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Tsuiya
Participating Frequently
December 10, 2016
Answered

Artboard rotation in illustrator? [LOCKED]

  • December 10, 2016
  • 9 replies
  • 106101 views

Hello,

 

Is it possible to rotate canvas/artboard like in Photoshop when you are drawing? When I draw in Photoshop, I press 'r' for several times to rotate artboard to draw some lines easier but is it possible to rotate artboard for several times and then pressing esc for getting a normal orientation.

 

By the way, drawing seems to be different in illustrator than in Photoshop - I found blob tool with pressure sensitive quite handy but still the drawing is clumsier than in Photoshop, just making line art. any tips and tricks?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer rama_ai11751598

This feature is now part of Illustrator 25.3.1 release available in Creative Cloud Desktop from 21 June 2021 - https://helpx.adobe.com/in/illustrator/using/rotate-view.html

9 replies

rama_ai11751598
Community Manager
rama_ai11751598Community ManagerCorrect answer
Community Manager
June 21, 2021

This feature is now part of Illustrator 25.3.1 release available in Creative Cloud Desktop from 21 June 2021 - https://helpx.adobe.com/in/illustrator/using/rotate-view.html

    trashcaneron
    trashcaneron
    Inspiring
    June 22, 2020

    Found this thread faster than the uservoice post. From 2016. 500+ votes! Looking for an updates from Adobe about this!

     

    https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-feature-requests/suggestions/19196641-illustrator-rotation-of-the-artboard

    C
    Christopher Werby
    Participant
    May 11, 2020

    I see that one can't rotate an artboard in AI.  But your editorial about misunderstanding vector artwork because one might want to is absurd.  I'm working on a box design right now.  The back flaps have to be oriented differently than the front ones.  Without being able to rotate the artboards, I have to design the text and images on the backflap flipped left to right and upside down.  While that might have worked for Leonardo, it's not ideal for me.

    Monika Gause
    Community Expert
    Monika GauseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 11, 2020

    This is an old thread. Posting feature requests in the forum on top of that won't help.

     

    If you want to make your voice count, please do post a feature request or add your voice to an already existing one (and I'm sure there is one) on http://illustrator.uservoice.com

    That is the place where the developers read. And they do read and follow up.

    N
    needforname
    Known Participant
    May 12, 2020

    It appears people at Adobe aren't on the same page when it comes to bug reports. Here an Adobe admin by the name of Bruce Bullis said just a couple of weeks ago not to post bugs in the UserVoice "bug report" pages when someone asked why feature requests and bug reports can't be searched separately: https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911356-cross-application-workflows/suggestions/35189131-please-separate-feature-request-and-bug-report-on

     

    Honestly I'm not even sure it's even worth the time reporting bugs. We're told the developers take the reports seriously, yet. I've been asking for fixes to countless bugs for months now. Every attempt goes unanswered or unfixed (phone, chat, forums). Since I "hijacked" this thread I've removed the rest of my "rant" pertaining to the confusing nature of the Adobe feedback system and the failure to address frequent bugs. 

      GhostCoast_
      GhostCoast_
      Participant
      November 27, 2019

      .

      I
      INDHD
      Inspiring
      November 2, 2018

      For the record:


      While Illustrator works differently from Photoshop, there are many situations where this would be useful. In my case: I have a template which must be oriented a certain way for a printer, but I want to create 90° rotated from that. Of course I could make a new template rotated 90°, but it would be super convenient to not have to do that. It would make it far easier to visualize the work I want to do on screen.

      Probably useful to not be condescending about a feature that is super useful in other Adobe tools like InDesign and Photoshop, that we pay quite a lot of money for.

        N
        needforname
        Known Participant
        November 21, 2019

        @INDHD Yes, but unfortunately some of the Adobe reps only know how to be condescending. Rather than trying to understand a person's reasoning, they tend to instead talk down to people. I too would prefer a rotate canvas option that also rotates the artwork at the same time. For example, when provided a template from a print shop that is upside down. Rotating the canvas and then rotating the artwork doesn't seem to maintain the alignment of the artwork. Not sure why, but it doesn't. Seems to me that this is definitely a needed feature. It's like with Adobe's doing away with "cmd h" command to allow users to hide the inverted text selection box when cycling through fonts or adjusting kerning. Rather than the Adobe reps agreeing that this feature ommission is dumb, and maybe assisting with getting the feature back, instead they recommend turning off GPU processing. Which of course is obviously not a logical solution. 

