Using the Rectangular Grid tool

[BlueDog007]

Hello folks, Mr. Frustration has got me here:

I figured out how to find the rectangular grid tool.  Fantastic.

I just wanted to use it to divide an 8 1/2 x 11 inch page into 8 sections.

This way I was able to design what I wanted in one section.

Which ultimately I wanted to place in the remaining 7 sections of the page.

If I copy and paste the design from the one section I wanted to use in the other 7 sections.

Then I get all messed up because I can't get rid of the rectangular grid.

Oh gosh, I am so confused.

Why does this program have to be so hard to operate?

[LinSims]

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[Ton Frederiks]

You could create a new layer and drag it to the bottom in the Layers panel.

Select the grid and drag the little square at the right of the layer (which indicates your selection) to the bottom layer.

Lock that layer.

[Jacob Bugge]

Blue Dog,

As I (mis)understand it, there is no need for the Recatngular Grid.

You can just:

1) Create the artwork to fit within the desired size (one eighth of the page size, such as 4.25 x 2.75 in or 2.125 x 5.5 in); the fitting into the size can be done while you create it or by subsequent scaling; you can create a no fill/no stroke rectangle of the desired size and Group that with the artwork when aligned as desired;

2) Place the artwork/rectangle at the top left corner of the artboard; you can ClickDrag by the top left corner of the rectangle to snap to the Artboard;

3) Effect>Distort & Transform>Transform twice with the right numbers of copies, horizontally and vertically by the side lengths of the rectangle;

That will give you the appearance of all 8 sets in the right places;

You can:

4) Object>Expand Appearance to have 8 separate sets.

[BlueDog007 · Accepted solution]

Hello Jacob Bugge

Thanks for taking time to address my concerns.

However, you said:

As I (mis)understand it, there is no need for the Recatngular Grid.

I totally agree.  There is no need for the Rectangular Grid.  I got so upset with trying to use it, that I accomplished what I wanted to do in a different way.  I calculated by 8.5" x 11" page into eight sections as follows: The width is 8.5", so dividing it in half equals 4.25" x 2.  The length is 11", so I divided it as: 2.75", 5.50", 8.25".  That helped me get the eight sections I wanted.

Then I selected View > Show Grid  which by the way was very helpful.

Then I used the line tool with a stroke of 3pt to draw lines at the various points on the grid.   This gave me the eight sections that I wanted.

Now, I started to work on designing what I wanted in the upper left most section.

But I later realized my printer was not going to print Edge to Edge, which created another problem.

So, here's how I got around that problem:

I left 1/4 inch (0.25") white space around the inner perimeter of each of my eight sections.  In other words, I didn't print any type or put a picture or graphic in any of those white space areas.  This allowed me to print out my page without worrying about having anything truncated at the top, left, right, or bottom of my page.

It was kind-of hard to accomplish the 1/4", inner section perimeter white space boarder, but I used the Line tool, with a stroke of 3pt, to help me achieve this.

Later on, after I copied and pasted what I did in my upper left section into the other seven sections of my page, I was even able to either eliminate the unwanted guide lines by using the Layers panel.

I also figured out that by clicking on the unwanted line, a dot to the right of that line, appeared in the Layers panel.  When I clicked that dot, I was able to adjust the stoke of a line from 3pt to 1pt, or .25pt.  So, if I wanted to keep the line, I was able to make it much lighter.  If I didn't want that line then I'd just drag it to the delete bin at the bottom of the Layers Panel.

I also learned that I can rename any particular layer in the layer' panel.  I just click on the field describing the layer and rename it accordingly.

Yippie, said I to myself.  I learned something by experimentation.

But I am not done here yet!

The rectangular grid tool is a real pain in the donkey' rear end.

If you try to group something you did in one of the eight sections then the entire rectangular grid also is part of the group.

I didn't want that.

I called Adobe Illustrator support on this too.

In addition, when the Rectangular Grid tool window opens, you have to put in how many horrizontal and vertical sections you want in your grid.  I put in 2 Vertical Sections and 4 Horrizontal Sections.  However, the RG tool did not produce the correct grid.  It produced 3 vertical columns and 5 horrizonal rows.  So, confusing!

