input. What I want to happen that if enter happens it accepts it as an angle of 0.
I noticed that if i draw a very short line (about 10 pixels or less) then cursor shifts back to starting point.
Tested on systems an drivers: Mac OS X 10.6.4 or 10.7.4 Driver 6.3.0 or 6.3.3-3 Photoshop CS 5 (12.0.4) Photoshop CS 5.5 (12.1) Mac OS X 10.8.2, Driver 6.3.3-3 and Photoshop 6 (13.0.1) - same problem.
I have three Intuos 5 tablets for now and all have this bug so this is not a hardware problem i think. Corel Painter 12 - all good.
When trying to draw a line and choose a starting point, autocad decides that this is wrong and start the line in a different place. I've turned of autosnap and autotrack but this dosen't work.
I do aerial photography with a large rc helicopter. Camera movement is hard to get rid of. I am looking forward to the upgraded Warp stabilizer "VFX" to work with that. I have been using the Warp in AE and motion tracking. I just don't know how to launch the multi point program in AE cloud.
I am trying to export geometry found in a flat pattern sketch overlaid onto the flat pattern.
Since I am creating the output file manually I gather the flat pattern boundaries and bend center lines for output to a file.
When I add flat pattern sketch entities to the mix they do not overlay properly. What matrix would I have to push the sketch entities through to get them to the same coordinates as the flat pattern?
I played with the feature a bit and understand how to create the patterns. Problem is when I go to fill in my 12x12 space there are seams. I have chosen different sizes in the pattern window but all show up with seams when I fill the larger space. Am I doing something wrong or is the largest size you can create with this tool seamlessly only 9x9?
Multiple times, when I have been working in a file, my cursor can no longer move smoothly over the drawing space. Istead, it moves as if it was in a grid and I can not move the cursor freely. The grid view is off so that is not the problem.
I love the new Pattern Maker in CS6, but I keep running into a problem:
When I create a pattern that is NOT tiled in Grid (i.e. Brick), it usually works without any problem. But once I save and re-open the file, opening the pattern in PM again will show this message:
A clipping mask was created around the pattern tile bounds to preserve legacy pattern appearance. For best results, release the clipping mask when changing the tile size or editing art that overlaps the tile edge. I would then find that, instead of a single motif layed out in a Brick tile, I would have one complete motif in the center and four quartered motifs on the corners of one clipping box. This is tiled in a Grid pattern to emulate a Brick appearance.
So long story short, what's supposed to be a Brick tile turns into a Grid tile that's faking a Brick tile.
Starting with a circular shape, I've got type around two-thirds of a circular path. Now I want to grab the sentence and move it to start further down on the circular path. What tool/sequence to I use to grab type and move it along a path?
