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Participating Frequently
Aug 30, 2008 5:57 PM UTC
Question

How to divide a circle intio three equal segments

I would very much appreciate any advice on the best way to divide a circle into three equal segments, such as the one that can be seen here: http://www.visualfractions.com/EnterCircle.html. I need to divide the circle with Object > Path > Divide objects below.

Thanks!

    35 replies

    Participating Frequently
    Aug 30, 2008 7:39 PM UTC
    Jacob,

    Thank you very much for your answer, but I'm afraid I can't follow it. Could you be a bit more specific? Let's say I want to create a circle with a radius of 30 mm.

    Ok... so I...

    1. Create a straight path (using the pen tool?) of 30 mm starting at 0,0 (from 0,0 to 0,30).
    2. Select the 0,0 (with the direct selection tool?) extreme of the straight path (only one of the two extremes of the line is 0,0)
    3. Then I'm lost

    Thanks for your patience!

    Daniel
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    Inspiring
    Aug 30, 2008 7:34 PM UTC
    Just an alternate method for Jacob's steps 2-4: use Effect | Distort & Transform | Transform. That dialog enables you to select the anchor and the two copies needed in one swell foop.

    You do need to expand appearance before proceeding to step 5.
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    Jacob Bugge
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    Aug 30, 2008 7:10 PM UTC
    Daniel,

    You can:

    1. Create a straight path at least as long as the radius starting at 0,0;
    2. Select (one of) the Reference Point(s) in the Transform Palette yielding 0,0;
    3. Ctrl+C and Ctrl+F and select 120 degrees, still in the Tranform Palette;
    4. Repeat 2 and 3;
    5. Create the circle and move the centre to 0,0;
    6. Select all, Pathfinder>Divide, and Control+Shift+G to Ungroup.

    This is the Divide a Circle into Thirdendeals Thread.
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