Scale by position in Illustrator

Jri

Jri

Member
Hi!

In Illustrator, is it possible to scale the position a series of objects without scaling the objects themselves? Ideally by dragging?

I'm sure Illustrator must have this feature as it's such a simple thing - but I can't for the life of me find it.

For example, my image shows a series of boxes 'A', then example 'B' shows how they would look if there position were scaled horizontally.

This guy seems to have a similar issue, but there doesn't seem to be an answer.

Any ideas?
 

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The only way I've been able to do this is by manually positioning the final object where I want it and then distributing them evenly. I haven't come across a way to do it in Illustrator but there could be a plugin. Other software like Affinity and Sketch has plugins or even built in tool for designing responsive layouts but I can't find a similar version for Illustrator.
 
The OP wants to be able to scale a group of objects along the X axis but not have them distort. They want the spacing between each element to increase but not their actual size.
 
My best workaround is to reposition by dragging the selection handles horizontally to scale while preserving proportions with shift, then I manually go through and restore the size of each object at its new position.

This will do, but it's a ball-ache if you have more than a few objects to go through and resize.

Haven't tried Affinity yet, but it looks impressive. How does it compare?
 
Oh right - InDesign has a Live Distribute feature, select a bunch of rectangles, and start dragging the handle, but then hit space, and it live distributes objects.

Nothing like that in Illy - but if you move one object over to the finish location - then select other objects, click the far left object - selecting a Key object - and then clicking the distribute button

https://www.google.ie/search?safe=o...9IbXAhUEJVAKHbHwBAUQvwUIJSgA&biw=1346&bih=823
 
Yeah, thus far - they're the best two ways (Take note Adobe!).

I've muddled with a few other methods to try and find a more elegant way of doing it, but I've got nothing.

At least there are plenty of workarounds, I think what I was really looking for was a keyboard shortcut that would allow you to hold down whatever key and perform the transformation with one gesture. The InDesign Live Distribute is pretty much what I had in mind. Seems stupid of them not to include that in Illustrator, as it could be applied to numerous vector drawing scenarios and probably wouldn't be difficult or resource intensive to implement.

To be honest, distributing manually with align to selection checked isn't that much slower than what I had in mind.

The problem is I'm just so lazy, is there a shortcut to get around that?
 
Jri said:
The problem is I'm just so lazy, is there a shortcut to get around that?
Click to expand...

I want to draw a circle but I can't be bothered using the eclipse tool and holding 'shift' down.
It there an easier way of doing this?
Preferably without using my hands.
A bit like a Jedi mind trick or something?
;)
 
Hmm, tricky.

You could click with the ellipse tool selected instead of dragging. Inside the dimensions dialogue, you can highlight the X and Y diameter values, then adjust them with the scroll wheel.

At least this way you're only using one hand, that never has to leave the mouse.

Where there's a complete lack of will, there's a way.
 
Make me a cup of tea Jri.
P-L-E-A-S-E!
Two sugars. Dash of milk.
I can't be arsed to get up.
(y)
 
Yes - another fine example of the Adobe teams not collaborating.

Such a feature would be immensely useful in Illustrator.

Although, it's not just grab some InDeisgn code and through it at Illustrator - both are very different programming.

Each Adobe team is assigned a product, and they work on those products independently of any other product.

What's a priority for Photoshop is not for Illy, and for Illy not for PS and for InD not for any other.


Luckily this is why Adobe have Scripting Models
http://vectips.com/tips-and-tricks/distribute-stacked-objects-script/
 
hankscorpio said:
Yes - another fine example of the Adobe teams not collaborating.

Such a feature would be immensely useful in Illustrator.

Although, it's not just grab some InDeisgn code and through it at Illustrator - both are very different programming.

Each Adobe team is assigned a product, and they work on those products independently of any other product.

What's a priority for Photoshop is not for Illy, and for Illy not for PS and for InD not for any other.


Luckily this is why Adobe have Scripting Models
http://vectips.com/tips-and-tricks/distribute-stacked-objects-script/
Click to expand...


Or here http://www.wundes.com/JS4AI/#distributeStackedObjects.jsx
 
scotty said:
I want to draw a circle but I can't be bothered using the eclipse tool and holding 'shift' down.
It there an easier way of doing this?
Preferably without using my hands.
A bit like a Jedi mind trick or something?
;)
Click to expand...

You need to get the Voice Controlled version of Adobe Illustrator. Or even better the Eye Control - but you need a microphone/webcam either way.

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/319295
https://www.cnet.com/news/samsungs-eyecan-lets-your-eyes-control-your-computer/
 
I believe Stephen Hawking looked into eye control to govern his speech modules as his paralysis progresses.

I wonder how far away super high definition facial recognition is from being able to extrapolate your design intentions from your facial expression and just do them. We'll be out of work at that point, and Scotty will have to learn face speak for 'Make me tea'.
 
I was hoping I wouldn't have to move my eyes.
I wrote to "Jim'll Fix It" but I'm still waiting on a reply.
 
I was a bit confused by your question but this is exactly what I was thinking:
Jri said:
To be honest, distributing manually with align to selection checked isn't that much slower than what I had in mind.
Click to expand...

I thought, really? Is doing this that much of a hassle or slower? haha. I didn't want to state the obvious so it had me scratching my head for a while thinking of alternate methods
 
I know it sounds a bit daft, but it's a transformation I use LOADS at work. Most days I'm really busy, so shaving off a few seconds here and there might actually help.

The brain interface would help, but I get funny looks from the powers that be when I'm not making a productive hammering sound on my keyboard - so if I were just wired directly in, gazing at the screen, they'd get a bit irritated.
 
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