Bounding box outside of shape

[JbgLobo]

Hi there. I'm struggling to find the solution to this problem. I ususally Show Bounding Box so I can reshape my objects by pulling on the handles confortably. However, since Illustrator CC 2015 (just upgraded to 2017 and problem persists), the bounding box appears bigger and outside of the shape, so if you want to pull on the handles, you have to do it on that "ghost" binding box. This can actually get annoying as sometimes it appears very far from your object, even outside of the field of view. Also, drawing objects with the curvature tool is horribly confusing having the bounding box somewhere else. I am not sure if this is a feature to disable o a bug (it happens on Windows 10).

Any help on this would be greately appreciated.

J

[sishamIAGD]

Are you able to post a screenshot to help explain your problem?

[JbgLobo]

Hi sishamDDs,

Yes sure, here's a pintscreen of the problem (left hand side a new shape done with rectangle tool, right hand side the "delocalized" bounding box, fortunately within range)

Bounding box outside of shape.PNG - Google Drive

[Jacob Bugge]

J,

What happens if you Object>Shape>Expand Shape?

[JbgLobo]

Hi Jacob,

Yes! This did the job, but only for this instance. If I draw a new shape, problem reappears. Will have to set a confrtable shortcut if we're unable to find a solution.

Thanks, helpful!

[Jacob Bugge · Accepted solution]

J,

You can make an action or a shortcut for Object>Shape>Expand Shape.

For the latter, you may:

Edit>Keyboard Shortcuts>Menu Commands>Object>Shape>Expand Shape, then click the first little box to the right, then press the desired key on the keyboard, then press OK, and name it.

First suggested by Ray in post 9# here:

https://forums.adobe.com/message/8492214#8492214

This is what Live Shapes are about:

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/how-to/live-shapes.html

[JbgLobo]

Hey Jacob,

Yes, I did it as soon as you proposed the function, very helpful, thanks! This solves the problem for the current shape, but comes back on new shapes (which is alright once the shortcut is set).

Will mark this as answered then, thank you all for your input.

J

[Jacob Bugge]

You are welcome, J.

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

Do you have an Offset Effect applied? Open the Appearance panel (Window > Appearance), select the object and see if the Effect is listed.

You can either Trash the Effect or as Jacob suggested Expand.

[JbgLobo]

Doesn't look like there's any offset effect, can't see it in the list. Thanks!

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

In your screenshot, it looks like the object has been Moved and Scaled using the Transform Effect. Can you select the object and show a screenshot of the Appearance panel?

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

This is a screenshot with a Transform Effect applied.

[JbgLobo]

Hi Jeff,

This looks very much the same. However, when I try to unclick Transform Objects, it automatically toggles to Transform patterns, and viceversa. None of the options gets rid of the ouside bounding box. Here's two printscreens with both combinations and no change.

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

Take a look in the Appearance panel. Is there a Transform Effect listed there? This is an Effect that can be turned on or off using the visibility Eye next to the listing in the Appearance panel. Or deleted by selecting the Transform listing and hitting the Trash at the bottom of the panel.

[JbgLobo]

Thanks Jeff for looking into this - can't see ant Transform effect listed, look:

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

Hmm! I was hopeful, but I guess it's not the answer.

[JbgLobo]

It was really close, I also thought that was it. Thanks anyway!

[Mike_Gondek]

I have experienced issue on and off since CC, though have no found a better solution than closing all files and reopening. Usually do tho have to quit Illustrator, but try that is still acting up.

Basically the bounding box is incorrect, and is larger than what the actual bounding box should be. Doing Object >> Transform >> Reset Bounding Box never solves the issue but you are welcome to try, as I am on Mac.

I have been experiencing this less recently, but have been cleaning up our fonts to get rid of type 1 old fonts. Never seems to happens on single path objects, but something grouped, masked, composite, or that was in the past.

This issue is impossible to reproduce as happens unexpectedly, but please report back anytime, as your information could be very helpful to resolving this.

[JbgLobo]

Hi Mike,

Yes, this looks exactly like my problem. Certain shapes are fine, but others act up. Try Object>Shape>Expand Shape when this happens (proposed by Jacob Bugge above).