Illustrator Scripting :: Move Direction Handles In Sync With Anchor Point?
Aug 17, 2012
I'm trying to nudge the anchor points on an object randomly (to get an informal look). (I know some Effects do this already.)
Maintaining corner points is no problem - you just set the direction handles to the same coordinates as their anchor.
But I can't nudge a smooth point in the way I want to, which is to move the anchor but maintain the direction handles in exactly the same relation to their anchor as they had before. That is to say, they should remain smooth points.
My script calculates the difference between 'before' and 'after' positions of the anchor, and applies that difference to the direction handles… but in practice the smooth points are converted to corners, because the direction handles don't maintain their relation with the anchor.
var docRef = activeDocument;
var objects = activeDocument.selection.length;
var cShift = prompt("Point shift (pt)",5);
// loop through all objects
for(var count=0;count<objects;count++)
Are there any options to specify the "positions" etc. of handles of anchor points in order to be able to shape a little more precise for example for an image that has to be identically left and right shaped?
I'm drawing a Bell (church bell) at the moment and drawing one side first and duplicating and reflecting it works fine to get the perfectly symmetrical shape, but when I want to adjust some handles or shaping, I would like to do this identically left and right without constantly having to adjust one side and duplicate it etc.
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?
All I am trying to do is move an anchor from one location to another using vbscript. I have searched everywhere and scoured the scripting references but I have not been able to figure this out as of yet.
I am able to select anchor points without an issue....moving those points seems to be a problem.
I'm trying to get the position of point text from left anchor if left aligned, middle if center aligned and right if right aligned. is this even possible?
here are the keys of object I am trying to get at:
When using the pen tool in illustrator I see the handles as I create the object, but when I go to modify it sometimes some of my anchor points don't have handles to manipulate them. I went to show edges, bounding box, and clicked the little handles box but it still doesn't bring handles to certain points I want to curve or straighten.
Is there such a thing as a corner anchor point with handles? It's quite a common thing in other vector programs (i.e. Inkscape), but I can't change the direction (angle) of the curve leaving/entering a corner anchor point.
How can I move both handles symmetrically after the initial point is set?
pen tool:
1) drop a point 2) drop another point and drag (both handles move symmetrically in distance from point and angle) 3) finish your shape 4) switch to Direct Selection Tool 5) select one of the new points and move the handles (angle changes but distance from does not)
Here's a quick vid
[URL].........
I run in to this all the time. I'll quickly set top of a curve, make a mistake and then want to go back and symmetrically extended both handles. Right now I have to set the distance on each side independently and it's never perfectly symmetrical again.
I have a path with a smooth point. The two direction points form a direction line with any non-45-degree-angle - say 11.8 degrees. I want to drag one direction point while keeping the angle of exactly 11.8 degrees.
It's never been a problem before, but the anchor point for the Adjustment Brush in ACR is sitting exactly where I need to see what is happening. I can delete and start again, but if there is way to move or hide the anchor point while still being able to adjust the setting, it would be handy to know for next time it happens.
Having a lot of issues manipulating points on paths in Illustrator CC - this is a fundamental feature of creating vector graphics and it's very annoying I'm paying for this and it's just not working. Eating up a lot of my time simply because I can't select or convert or add the anchor.
I have a shape in illustrator CS6 that I'm trying to edit. When I try to click on a point with the Delete Anchor Point Tool nothing happens however I am able to select the point using the Direct Selection Tool and then remove it using the "Remove selected anchor points" option in the Control palette. Same issue with trying to use the Convert Anchor Point Tool.
I am using a script to move anchor points on a path that I have. When I move the anchors, the handles remain in the same location and I am getting very poor results. I was wondering if there was a way to move handles WITH the anchor points. Basically keep them relative to the anchors.
Below is how I am moving the anchor. I know that you can use leftDirection and rightDirection to move the handles, but I would like them to move the same way they would if you moved the anchors when selecting them in Illustrator.
Set currentPoint = targetPathItem.PathPoints(13) currentPoint.Anchor = Array(-1537.21, 2735.96)
I made a circle and used the direct selection tool (AICS5). I clicked on the bottom point thinking I would pull down and make the shape into a sort of ballon shape, or an upside down teardrop. but I got the shape below. It was very cool, as if I was pulling outward on both handles of the bottom point. But I was unable to repeat it. It reminds me of the time YEARS ago - when by accident, I pulled a milliion copies of a shape and had no idea how I did it. Just last week I found out about the tilde key trick and realized that's what happened!
