Illustrator SDK :: Getting The Location Of A Symbol?
Sep 17, 2013
I have to retrieve the location of individual symbols for further hit testing. For this reason I have to get to location of symbols in the best case as an AIRealPoint.
But I don't see a way to get the location of a symbol through the AIArtPathSuite nor through the AISymbolSuite.
I have screw symbols that were imported when I converted my FreeHand file. I can't seem to locate those symbols on my drive. Might they only exist in this file, or where would I look for them? CS5.5, OSX 10.8.2.
What governs the location/distance from the object of the "object move symbol" when an item is selected? See attached image. I have selected the blue view reference text but the four way arrow/move symbol is way below it. This isn't using the move command. The arrows can be hard to find in a crowded sheet if it's very far from the item selected.
For reference I have added an image showing the location of the object move symbol for a text item. It's in the upper left corner of the text outline.
When copying a symbol (control c) then pasting (control v) I can move the symbol to another location and left click to drop it. Many times when I do this the symbol disappears and you can't see it. If I re (regen) the the entire model disappears. I can close out the drawing then open it back up the drawing has been restored and the symbol will be at the location that I had placed it at. With the same drawing, I don't have these problems with 2012.
I have blocks with several attribute tags and layers. The problem I am having is somehow when I go to replace the block with a different one the attribute tags stay in the right spot but the symbol acts like it looses its coordinates and comes in a different spot. I cant seem to fix it. When I zoom all it block editor it zooms like I have a symbol way off the mark, but I don't.
Any way to export an entire symbols Library as PNG's?
Sometimes use Illustrator (CS5 on Mac OS X 10.6.7) with it's new pixel grid view for designing websites and it would be really useful to be able to create PNG icons from various graphical symbols I create. The only way I can find at the moment is to place symbols one at a time on a blank art board and export them in the standard way. I can create at action for this but will still have to select each symbol to place.
The attached picture is me trying to balloon a part. I would like to just add some notes to the balloon so that I can update them manually but all I can find is to have a symbol. So I created a symbol, the insertion point for the symbol is shown. For some reason I get an extra number and the symbol offcenter. Why is this happening? What I'm really looking for is a balloon that is fully customizable so that I can just add text to the top and bottom and fill out the details.
Is there a way to "eval" or dynamically set a symbol name that has been parsed from XML to build a symbol path? For example, I'm trying to dynamically set a variable to the path of a sysmbol already on the stage, but it's not working correctly:
var xmlSymName = $('symName', this).text(); // where symName = "sym4" from a parsed XML node var whatPOI = sym.getComposition().getStage().getSymbol("sym1").getSymbol("sym2").getSymbol("sym3").getSymbol(xmlSymName).getSymbolElement();
Basically I have a lot of points on a map and I'd like to be able to name the points along with other data like tooltip callouts, etc populated via XML then loop through the XML to build the points of interest on the map. If I can get the above working I can place that variable path reference into an array and grab the data from it later. But the path is not working the way I have it.
The scenario is this, I have a symbol(TitlePage) on my main timeline. Inside the symbol(TitlePage) there is a play button. How can i set a click event on this symbol that access the main timeline(stage) labels?
play "SYMBOL_2" - "DIV_ANIMATION_1" - "ANIMATION_1_START" from within "SYMBOL1" - "DIV_PLAY" with the mouseup command
URL....I know that i can sym.getComposition().getStage().getSymbol("div_animation_1").play(); from within "div_play" but how do i access a point on the timeline and play from there...
I can get pre-loaded symbols to map to the art-work, but the symbol I created doesn't appear when I try to map it. I'm not sure if the problem is how I created the original artwork/symbol?
Basically I am trying to map a world map vector (symbol) onto a 3d revolve half circle in Illustrator. The problem I am having is that the quality of the map vector is significantly reduced when mapped on the 3d revolve. Is there any way I can have it keep it's "full" vector quality or is there something else I am missing.
3D Revolve Vector: [URL] ....
Actual Vector: [URL] ....
So why the loss in quality and how can I prevent this?
I have a eps figure that was generated in MATLAB. One of the axes should contain a "Delta" (triangle) symbol. The symbol appears if I allow Preview (OS X) to convert the esp file to pdf. However, when I open the file with Illustrator, I loose the "Delta" symbol (It gets replaces with a box). I need to edit the eps file with Illustrator, but I also need to retain the "Delta" symbol.
I know you can sort in the main symbol window but in the symbol libraries there is no sort feature. Is there a way to get them to be in alphabetical order?
I tried to make an animation of complex (comlicated) artwork - I thought it would be Ok by converting each part to symbol, group them - make keyframes and bring Illustrator to make me inbetweens by blending objects. Overall it works, but it has some problems - sometimes it reflect the blended symbol (vertically and horizontally), but sometimes not (so I do not know, what is the problem). Sometimes it change color of feathered black object (every, not only in blended instance) but again - sometimes not. I use CS5 - is it better in CS6? I tried some default symbols (to find out, if it is problem of my symbols) but it is not reliable too.
I'm trying to map a custom symbol to a 3D object in Illustrator. I've created the symbol and added it to the symbol library. Pre-installed symbols are mapping just fine when I follow the proper procedure, but for some reason my custom symbol doesn't map. I've followed the exact same process that works for the pre-made symbols, but the custom symbol doesn't map regardless of the type of 3D effect I'm using (Bevel & Extrude, Rotate, or Revolve).
I'm running Illustrator CS5 on Mac OSX Mountain Lion 10.8.2
I already tried it by turning the text into a symbol and also by Envelope distort > make with top object but both don't give me a result like the globe in this image. How to do this?
When attempting to save a new symbol library that I have created Illustrator CC crashes without saving the file. It does'nt matter where I try to save it, or what the original source image was.
In cs6 when I break a link to a symbol, the symbol group becomes a sublayer and the layers panel gets expanded showing all the objects in that layer. I then have to collapse the menu. every time I select any object that was part of the symbol, my layers panel expands. this is very frustrating. so avoided it, when I break a symbol, I have to select the objects from the menu panel and move them out of the sublayer. this is not very fun to do when I have a lot of symbols to deal with.
so is this a new behavior in cs6, is there a way for a symbol to break into a group and not a sublayer (ithink that's what's happening not sure)?
If I right click on a symbol instance, I get a menu item, "Break link to symbol." How can I do that same thing in Javascript?
1) That is, how do I use Javascript to break the link between a SymbolItem and the Symbol it represents? (i.e. without deleting the Symbol?)
2) Once the link is broken, how do I locate the Layer that was created when the link was broken? That is, once the link is broken, it is no longer a SymbolItem; it becomes a Layer instead. How do I locate that Layer?
So I am trying to replace gps points with a symbol I have created. I have found blogs referencing a script that can replace selected items with symbols saved in the symbols panel, but I can't seem to find the actual script! Where I can find JET_ReplaceWithSymbol.jsx or any other script that can do the same function.
When I apply the effect "drop shadow" on an object and export to pdf it works fine. When I then convert the object into a symbol and export to pdf, the effect is gone.
Once in awhile I try to use a symbol from one of the Symbol Libraries built into AI (CC in this case). I just wonder why they are dumbed down instead of retaining current features such as path profiles. This image, for example, would be a good starting point for an image if it were left with profiles intact.
I suppose these were created back with the feature did not exist. Then why not update them? I'm paying enough for the privilage of using AICC.