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HelenHRB
Participant
January 19, 2017
Answered

Help! Can't scale art that uses double strokes in illustrator.

  • January 19, 2017
  • 4 replies
  • 731 views

Normally if I want to scale my artwork that uses strokes I go to object > path > outline stroke. Then I can scale the artwork to any size and maintain the same proportions of the stroke. As far as I can tell this cannot be done with paths that have more than one stroke on them. When I try to use the create outlines option with double strokes I get only a single line.

I've now created an artwork that uses hundreds of double strokes and it needs to be scaled. I have no idea how to scale it without editing those hundreds of strokes to make them two paths instead of one with a double stroke. Help! What do I? How can I scale my artwork without making these major changes?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer jane-e

Do you have Scale Stroke turned on?

You can do it in several places, including Prefs > General, Transform dialog, Scale dialog, and variations of these.

4 replies

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Community Expert
Nick GioiaCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 20, 2017

That's one of the things I do and it works great for me jane-e but I totally agree with both of you. Scale Strokes & Effects is something I also use works great too.

N
Community Expert
Nick GioiaCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 19, 2017

You can always convert the stroke to a fill. Select "Outline Stroke" from the Path fly-out menu of the Object menu. Adobe Illustrator turns your object's stroke value into the dimensions for its path elements. Double-click on the Fill swatch in the Adobe Illustrator toolbox to bring up the Color Picker. Choose a fill color for your object.

jane-e
Community Expert
jane-eCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 20, 2017

Nick, that's exactly what the OP said in her first sentence that she is doing.

Jacob Bugge and I have both suggested not doing that anymore and using Scale Strokes when scaling instead. It is considered best practices for scaling (but not for drawing).

Jacob Bugge
Community Expert
Jacob BuggeCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 19, 2017

Helen,

Normally if I want to scale my artwork that uses strokes I go to object > path > outline stroke. Then I can scale the artwork to any size and maintain the same proportions of the stroke.

I would suggest your keeping the strokes so you can edit the artwork freely.

And of course have Scale Strokes & Effects ticked when you scale.

Obviously, for certain things that setting should be unticked.

    jane-e
    Community Expert
    jane-eCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    January 19, 2017

    Do you have Scale Stroke turned on?

    You can do it in several places, including Prefs > General, Transform dialog, Scale dialog, and variations of these.

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