Reset Zero Point? Illustrator CS3 JS

[Pat_ONeill]

Hi, I am looking for a way to reset the zero point to always be the top left corner of the document, but can not seem to find any documentation or preferences to do this. Can anyone help?

[Larry G. Schneider]

Look at the pageOrigin of the document object but be advised that AI expects the origin to be bottom left. You will have to work with a negative y to get things on the page.

[Pat_ONeill]

Ok, I got it. I set the y to 66 (the document is always 66px high) and it bumped it back up.

I have to say though, this is probably the stupidest interpretation of zero point I have ever seen. Why the bottom left? Why not the top left, like standard?

Illustrator scripting is completely backwards from dealing with photoshop and indesign.

[Larry G. Schneider]

Because Illustrator is based on a conventional x-y grid with the upper right quadrant having positive values in both directions.

[JETalmage]

I have to say though, this is probably the stupidest interpretation of zero point I have ever seen. Why the bottom left? Why not the top left, like standard?

Did you sleep through high school geometry or algebra class? Cartesian coordinates? Graphing functions? Positive values increasing upward and rightward?

Illustrator is supposed to be primarily an illustration program. Referencing the upper left corner may be appropriate for web pages or press sheets, but not for drawing.

That's not to say AI couldn't make it optional (as does Xara Xtreme, for example). It's just to say the normal cartesian convention is not stupid.

JET