Free Plain Rectangle Tool

[PXC]

Adobe®, in its AI CC2014 version, has introduced a new tool called the Live Rectangle. This is a really great feature but has its huuuuge limitation: it doesn’t snap to grids, points and objects correctly on resize!

Since we don’t know whether adobe is going to fix this and since there is no option to replace the Live Rectangle with the classic one (plain) by default, I’ve decided to write my own plugin (available for free for personal and commercial use) which imitates behavior of the ‘old’ Rectangle Tool. It doesn’t replace the Live Rectangle – it works completely independent!

My Plain Rectangle Tool correctly snaps to grids/objects/points and correctly aligns to grid/points on resize. Of course it supports the SHIFT and ALT/OPTION keys, Snap to Grid and Smart Guides options. In other words it works almost 100% the same as the Rectangle Tool we know from CC (17.1), CS6 and earlier.

The installation package (zxp) adds ‘Plain Rectangle Tool’ icon into the Ai panel (of curse you can assign your custom keyboard shortcut to it as well)

Note: The Plain Rectangle can be easily converted into the Live one using Object > Shape > Convert to Rectangle

Grab your copy at http://63mutants.com/subc/products/PlainRectangleTool_m01/PlainRectangleTool_m01.php and share it with your friends.

It’s completely free.

Regards,

Pawel Kuc

[Larry G. Schneider]

You need to delete the settings folders with the application off. When you restart, new ones will be written.

[ozcycle]

OK I went through the process one more time and deleted the settings folder with the application off, and no change. I still have the exact same issue. I can switch back to using CC but that will cause some issues also as everyone else in the company is now on 2014. I'm the only one who inherited this issue.

[ozcycle]

I have updated also and still having issues. When is the next planned fix?

[art7]

Hi,

I have the latest version and there are no handles to transform a Rectangle or Rounded Rectangle shape. All other shapes have bounding box when selected...

Is this going to get fixed?

[jspacco]

I'm having the same issue as everybody else..drawing a rectangle prevents me from resizing with the anchors.

However, the workaround is to select the Live Rectangle and go to Object > Shape > Expand Rectangle and that will "fix" it. You will lose the live rectangle options under Transform but if you're like me, who cares.

[Kris Hunt]

I'm not sure why people are still using this extension, since the bug has been fixed for weeks.

[jspacco]

I have all the latest updates and while the Live Rectangle snaps to guide and all that jazz, I still dont have anchor points unless I draw a rectangle with the pen tool or expand the live rectangle. I saw in an earlier post you're on Mavericks. I'm on 10.8.5, I wonder if that's it?

[jfowlerKOLR]

jspacco,

I'm having this exact same issue and I just noticed it today.  If I use the Rectangle Tool to create a box, I don't get the bounding box tools to resize it.  When I click on it, it selects the box's control points like I've clicked it with the Direct Selection tool. 
If I create a box using perfectly snapped edges with the pen tool, the bounding box shows up around the edges as expected.

I'm using the most recent version of CC 2014 on OSx 10.7.5, so it doesn't seem to be just a Mavericks issue. 

[Dhirendra Mohan]

Hello Everyone,

The Live Shapes widgets not appearing on Rectangles and Rounded Rectangles is specific to 10.7 and 10.8 OS and the same appears fine on 10.9 or 10.10. For now the workaround is to Expand Live Shapes via "Object>Shape>Expand Rectangle" or if possible update OS to 10.9 or 10.10.

This issue has been reported to Adobe Illustrator Engineers and they are investigating the issue.

Regards,

Dhirendra

[Dhirendra Mohan]

Hello Folks,

Issue due to which Live Shapes widgets were not visible on Live Rectangles on 10.7 and 10.8 has been fixed in 18.1.1 update of Illustrator.

Please update your Ai 18.1.0 setups to 18.1.1. To know more about what we have delivered in this release, please take a look at: http://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/whats-new.html

Regards,

Dhirendra

[rsantiago001]

No, it is not fixed, not for me at least and, as far as I can tell from this thread neither for a bunch of people.

[macaroon1]

Updating soft and Deleting preferences won't solve the problem. When do you plan to solve this issue?
Videos with this issue aligntopixelgrid2.mp4 (on Mac) and s9FmznMqfD.mp4 (on Win)
PS It is very strange that a company like Adobe so long to solve such a  big problem!

[Dhirendra Mohan]

Hi Artem,

The problem you have mentioned here has been noted at our end and Engg. will review this request. To give you a background here, this was done to avoid breaking the live shapes in Ai. So, as soon as you create rounded corners in a plain rectangle, then align to pixel grid option breaks the live rectangle. So, as a workaround here, you can first create your rectangle shapes and then plan to use option "Align to Pixel Grid" at the end.

Please let me know if it helps.

Thanks!

[rsantiago001]

Deleting preferences won't solve the problem (well at least it didn't solved for me) and besides you should be careful and backup your preferences or else you will loss your customized workspaces, shortcuts, etc.

[Kris Hunt]

> you should be careful and backup your preferences or else you will loss your customized workspaces, shortcuts, etc.

You won't lose them; they just won't be selected by default. Workspaces and shortcuts reside in separate files.

[rsantiago001]

Well, in my experience I lost them, luckily I always keep a backup

I really not sure what or when I did it, since each new version of Adobe product saves preferences in a different location (at least in spanish ES version) so can't really tell what version number was back then.

[martauniquename]

I'm on CC 2014, I have installed the version 18 of Illustrator and PS 2014.2.0 and still have this bug. 

[ARRSDigitalis]

Hi.

I've tried to install this free tool (I'm using the updated Illustrator CC2014 on a 10.8.5 osx machine) but it's opened by the "extention manager CS6" that doesn't recognize it as a valid installation. I've got CS6, CC and CC2014 programs installed, and I don't find an extention manager for CC2014. How can I install the plain rectangle tool? Thanks a lot.

[Monika Gause]

You need the extension manager for CC.

Download it from the Adobe website or use the Creative Cloud app.

[ARRSDigitalis]

Thanks a lot Monika.

I didn't think to watch in the not installed apps... ^_^"

[Ton Frederiks]

Have a look in your CC desktop app under Previous versions to install the Extension Manager CC

[jnagtalon]

I have 18.1.1 but unfortunately this issue is still not fixed. Any news on a an update?

[PXC]

Update - my Plain Rectangle Tool has been updated to work with the latest #CC2015 release. And again - It’s completely free.

Thanks,

Pawel Kuc

[mec_os]

thank pxc, i'm gonna try it. i absolutely hate the live rectangle. i have to expand every time i want a simple square which is 99.99 percent of the time i draw a square. i don't understand why we had to loose the simple rectangle tool

[Egor Chistyakov]

Hello, Pavel.

Dragging with Space bar being pressed while creating Plain rectangle is still required.