Well, I reported this to Customer Support.  And I am waiting on them to get back to me next week Mon - Fri.

Now, I just figured out something about the Rectangular Grid tool, again by experimentation:

I though about the above problem:

When I requested 2 vertical sections, it added 2 vertical lines in the rectangle, this produced 3 columns.

When I requested 3 horizonal sections, it added 3 horizonal lines in the rectangle, this produced 5 rows.

So to correct this, I realized I have to:

Ask for 1 vertical section to be put in the rectangular box.  That divided the box into 2 columns, exactly what I wanted.

And ask for 3 horizontal sections to be in the rectangular box.  That divided the box into 4 rows, exactly what I wanted.

So, what this means is this:

The numbers you put for vertical or horizonal fields will place that many lines in your rectangular box.  Where 1 vertical gets ya' 2 columns and 3 horizonal gets you 4 rows.

Now here's another tip about finding and using the Rectangular Grid tool:

You 1st have to left click on the 3 dots in the tool bar panel.  Those 3 dots are at the bottom part of the tool panel.

This will open the other miscellaneous tools in a separate window that opens.

Find the Rectangular Grid Tool > Left click it > then click outside of the separate window 

The Rectangular Grid Tool will now appear in the general tools panel at the left of your workspace.

Double click the Rectangular Grid Tool in the tools panel to open the separate window.

Set you grid requirements, like I did above if that is what you want.

Make sure you set your Fill and Stroke setting accordingly. 

Yes, you grid lines can be set to a differnet color by setting the stroke color.

And, Yes, you can even Fill the Rectangular Grid with a color too.  Or set it to No Fill color.

The Rectangular Grid that you created can be moved onto your artboard with the black direct selection tool.

This tool has been a real challenge to learn for me.

Grouping items within a section of the Rectangular Grid is going to include the entire Rectangular Grid.  But I guess if you go into your layers panel and look at that group then you should be able to find the Rectangular Grid within that group and drag it out of the group to the delete icon at the bottom of the layers panel.

I hope my analysis of the Rectangular Grid tool and How to use it has helped some of you who come here for answers.

I couldn't have figured this out without the help of other constributors to this set of questions regarding the Rectangular Grid too.

[Jacob Bugge]

BlueDog

You can still do it without the Rectangular Grid, and without creating single lines.

Given that you wish to be able to print it and have a clear frame for your artwork from the start, rather than scale the artwork to fit, you can do it in the following slightly extended way.

In any case you need to make sure about the exact size of all the non printing areas: usually the side areas are the same width, but the bottom area is usually wider (higher), and the top area is maybe/usually narrower (lower).

A) You can choose to exclude the same width at all edges based on (at least) the widest non printing area, or to simply exclude (at least) the actual non printing area widths; the former will probably look better.

This is presumed in the following (the same width excluded on all sides).

B) There is also the choice of the distance/empty space in between the 8 copies of the artwork. One choice could be the excluded width, another one could be twice the excluded width. With the latter, the artwork would be centred in each piece if the page was divided.

This is also presumed in the following.

You can:

0) Create a red stroked rectangle that is 4.25 x 2.75 in (your basic rectangle = the first one mentioned in 1) in the first version), then snap its upper left corner to the upper left corner of the Artboard, then use Object>Path>Offset Path with a negative offset equalling the width to be excluded at the edges;

The inner red stroked rectangle is all you need as a frame to get the artwork at the right size and place;

1) Create the artwork to fit within the red rectangle (the fitting into the size can still) be done while you create it or by subsequent scaling);

2) Group everything and hide the rectangles;

With this, only the artwork is visible, but the Group (still) fits exactly as the upper left part of the page as the first of the 8 sets;

3) Effect>Distort & Transform>Transform and Move twice, first horizontally by 4.25 in with 1 Copy, then vertically by 2.75 in with 3 Copies;

That will (still) give you the appearance of all 8 sets in the right places;

You can (still):

4) Object>Expand Appearance to have 8 separate sets.