Magnetic lines and shapes

[sankaia]

I am an Omnigraffle user and I am contemplating coming over to Illustrator. I am in the trial phase now, examining the software.

In Omnigraffle, one can take an arrow or line segment and magnetically join it it an object—a shape, a snippet of text, etc. such that when you move the shape or the snippet of text, that end of the arrow or line segment stays attached.

Is this possible in Illustrator?

[Michael Riordan]

Hi Sankia

You can group objects together to move them both when selecting one but it sounds like you want to leave one arrow end in place but have the other end move with the object it is associated with. You can do this by selecting the object and just one end of the arrow. Since the other end of the arrow is not selected, it will stay where it is.

To do this, use the direct select tool (white arrow at the top of the tool panel) and drag a selection rectangle around your object and the arrow end, making sure to include all of the anchor points of the object but just the one end of the arrow. Click and drag your object to a new position.

Hope that helps

Michael

[Michael Riordan · Accepted solution]

[Michael Riordan]

By the way, since you are coming from Omnigraffle you might like to know that there are some pre-made org charts, org chart symbols and workflow symbols available in Illustrator. Here's a quick screenshot for accessing those.

[sankaia]

All of your replies were very helpful; thank you very much. As far as I can tell so far, the learning curve is a lot steeper with Illustrator, but it can do a great deal more than Omnigraffle.

Is it okay to ask followup questions in this thread, or do I have to start a new thread? If it is okay, then my questions are directly below. I will happily move them into new threads if need be.

1. I think I will probably make my own flow charts, but those stock ones you showed me certainly did display a wide range of arrows and line segments. How do I access and/or make those arrows and line segments myself? And how can I alter their size, width, appearance, etc.?

2. Is it possible to place text into a rectangle, ellipse, or other object—not text separately created and then placed upon the object (though this is also useful at times), but text that is associated with the object and remains with it. (In Omnigraffle, you just double-click the object and it opens a text field in the middle of it.)

3. I see guides appear to show where the middle of the canvas (artboard?) is when I drag an object. However, I do not see the middle-of-the-artboard guide appear when I drag and look to position a line of text. It shows me a guide to allow me to place the front of the text . . . wait, I just had an idea . . . yep—it looks like if the text it center-justified, it shows how to lock the center of the text to the middle, and if it is left-justified, it shows how to lock the left to the middle. Yay, I figured something out 🙂

[Michael Riordan]

1. Yes you can make your own arrows. Draw a line with the line segment tool, pencil, pen, or brush. The Strokes panel has arrowheads that you can apply and resize but you need to access the full panel by clicking the flyout end icon in the upper right corner of the panel and show options.

2. Yes, text can be added to an object. Use the text tool itself to drag out a frame for your type or create a shape of any kind and add text with the Area Type Tool.

3. Nice job!  If you find the learning curve too steep I recommend training. Online resources abound but I recommend in-person training with an Adobe Certified Instructor. You'll advance more quickly with a better grasp of the fundamentals with an instructor. Here is Adobe's training partner list Adobe Partner Finder | Adobe Training & Certification full disclosure, I'm an Adobe Certified Instructor.

[sankaia]

I'd have to see if there is anyone in my area and how much it costs, but in-person training would be great.

So, I needed to create a circle divided into quarters, each with its own fill color. I did not know the best way to do it, so here is what I did. (Please tell me if this is a crazy way to do it.):

1. I used the ellipse tool and shift to create a circle.

2. I created two line segments and joined each end of them to one of the four anchor points that make the circle.

3. I then used the Shaper Tool to erase all but one quarter.

4. Then I copied that quarter segment three times and gave each of the four its own fill color.

5. Then I rotated each segment, constraining it with shift, until it was back in the correct position and then reconnected all four quarters into a whole circle again.

Is that nuts—is there a much easier way?

You see, part of my issue is that I am making charts and graphical tools that need to be symmetrical. So I am not using pencil and pen techniques to create things that are roughly the size I need them; I am looking for ways to create completely even, symmetrical shapes easily. I did not see an obvious way, for example, to create a semi-circle, a quarter circle, or a trapezoid. Can you point me in the right direction?

Also, as an aside—I set my view to "Actual Size" on an artboard that is set at 12 x 10 inches. But it is not 12 x 10 actual inches on my screen (if I literally hold up a ruler to my screen and measure). Is that normal? Is it a screen resolution issue (this monitor is set to 1920 x 1080)?

I want you to know that for every question I am asking you, I am answering 20 more with tutorials, web searches, and just plain dumb luck. But my free trial is about to run out, so I am really trying to figure out if this is for me.

Thanks!

CC

[Les ONeill]

After step 2, use the shape builder tool and just click inside each segment (this will make them discrete polygons which can be independantly filled)

or

After step 2 select your 3 objects and hit command/option/x (on mac) to make a live paint object which you can then fill with the live paint bucket (k) tool