          Monika Gause
          Community Expert
          Monika GauseCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          November 21, 2019

          "I too would prefer a rotate canvas option that also rotates the artwork at the same time."

           

          Please vote on the Uservoice page.

            D
            dmorganp
            Participant
            October 15, 2018

            It's been about two years now and there have been many updates. There was just an Adobe CC update today. I didn't see the feature. @ADOBE Is this still in the works? Thank you!

            Doug A Roberts
            Community Expert
            Doug A RobertsCommunity Expert
            Community Expert
            October 16, 2018

            You can track the feature request here:

            Illustrator - Rotation of the Artboard – Adobe Illustrator Feedback

            It's tagged as 'Added to Backlog', but your guess is as good as mine how long that backlog is.

            J
            jg31415926535
            Participant
            September 10, 2018

            The correct answer's editorial is crap, but it did tell me that Illustrator does not allow you to change the orientation of the canvas on the screen.

            I'm working on a map project where I'm using type on a path that somewhat follows the line of mountain ranges (for their names). Most other labels are generally on a horizontal orientation. It would be nice to rotate the artboard a bit back and forth to get a nice compromise between the orientation with the mountains and the orientation with the other text.

            The end product will be a printed map, so this is how people will be engaged with. I guess I can rotate my flat screen display (something you can't do easily while drawing - or maybe you could?). Unfortunately, some people giving advice cannot adapt their thinking to realize that people use applications in different ways and for different projects than they do.

              0
              07murat07
              Inspiring
              May 9, 2018

              The answer is not exact. There is no relation between page rotation and being vector based. There are "pages", "artboards" in illustrator. You can see its importance when you export your artwork. Export an artwork as pdf that is not inside the canvas. Sometimes you have to rotate the artboard. That subject s not related to be vector based or pixel based.

                Doug A Roberts
                Community Expert
                Doug A RobertsCommunity Expert
                Community Expert
                May 9, 2018

                Mylenium answers the direct question here ("you cannot rotate the canvas/view/artboard"), but then goes on to digress based on what he percieves to be the topic creator's preconceptions about vector artwork. he does not draw a connection between the subjects.

                  0
                  07murat07
                  Inspiring
                  May 9, 2018

                  I thought so becouse of the sentence "You can't rotate the canvas in AI and on some very basic level you have a misunderstanding about vector artwork."

                  You may be right, ok.

                  For new users, afterall, there is a way to restricted rotate, (orientation of) artboards. File > Document Setup > (Upper right) Edit Artboard. After, you can pick the orientation, H or V.

                  Mylenium
                  Mylenium
                  Legend
                  December 10, 2016

                  You can't rotate the canvas in AI and on some very basic level you have a misunderstanding about vector artwork. This stuff isn't "drawn" in the traditional sense, it's "constructed" indirectly by defining paths, boundaries and positions where stuff appears on top of which the fills, strokes, patterns etc. are applied that define the actual rendered appearance. Of course AI does have e.g. bristle brushes for "painting", but aside from getting you in all kinds of trouble once they are converted to tons of semi-transparent objects their uses are limited. you need to adapt your thinking and should simply not expect AI to function like PS. A lot of stuff has a different meaning and requires a different methodology.

                  Mylenium

                    T
                    TsuiyaAuthor
                    Participating Frequently
                    December 10, 2016

                    Hi,

                    Thanks. that's so true and I agree. Just pondered ways to do some black and white drawing. Just wanted to know rotation possibility too.

                    Thanks!

                    rcraighead
                    rcraighead
                    Legend
                    December 10, 2016

                    I used to discount the "rotate artboard" option in PS as a gimmick because I was taught in art school to maintain the position of my "canvas" to the real world. I now see the advantage of rotating the artboard in certain cases. These advantages are not exclusive to bitmap work. Just because the underlying artwork is vector-based does not mean the mechanics of free-form strokes is any different in AI or PS. AI just doesn't have the feature.

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