How to set up subscript and superscript to the same word

[hys3o3]

Hi, everyone. I use Adobe Illustrator CS4 in a MAC. I want to establish a chemical formula MO3- with Illustrator. It seems that I can only first type NO3, and then set 3 as subscript, afterwards I input -, and set it as superscript. But in this case 3 and – are not consistent in the horizontal position.

So I am wondering how to set up subscript and superscript to the same word at the same time? Thank you very much. 

[Jacob Bugge]

hys3o3,

You may cheat and apply Character>Baseline Shift to individual characters (to move up/down).

[tromboniator]

Jacob,

(hys3o3, correct me if I'm wrong) I think that the problem is that the 3 and the - should have the same vertical axis. I was about to go to bed, and haven't worked this out yet.

Peter

Edit: I don't think you can do this in a single text object, but I'd be happy to be overruled.

[tromboniator]

I will correct myself: set the cursor between the 3 and the -, then  in the Character Panel set the kerning to something like -400, and you should get what you want.

Peter

[Jacob Bugge]

Peter,

I hope we shall find out whether the - should be moved up/down and/or back/forth.

[tromboniator]

Jacob,

I haven't dealt with chemistry in a long time; I think it used to be that the superscript - was after the subscript number, but Wikipedia shows them over-and-under. I thought at first it was the vertical placement we were looking for. This time I am going to bed.

Peter

[Wade_Zimmerman1]

Did you try a character style?

[hys3o3]

Please see this picture:http://hi.baidu.com/hys850415/album/item/c09b1ebfc091459637d3ca1a.html#

Have you ever used equation editor in Microsoft Word with which it is easy to creat subscript and superscript in the same time? The picture is what I creat NO3- with equation editor. Actually, I want to use Illustrator to create the effect that superscript and subscript are in the same vertical placement, not 3 first and - behind. If Illustrator CS4 has no such function, the only thing I can do is to type in NO3 first (make 3 subscript) and then type - (make it superscript) . Afterwards, try to adjust the placemnt of - to make it similar to be in the same vertical axis with 3. But I still hope Illstator CS4 has had some tools to create subscript and subscript to the same word at one time for users.

[Steve Fairbairn]

Seems to be not too much trouble.

With type as 12 pt, here are the settings:

NO = normal

3 = Subscript, track –500, baseline shift 1 pt (optional)

_ = Superscript, baseline shift 4 pt.

But I've never seen formulae set up like that. What does the overscore over the 3 mean? Long time since I did chemistry, maybe they've changed something.

[tromboniator]

That's a negative sign, for the valence, or electronegativity, or what ever term they're using these days. The charge of the ion is -1. I couldn't get the tracking to do what I wanted, so I got it with kerning.

Edit: According to Wikipedia, it's formal charge, not a term that was in use when I was studying chemistry. Sounds more like a legal term, to me.

[Steve Fairbairn]

not a term that was in use when I was studying chemistry.

Nor when I was studying chemistry either. But that was nearly 50 years ago. We learned about valencies but I think negative valencies hadn't been invented then. Probably best left to the boffins anyway.

"Oh, you should never, never doubt what nobody is sure about." (Hilaire Belloc on microbes)

[weakened_vampire]

Steve's method (using tracking) isn't working for me. I can adjust the tracking but it doesn't seem to have any effect. When I highlight the subscript character (0 in the screengrab) and set the tracking number to –500 nothing happens. The character does become very hard/impossible to select after changing the tracking (why?) hence the vertical black band in the screengrab. Any help would be appreciated as I have several charts to edit/switch into a different typeface and outlining and placing every single character will take me forever! 

Thanks

[tromboniator]

To move the subscript 0, select the superscript 3, then adjust the tracking. Tracking affects placement of the character following the selected one/ones.

[thomasb14279947]

Please remember that numbers are never italicized in equations

[Met1]

except in design...

(very interesting who's still here ten years later, and who isn't)

[Jacob Bugge]

So it was both up/down and back/forth as mentioned in post #4.

[Mike_Sargent]

I would explore Illustrator's Warichu options.

See mordy Golding's tutorial at http://rwillustrator.blogspot.com/2007/12/ask-mordy-movie-credits-text.html.

[tromboniator]

Excellent, Mike, thank you.

[hys3o3]

I do not think it is allowed to set kerning to a negative value in Adobe Illustrator CS4 (used in MAC). So far from our discussion I think the best way is to set - and 3 in the same y axis. Hope someone can find something better. Thank you.

[Steve Fairbairn]

Read my first posting.

I said track –500, not kern.

[tromboniator]

Steve,

I said kern, but I figured out the sequence to make tracking work.

hys3o3,

To use kerning, don't select the characters, but put the cursor between the letters you want to adjust, then set the kerning value.

Peter