I am trying to (among other things) move a pathpoint that was added on a pathitem rectangle. The add of the pathitem goes well, the add of the pathpoint to the rectangle is fine, although when it it is "added" it picks some arbitrary position, hence the need to change the position, starting with the anchor.
I typically write in VB.NET (2013), as I am doing here. Using Illustrator CS6.
In VBScript, documentation shows: newPoint.Anchor = Array(75, 300)
Using that syntax, I get a pre-complier error in VB.NET, as "Array" is a type and can't be used as an expression.To create an inline array in VB.NET, I would normally use:
newPoint.Anchor = {75, 300} Using this syntax, I get a runtime COM-exception error.
I'm using CS5 on a PC. I should preface this by saying it's been a long time since I used a vector graphics program, and when I did, it was Macromedia Freehand.
I am creating an object using the pen tool, and I'd like to adjust the curves on either side of an anchor point independently of one another. There was a function to do this in Freehand, but I can't seem to find it's Illustrator equivalent.
In Illustrator I have a path, I choose the add anchor point tool and am positive I have the cross hair exactly on the path but it keeps telling me I can't add the anchor point.
I've noticed that in Illustrator CC (17.1) the pen cursor doesn't automatically let you add or delete an anchor point anymore, when in Pen tool mode (P). It used to be an automatic feature in CS5, where a + or - sign would show up whenever I hovered over a selected path with the tool.
I am wondering if there is a way to add/remove/redistribute anchor points on a compound shape so that there are evenly spaced anchors along the outline of that shape.I am aware of the "add anchor points" command. But that adds a new anchor at EVERY midpoint between two anchors. It doesn't smartly calculate where to add and where to avoid adding anchors.
I have Illustrator CS6 for mac ox mountain lion. I was working with a vector image and everything was working fine. Now when i try to move any anchor point, it acts as if its not calabrated, for lack of better terms. If i try to move it one way it snaps twoards another, or if i try to adjust the hadles, they do the same. it doesn't follow my direction like it did befor. Its now impostible to use!
In PS you can drag the center anchor point of an object anywhere within the object or canvas, allowing you to rotate around that custom location versus the dead-center of the object.
Is there a way to somehow define a shortkey to the process of removing our last anchor point's unused handle?
I am talking about this:
To be able to make a sharp corner I have to manually click on the anchor point so the handle which is still unused gets deleted. The anchor points are particulary small and the don't scale when zooming so sometimes it's just hard to click them and therefore I would love if I could automatically remove the handle with a key/key combination.
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)
I have a shape I made with the pen tool, and now I want to align one anchor point of the shape with the middle of a rectangle. How can I do this? It doesn't seem like I can do what I do for objects, which is select both objects, click the object I want to align to, and hit align. If I'm not describing this properly let me know and I can try to clarify.
I have recently upgraded to CS6 from CS2. I do a lot of digital inking in Illustrator as part of my job. In CS2 I would create a simple tapered brush using 4 anchor points. When I would draw a brush stroke say with two anchor points, and then expand that brush stroke. Illustrator CS2 would convert the outlined tapered brush stroke back to the the original 4 anchor point path that I had originally created with maybe one extra point if the stroke curved drastically. Now is CS6 illustrator creates that same expanded brush with 9 to 12 anchor points in the path. This makes the program completly useless for my task. Is there anyway to correct this?
I would like to select an anchor point and adjust it so that it creates a perfect right angle. How can I do that?
Imagine some closed, filled shape, made up of a dozen anchor points. I would like to select one of those anchor points (a corner anchor point, not a smooth anchor point), and adjust it (built-in function? script?) so that it create a perfect right angle (90 deg.). This essentially would mean moving it to just the right spot so that the lines connecting it to its two neighbouring anchor points would form a right angle.
do not assume that the resulting right angle would necessarily be orientated along a North-South axis, or any other rational compass direction.
script that would sample the underlying color of anchor points in a selected gradient mesh and apply it to them? I was just thinking of ways to speed up the process of creating a vector drawing based on a picture so that all you would have to do is model your mesh and then let the script apply the colors.
In Illustrator CS5 my anchor point handles are snapping to specific angles,which I don't want. I have to turn off Smart Guides to freely adjust the handles.
Under preferences, Smart Guides, I turned off the custom construction guides, but even this did not correct the issue. I love using Smart Guides and I thought there were just in face that 'guides' and provided no snapping.
I also tried turning off 'snapping to point' to see if that was creating an issue, but no dice.
I can provide my system settings in case:
Mac OSX 10.8.4 16 GB memory Illustrator CS5
Wanted to ensure I was not missing a feature I couldn't find or research before trying to reset my preferences.
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.
