Action to Resize Art Board to custom size

[Michael23751775ctc0]

Hey Creatives!

Got a quick question, Im wondering if anyone can walk me through how id set up an action to select and artboard change the width to 82 and the height to 51. I would then futher need one for 98x51 but I bet once we figure out the first one the following should just be inputting different numbers in its place.

I work at a printing/packaging place & we are starting to dive into the world of VDPS. (This would help the process greatly)

[pixxxelschubser · Accepted solution]

How about a script - similar to the one for Illustrator | Java Script for resizing the canvas?

[femkeblanco · Accepted solution]

You can save this script and run it from an action.  You have not specified the units; default units are points. 

var w = 82;
var h = 51;
var doc = app.activeDocument;
var i = doc.artboards.getActiveArtboardIndex();
var AB = doc.artboards[i];
var ABR = AB.artboardRect;
AB.artboardRect = [
    ABR[0] + ((ABR[2] - ABR[0]) / 2) - w / 2,
    ABR[1] + ((ABR[3] - ABR[1]) / 2) + h / 2,
    ABR[0] + ((ABR[2] - ABR[0]) / 2) - w / 2 + w,
    ABR[1] + ((ABR[3] - ABR[1]) / 2) + h / 2 - h
];

[Michael23751775ctc0]

Youre completely right! in this case it would be inches...

So would I simply add inches after the 82 & 51?

[Doug A Roberts]

Multiply those by 72 to get the dimensions in points.

[Michael23751775ctc0]

var w = 5904;
var h = 3672;
var doc = app.activeDocument;
var i = doc.artboards.getActiveArtboardIndex();
var AB = doc.artboards[i];
var ABR = AB.artboardRect;
AB.artboardRect = [
ABR[0] + ((ABR[2] - ABR[0]) / 2) - w / 2,
ABR[1] + ((ABR[3] - ABR[1]) / 2) + h / 2,
ABR[0] + ((ABR[2] - ABR[0]) / 2) - w / 2 + w,
ABR[1] + ((ABR[3] - ABR[1]) / 2) + h / 2 - h
];

Converted inches to points and I went to add the script, but was stopped with an error. (Please see attached)

[femkeblanco · Accepted solution]

The errors imply that the script is either not saved in the right format or not being run form the right place.

1. The script should be saved in the Scripts folder. The Scripts folder should be somewhere like: Applications > Adobe Illustrator CC > Presets > en_GB > Scripts.
2. The script should be saved with a .jsx (or .js) extension. Copy the above script to a plain text file and save with a .jsx extension. I have not used macs, but I understand that Apple's TextEdit, by default, will save as rich text; this is not what you want; you want plain text...
3. The script should be run from illustrator, by going through File > Scripts.

Once you have the script up and running, you can incorporate it into an action.  

[Michael23751775ctc0]

Thanks! After fighting with saving as .js we now have two working scripts which will help stream line a workflow!

Hope everyone has an amazing day.

[pixxxelschubser]

A little tip:

Change the extension to jsx. This is the usual extension for javascripts in Adobe programmes.

[Blair35357238r7nw]

It is very important to understand that Illustrator coordinate systems are not normal. You will get a 1346458189 PARM error if you have a set of bad coordinates, IE the one Illustrator wants to be negative or larger than the other is not. Please see this Stack Overflow answer for more details. https://stackoverflow.com/a/39417304