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shunithD
shunithD
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Aligning stars...

Jul 25, 2012 2:30 AM

Hi...

 

Am looking to align several stars (five pointed ones) centrally... (problem is the horizontal alignment). Question is, how does one go about it?

 

I've tried / know the following:

 

1. The bounding box is not 'related' to the centre of the star - so have gone the route of manually shifting the centre. Duplicating and resizing the star... it doesn't align on the horizontal.

 

2. Have tried not shifting the centre. Same result as 1. above

 

3. Have tried the Transform route, created multiple stars, expanded and ungrouped. Done with both the manually adjusted centre as well as the default centre. Same as 1. above

 

4. Have tried creating a circle and aligning the stars to that... no luck

 

In all cases the smaller copies seem to ride upwards... meaning that the top edges are closer to each other and the bottom edges are gapped more.

 

Important point is copies... the original aligns fine to a circle. The copies don't.

 

Yes, it's possible to grab the centre points and align them but surely there must be an 'automatic' way?

 

BTW, have been trying this only with a 5-pointed star - as in the US flag. I doubt the problem exists in a star with an even number of points.

1234 Views   15 Replies   Latest reply: shunithD, Jul 26, 2012 5:19 AM
 
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  • steve fairbairn
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    1. steve fairbairn,
    Jul 25, 2012 2:57 AM   in reply to shunithD
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    The bounding box is not 'related' to the centre of the star

    Here you hit the nail on the head. So what you have to do is to find the star's geometrical centre like this (use Smart Guides to help):

    Picture 1.png

    Using the place where the lines cross as your centre, draw a  rectangle larger (higher) than the star's bounding box, colour it None and group it with the star. Delete the two lines. Now you can align automatically.

     
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  • shunithD
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    2. shunithD,
    Jul 25, 2012 3:21 AM   in reply to steve fairbairn
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    Here's the way i do it...

     

    1. Create star this is the star i'm talking about:

    star01.gif

    2. Copy it.

    3. Delete the outer nodes, retaining only the five inner ones

    4. Using 'Align to selection, align the vertical and horizontal axes so that you see only one node.

    5. Delete four nodes, retaining only one

    6. Paste in front - Control F

    7 Select all and create a compound path

     

    You now also have a star with a geometrical centre from which, you can now draw a circle that touches all points perfectly. However, duplicating and reducing or increasing the size of the star copy/ies does not line up the centres... That's the problem.

     
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  • Jacob Bugge
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    3. Jacob Bugge,
    Jul 25, 2012 3:25 AM   in reply to shunithD
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    Hi Shunith, long time no see.

     

    A silly and simple way of doing the first part:

     

    1) Copy the Star to the front,

    2) Object>Path>Average (this will give you 10 Anchor Points on top of one another at the centre),

    3) Shift+Alt/Option+Drag with the Rectangle (or Ellipse) Tool from the centre (where the Smart Guides say anchor point) to get the larger square (or circle),

    4) Delete the averaged path from 2).

     

    And what Steve said.

     
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  • Jacob Bugge
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    4. Jacob Bugge,
    Jul 25, 2012 3:37 AM   in reply to shunithD
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    Shunith (after cross posting),

     

    When I group the star and the circle (made any one of the three ways described), move a few copies horizontally and reduce one or more of them, all centres are kept aligned vertically.

     

    Maybe there is something more hidden in this.

     
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  • steve fairbairn
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    5. steve fairbairn,
    Jul 25, 2012 3:51 AM   in reply to Jacob Bugge
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    Yep, or use a circle instead of the rectangle that I first suggested.

     

    The point being that the centre of the circle/rectangle must be on the geometrical centre of the star, not the centre of its bounding box.

     
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  • shunithD
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    6. shunithD,
    Jul 25, 2012 5:35 AM   in reply to shunithD
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    Mea culpa,

     

    I meant vertical alignment... top and bottom... not horizontal (left and right).

     
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  • shunithD
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    7. shunithD,
    Jul 25, 2012 5:55 AM   in reply to shunithD
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    Hi Jacob... yup... long tome. Hope all's well?

     

    Jacob/ Steve.... Sorry, perhaps my fault for not explaining properly... left and right, horizontal is not a problem... it's the top and bottom - vertical alignment that goes off...

     

    star02.gif

    As you can see, the circle sits perfectly. The square is off. Now, i'm not looking at squares or circles at the moment. I'm just trying to do multiple copies of the star in descending or ascending sizes. Can't get them to centralise automatically. Have to do them manually. That is on the top-bottom or vertical alignment...

     

    star03.gif

    See what i mean?

     
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  • Jacob Bugge
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    8. Jacob Bugge,
    Jul 25, 2012 6:20 AM   in reply to shunithD
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    Shunith,

     

    After the coldest, wettest, cloudiest, and most thunderful, June anyone can remember and a cool start of July, now it fianlly seems to be summer here (harvest is/will be late and the tallest maize round here is about waist high).

     

    With the star and circle (or square) grouped, I can reduce/enlarge the size flawlessly; with the circle I can also see that the centres coincide when I select all.

     

    So I suspect something else is happening.

     

    You do have Align to Pixel Grid unticked, no?

     
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  • steve fairbairn
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    9. steve fairbairn,
    Jul 25, 2012 6:42 AM   in reply to shunithD
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    Reckon you must be doing summat daft.

    You must group the none-coloured circle or rectangle with the star.

    Then you can scale, align, wotever.

    Picture 1.png

     
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  • shunithD
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    10. shunithD,
    Jul 25, 2012 7:37 AM   in reply to steve fairbairn
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    Steve, Jacob...

     

    Works fine as Steve originally indicated. Was trying to do it without the grouping as that causes some other hassles...

     

    But anyway, works perfectly just as advertised by Steve and seconded by Jacob!

     

    Thanks guys!!!

     

    Jacob, hot and muggy here

     
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  • Jacob Bugge
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    11. Jacob Bugge,
    Jul 25, 2012 8:58 AM   in reply to shunithD
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    No wonder you missed a step, Shunith.

     
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  • steve fairbairn
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    12. steve fairbairn,
    Jul 25, 2012 9:22 AM   in reply to shunithD
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    Any time, Shunith :-)

     
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  • shunithD
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    13. shunithD,
    Jul 25, 2012 11:46 AM   in reply to steve fairbairn
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    Steve, Jacob...

     
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  • tromboniator
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    14. tromboniator,
    Jul 26, 2012 4:02 AM   in reply to shunithD
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    Hi, Shunith (and Steve and Jacob),

     

    You can also generate the circle with Sato Hiroyuki's Circumcircle script:

     

    http://park12.wakwak.com/~shp/lc/et/en_aics_script.html#circumcircle

     

    As far as I know it works on all regular polygons and all regular star polygons.

     

    Peter

     

    Edit: Actually, the star Steve shows fits neither definition as I understand them. Maybe the script works on all equilateral shapes?

     
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  • shunithD
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    15. shunithD,
    Jul 26, 2012 5:19 AM   in reply to tromboniator
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    Thanks for that suggestion and link Tromboniator...

     
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