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metonda
metonda
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Align center-sometimes it doesn't work

Oct 7, 2010 6:57 AM

I have a weird thing that happens in Illustrator, and it's more prevelant when I'm working in very small scale. It's kind of hard to explain, so bear with me. Sometimes the align center feature doesn't do anything at all -- I'll have two objects selected and they are very close to being center aligned but I can tell they are not. The align setting is set up to align to objects, not key object or artboard. I think it might have something to do with the cursor increments. When I use the arrow keys to go left or right it moves in a larger increment than I need it to, so maybe that's why it won't align properly. Although I have changed this in Preferences to be as small as .005mm and it seems to have no effect at all. The workaround I've found is that if I move the objects far enough apart and then align to center it usually works. Has anyone else experienced this?

1631 Views   13 Replies   Latest reply: PTEGolf, Sep 20, 2012 7:03 AM
 
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  • Mylenium
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    1. Mylenium,
    Oct 7, 2010 8:00 AM   in reply to metonda
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    Sounds like it is some hard-coded threshold/ value clipping. If so, you can't circumvent it otehr than the method you are already using. Anyway, you might simply consider working at a larger size to scale later and not 1:1...

     

    Mylenium

     
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  • Kurt Gold
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    2. Kurt Gold,
    Oct 7, 2010 11:25 AM   in reply to metonda
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    Can you provide a definite breadboard model to reproduce the issue? Include information about what kind of objects you are using. Describe it as detailed as possible.

     

    Also, which version of Illustrator are you using?
     
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  • Mike Gondek
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    3. Mike Gondek,
    Oct 7, 2010 1:19 PM   in reply to Kurt Gold
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    Check to see if your selection has hollow or solid points.If they are hollow then align functions will not work. At smaller sizes might be easier for you to have hollow selected points without knowing.

     
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  • Kurt Gold
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    4. Kurt Gold,
    Oct 7, 2010 1:43 PM   in reply to Mike Gondek
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    Mike Gondek2 wrote:

     

    Check to see if your selection has hollow or solid points. If they are hollow then align functions will not work.

     

    Since when?

     
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  • Wade_Zimmerman
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    5. Wade_Zimmerman,
    Oct 7, 2010 11:12 PM   in reply to Kurt Gold
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    I vote a huh as well…

     
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  • PTEGolf
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    6. PTEGolf,
    Jul 6, 2012 11:18 AM   in reply to Wade_Zimmerman
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    I was going to make a new thread, as I have this problem all the time. If I click "align center", with an object that is almost perfectly centered but not quite, it will throw it to the left edge of the artboard, and then if I hit it again and again, it just keeps moving it left??? Anyone know how to fix this glitch? Other things align fine in the same file.

     
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  • Larry G. Schneider
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    7. Larry G. Schneider,
    Jul 6, 2012 11:43 AM   in reply to PTEGolf
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    In your Align panel do you have the Options shown. What is the Align to set to? Align to Selection or Align to Artboard?Screen shot 2012-07-06 at 11.40.56 AM.png

     
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  • PTEGolf
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    8. PTEGolf,
    Jul 6, 2012 12:09 PM   in reply to Larry G. Schneider
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    Align to artboard. It works 9 times out of 10, but when it doesn't, I have no idea what to do. If I had some kind of a screen recording program I would love to show you a result, but I do not. I will see if I can get a video from my phone, but the codecs have been really giving me problems with the video.

     
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  • PTEGolf
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    9. PTEGolf,
    Jul 6, 2012 1:09 PM   in reply to PTEGolf
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    Here is a video, sorry it's so shakey, had to 1 hand the camera and my hands shake really bad.

     

    Link to video: http://www.ptegolf.com/adobe/Center.wmv 6mb

     
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  • Larry G. Schneider
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    10. Larry G. Schneider,
    Jul 6, 2012 1:39 PM   in reply to PTEGolf
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    What's the proxy set to?

     

    Screen shot 2012-07-06 at 1.38.44 PM.png

     

    Is it on the center as above?

     
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  • PTEGolf
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    11. PTEGolf,
    Jul 9, 2012 8:09 AM   in reply to Larry G. Schneider
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    Yes, I went back and double checked on the video.

     
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  • willcsummers
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    12. willcsummers,
    Jul 26, 2012 8:36 AM   in reply to PTEGolf
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    I think I have the exact same problem as PTEGolf. The DVD logo does have a "hollow" section in it. Is this what was meant earlier by hollow points?

     

    https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6lPXGp9Trg0aTZhVDJpdUxFUXc

     
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  • PTEGolf
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    13. PTEGolf,
    Sep 20, 2012 7:03 AM   in reply to willcsummers
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    I am having this problem again today. When I select everything in the artwork, the outside points are hollow. When I center, it goes off the canvas to the right, and each time I press it after that, it keeps moving that direction. SO FRUSTRATING!

     

    The one workaround I did find is if I select everything and choose "Edit Contents" on the far top left next to the word "Group". It was selected to "Edit clipping path".

     
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