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amandathompson
Inspiring
September 26, 2021
Answered

How to switch off new drawn shapes being oriented to artboard

  • September 26, 2021
  • 3 replies
  • 839 views

Having rotated an artboard to zoom in a work on a specific area I can not stop my new shapes being oriented to the artboard.

Could anyone possibly tell me where is the button or setting to switch this off?

 

My aim is to rotate my artboard and draw shapes oriented to the sides of my window/monitor not the rotation of the artboard.

 

Thanks for any advice.

 

 

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer amandathompson

UPDATE 06/10/2021

 

Astute Graphics has just released an update to its Direct Prefs plugin that allows me to work (almost 100%) in the way I had tried (and failed!) to do so when I posted.

 

https://astutegraphics.com/plugins/directprefs 

3 replies

amandathompson
amandathompsonAuthorCorrect answer
Inspiring
October 6, 2021

UPDATE 06/10/2021

 

Astute Graphics has just released an update to its Direct Prefs plugin that allows me to work (almost 100%) in the way I had tried (and failed!) to do so when I posted.

 

https://astutegraphics.com/plugins/directprefs 

amandathompson
Inspiring
October 4, 2021

Update 04/10/2021

 

Adobe's automailer asked me to mark answers as correct.

In this case I was asking about something not possible with a rotated artboard.

But both of the suggested workarounds were very helpful so if I could I would mark them both as such.

Thank you very much Larry and Met1 for your posts.

Larry G. Schneider
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 26, 2021

You can try to set the constrain angle in preferences to the negative of the angle of artboard rotation.

amandathompson
Inspiring
September 26, 2021

Many thanks for getting back to me. I really appreciate your trying to help.

I tried what you suggested in the Preferences section but am finding it pretty confusing to actually work with.

The design I am working on is relatively large (90cmx90cm), motifs going around a main circular pattern Islamic design style with animals/plants that all face inwards as if on a clock dial.
Rotate Artboard seemed like a great feature to be able to rotate the artboard and then work on building each motif at its natural orientation.

But Rotate Artboard is rather disappointing if that is not possible.

I can draw with brush and pen etc and make lines with a rotated artboard. in the way one would with Photoshop.

But if I want to construct motifs using the ready made shapes, then blend them together with Pathfinder or Shapebuilder, or join them up with Astute Graphics tools at any other than 0º orientation it is very confusing.

I am also having no real progess in building shapes by making their one side and then copying/flipping across the axis to make a whole shape when not at 0º orientation.
All the Reflectional axes get messed up because when I try to add or subtract the orientation of the shape to align with the newly aligned artboard.

Being able to work with full Illustrator functionality on a rotated artboard that could be simply adjusted with one toggleable button would be great. But it looks like that it not possible yet.

I had thought it could be rectified by using the Align to Artboard or Align to Selection setting.
And – I am not sure if this is related – I am unable to get the Align to Selection button to stay checked on when I use the rotated artboard.
(Illustrator 25.4.1 on Mac OS 10.15.7)

Thanks once again.
If there is any further advice I'd be most grateful.

Met1
Legend
September 27, 2021

Why not draw your first panel in "normal" vertical-horizonal mode - I'm sure there's a tech term for it - then when complete rotate your whole wheel about it's center, to whatever proportion of the circle your panel size is, then start on panel two...