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I need some help. I've created a few shapes using Reflection. Now that I have the whole image, I need to rotate it.
However when I rotate it, the reflections of the drawn paths go in strange directions.
This is what the reflected path looks like as it should be. But when rotated I get this:
How do I keep this from happening?
You will need to check if it actually is the case.
Some of the target symbols look like there are effects applied. You need to click on them and check that. If there is a transform effect applied: Object > Expand appearance. When all appearances are expanded, you should be able to rotate without accidents.
Expanding the effects means you cannot edit them afterwards, but doesn't look like you would want to do that anyway.
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How exactly do you proceed when reflecting and rotating?
Please show a screenshot with the selected object, the appearance panel and the layers panel.
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Here is a more complete example and the panels you wanted to see.
I've tried using Transform-> Rotate, and just using the rotate handle.
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This looks like some of the mirroring has been applied via effects.
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Ok, what does that mean and how do I fix it?
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You will need to check if it actually is the case.
Some of the target symbols look like there are effects applied. You need to click on them and check that. If there is a transform effect applied: Object > Expand appearance. When all appearances are expanded, you should be able to rotate without accidents.
Expanding the effects means you cannot edit them afterwards, but doesn't look like you would want to do that anyway.
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HI,
Yes that Object -> Expand Appearance worked. Thanks!!!
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Or you could have grouped your illustration and in the Appearance Panel apply a Distort & Transform > Transform... > Rotate Effect to the group contents.
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Oh, Thank you! I was having the same problem and Object Expand fixed it, after hours of trying to work it out myself, what a relief. Thank you so much.
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Your entire illustration could be mirrored. If you want to maintain a "live" mirror effect and still rotate the illustration, convert it to a Static Symbol. Dynamic Symbols will not work because the effect remains active when the symbol instance is rotated.
You can continue to edit only 1/2 half of the Static Symbol, for quick editing.
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RockyH, when you work with path and you need to create symmetrical shape, I suggest you to use the "Path finder Palette".
You can see how to use it in Illustrator Support: How to combine objects in Illustrator
this feature is the same in InDesign: "Create compound shapes" in Illustrator support section: Compound paths and shapes in InDesign