Page 34 - CC2017_AI_Look_Inside

Understanding Alignment Options Align Top Edges

As you have already seen, there
ILLUSTRATOR FOUNDATIONS Smart Guides make alignment very easy, Distribute Vertical Centers Align Bottom Edges
Align Right Edges
is almost always more than one way to
Align Vertical Centers
Align Horizontal Centers
accomplish a specific task. Although
Align Left Edges
the Align panel is useful for certain
Distribute Right Edges
Distribute Top Edges
functions that are not facilitated by
Distribute Horizontal Centers
Smart Guides.
Distribute Left Edges
Distribute Bottom Edges
You can use the Align panel to align
multiple objects relative to one another
within a selection, to a specific object in the selection, or to the active artboard.
Align Options Distribution Options
The Align options are fairly self explanatory; when multiple The Distribute Objects options enable you to control the po-
objects are selected, the objects align based on the edge(s) sitions of multiple objects relative to each other. By default,
or center(s) you click. objects are equally distributed within the dimensions of the
overall selection.
You can use the Align To menu to determine how selected
objects will align. The following images show the original placement, followed
by the result of applying the Distribute Vertical Centers and
Using the Align To Selection option, Distribute Horizontal Centers options to evenly space the
selected objects align to one another three fish.
based on the outermost edge of the entire selection. In
other words, aligning the top edges moves all objects to the
same Y position as the highest object in the selection.
If you use the Key Object option, you can click any object
in the selection to designate it as the key. (The key object
shows a heavier border than other objects in the selection.)

Because you can align objects relative to the document,
the align buttons are also available when only one object is
selected, allowing you to align any single object to a precise
location on the page or spread.

By default, Align options apply based on the outermost edge
of the active selection. In the following image, dashed lines
indicate the original top edges of the objects:

You can use the Distribute Spacing option to align objects to
one another by a specific amount based on the selected key
object. To access the measurement field for these options,
you must first click one of the selected objects to define
the key. You can then type a value in the field, then click
the Horizontal or Vertical options (or both, as we did in the
Using the Align To Key Object option, we selected the following image).
middle image as the key. The Align options apply to the
edges of the defined key object:

46 Project 1: Campground Icons