Is there a trick for evenly spacing things out?

[Cortney_Roth]

Hi, I'm designing a wedding book where I have to line things up nicely.  I use smart guides and snap to...  and those are great for lining things up in a row (for example the tops and bottoms of the shots here)  But the vertical lines are where I'm having trouble . I'm good at eyeballing how far I want things apart,  but there has to be a more exact way to space out the images quickly and evenly.  (in this shot I have not lined them up yet... My eye is better than this   )  It's just one of those things that I finally remembered to ask

Thanks in advance,

Cortney

[charles badland]

Cortney,

You have to save it as Plain Text.

[Cortney_Roth]

I didn't see that option.  I'll try again

[Cortney_Roth]

In text edit?  Or where?

[charles badland]

I didn't see it in Text Edit either, so I just took it into Word. Worked fine.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

If you still talk about Paul’s Script, paste the text into a new file in ExtendScript Toolkit (part of Photoshop’s installation, Applications/Utilities/Adobe Utilities/ExtendScript Toolkit CS4) and save it as a jsx-file into Photoshop’s Presets/Scripts-folder.

After restarting Photoshop the Script should be available under File > Scripts.

[c.pfaffenbichler · Accepted solution]

Paul Riggott offered a pretty nifty Script in this thread that may help:

http://forums.adobe.com/message/2929207#2929207

And lining layers up in rows or columns is pretty easy from the options bar or Layer > Align.

[_scott__]

Thanks C

[Cortney_Roth]

That will make things easier when aligning to the guide I already have (bleed line) So, thanks!  But if you ever come across something to make even spaces between the images that would be beneficial.

  I have more questions but I have to run in to them to remember them .

[Gast]

If you know the distance you would like things to be spaced out, why not just create a new file at 5mm x 5mm for example, and then copy and paste that into your photoshop file as a new layer and use it as a guide for spacing out your photos.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

If you know the distance you would like things to be spaced out, why not just create a new file at 5mm x 5mm for example, and then copy and paste that into your photoshop file as a new layer and use it as a guide for spacing out your photos.

That seems like a hassle.

But if you ever come across something to make even spaces between the images that would be beneficial.

Cortney, are you talking about pixel-widths or would you need to set them in mm, inches etc.?

[dianer_macperson]

When in the "move" tool, making sure all your images are on separate layers, and the layers are selected, use the align funtions in the menu bar.

[_scott__]

dianer_macperson wrote:

When in the "move" tool, making sure all your images are on separate layers, and the layers are selected, use the align funtions in the menu bar.

Important to note.. you are A) working with three layers of identical dimensions and B) you are aligning the layers via their dimensions, not the space between the layer artwork. There's a wold of difference.

[dianer_macperson]

It doesn't matter what size the images are, you can select all the layers and choose "distribute horizontal centers" and it makes the space between the images the same. Isn't that what "evenly spacing things out" means?

[charles badland]

It doesn't matter what size the images are, you can select all the layers and choose "distribute horizontal centers" and it makes the space between the images the same.

It does matter. See my example in post 17. "Distribute Horizontal Centers" is different than "Distribute Spacing". If you have Illustrator or InDesign you can see how the two types of Distribute differ. Distribute Horizontal Centers will only result in equal spacing between the images if each image has the same width.

[dianer_macperson]

Yes, I would like to check that out.

Where is the distribute "spacing" in illustrator? I only see the same alignment options that I see in photoshop which is distribute horizontal centers, etc.

Maybe I'm not understanding the problem correctly. DHC works on images that are not equal in width.

[Gast]

Double click the word ALIGN in that Illustrator panel's tab once or twice. You'll see additional alignment options.

[dianer_macperson]

oh wow cool!!! I didn't even know that was there! I figured I was going to learn something new. THankS!

[dianer_macperson]

Geez why in the world do they hide this stuff?

[charles badland]

Hi Dianer,

In your posted example... the two images on either side of the center image are close, if not the same, width. In that symmetrical example, DHC will create even spacing. The spaces between their centers are equal.

Other examples, like mine in post 17, will show the problem with equal spaced horizontal centers in creating even spacing among the images. Equally spaced centers do not necessarily create equal spacing between each image.

[dianer_macperson]

Got it! Wow thanks! That's why I love this place, you can really learn some great stuff. That script is really cool too. Like you said why isn't that already a part of photoshop. Amazing. I didn't know about the distribute spacing. I'm so glad I do now. You guys are awsome!!!!!!!!

[_scott__]

The easiest way to see how Photoshop DHS never works for spacing is to set 5 or 6 text layers of different words (like a web menu layout)... then try to get even spacing between them. Never happens. You are forced to manually measure distances and move layers. Looking forward to trying the script! This has been a pain point since Photoshop started being a web creation tool and one reason I now use Illustrator for web layout much more.

[PECourtejoie]

I just made a feature request to have that option built-in.

[_scott__]

I've submitted at leat 5 for the past 3 versions.. hopefully at some point they get to it

[Gast]

Aside from the better alignment tools available in InDesign, this kind of project is much more efficiently done in InDesign. You're needlessly building up layers in a raster image file and duplicating bytes for images already saved elsewhere on your computer. A page layout program like InDesign makes references to the original image files without duplicating data.

[Cortney_Roth]

Well I'm glad I'm not the only one with this beef   I'll give the script another try, and if all else fails I can just go back to eye balling.

I didn't know what InDesign did, so I just bought Photoshop  instead of the suite :S

7 out of 12 books to go !

C