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thomasNordic
Participating Frequently
March 14, 2012
Answered

How can I repeat a command?

  • March 14, 2012
  • 5 replies
  • 49024 views

I am using Ai3.

I am doing a lot of "path simplify" and every time I have to go to "object" then "path" then "path simplify".

I have been searching if there is like in autocad a key to press to do "repeat las action" but I only found 2 things that I dont really understand:

- Ctrl + D (must be for st else)

- somethnig called "actions", if I understand correctly it is to create a group of commands, this could be interesting but it should be next to the "pathfinder" screen but there I have nothing...

strange,

somebody to help?

Thanks, Danke

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Gustavo Del Vechio

    Hi Thomas

    Simplify is a command that is accepted by actions. You can record it normally.

    Acess Window > Actions to get the panel to work area. Then start ceating a new action...record the simplify as you want. You can even add a shortcut to the action so it becomes easy to acess and run.

    You can refer to this link to learn more about recording and playing actions: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/illustrator/cs/using/WS714a382cdf7d304e7e07d0100196cbc5f-62b3a.html

    Hope to be helped

    Gustavo

    5 replies

    T
    thomasNordicAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    March 14, 2012

    The ctrl + J was a good one.

    The solution for a free addon would be paradise but it looks to be for CS from 5 to 10, or?

    Thanks

    Thomas

    Jacob Bugge
    Community Expert
    Jacob BuggeCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 14, 2012

    You are welcome, Thomas.

    Maybe CS10.

    T
    thomasNordicAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    March 14, 2012

    I have CS3 ;-(

    E
    emil emil
    Inspiring
    March 14, 2012

    Make a feature request.

    Illustrator and in general many Adobe products are lacking considerably with repeated tasks. The number of hotkeys available is limited to using Function keys and a lot of them are already assigned by default to frequently used tasks. Also, often users need to repeat a task frequently in one or a few sessions but not every day on a regular bases which doesn't justify creating an action and occupying a hotkey that is easy to forget if not used daily. Nowadays production programs are brimming with features and there are a lot of excellent solutions already invented and used by may programs but unfortunately Illustrator is not one of them. Here are some examples of excellent solutions:

    • a hotkey for the last menu command selected
    • a hotkey for the previous tool selected (for example while using the Sheer Tool on existing objects, you want to draw a box and quickly go back to the Sheer Tool)
    • list of recently used menu commands panel
    • tearoff menus similar to the existing tearoff toolbars (imagine it was possible when you go to Object > Paths be able to tear off the Paths submenu so it remains like a panel and you can click on any of the commands of this submenu without digging through the menus again and again)
    T
    thomasNordicAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    March 14, 2012

    mmh, it worked for the "simplify tool" (actually I just used the one pre defined in Illustrator, changing its setting) but it doesnt work for the "join path" tool.

    I use it really A LOT and every time I have to select, click right and choose "join" and I always click on "corner" so I would like to sum up this in 1 action.

    1 created one action, recorded it as said in the tuto and click on stop. Then I tried to use it with "play" but it doesnt work..

    Is there some restricted things we cannot use for the "action" trick?

    Thanks,

    Thomas

    N.B: I think it still belongs to this same post thats why I put it here as a complement information / question.

    Jacob Bugge
    Community Expert
    Jacob BuggeCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 14, 2012

    Thomas,

    To join the Direct Selected end Anchor Points, you may Ctrl+J.

    To join several paths, you may like the free Join Reasonably script available here, although it may overdo it in eager helpfulness (some of the other scripts are (also) quite useful):

    http://park12.wakwak.com/~shp/lc/et/en_aics_script.html

    James has a few more moderate scripts for joining a number of paths in one go, with straight or adapted joiniung segments if relevant. He may spot this thread and post.

    There is nothing wrong in continuing a thread like this.

    Jacob Bugge
    Community Expert
    Jacob BuggeCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 14, 2012

    Thomas,

    Ctrl+D is for repetition of an Object>Transform.

    Actions should be (or have been) bundled with the Layers palette/panel.

    Edit: Hi Gustavo.

      G
      Gustavo Del VechioCorrect answer
      Inspiring
      March 14, 2012

      Hi Thomas

      Simplify is a command that is accepted by actions. You can record it normally.

      Acess Window > Actions to get the panel to work area. Then start ceating a new action...record the simplify as you want. You can even add a shortcut to the action so it becomes easy to acess and run.

      You can refer to this link to learn more about recording and playing actions: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/illustrator/cs/using/WS714a382cdf7d304e7e07d0100196cbc5f-62b3a.html

      Hope to be helped

      Gustavo

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