Page 31 - CC2018_AI_Look_Inside

Understanding Alignment Options

As you have already seen, there is almost always more than one way to accomplish a specific task.
ILLUSTRATOR FOUNDATIONS to one another within a selection, to a specific object in the selection, or to the active artboard. Distribute Top Edges
Although Smart Guides make alignment very easy, the Align panel is useful for certain functions
that are not enabled by Smart Guides. You can use the Align panel to align multiple objects relative

The Distribute Objects
The Align Object options
Align Left Edges
options enable you to
are fairly self explanatory;
Align Horizontal Centers
Distribute Vertical Centers
control the positions of
when multiple objects are
selected, the objects align
each other. By default,
Align Top Edges
based on the edge(s) or
Distribute Left Edges
objects are equally
center(s) you click. Icons on
Align Vertical Centers
Distribute Horizontal Centers
distributed within the
the various alignment button Align Right Edges multiple objects relative to Distribute Bottom Edges
Align Bottom Edges
indicate the function of each. dimensions of the overall Distribute Right Edges
selection.
You can use the Align To menu to determine how selected
objects will align. (If you don’t see the The following images show the original placement, followed
Align To menu, open the panel Options by the result of applying the Distribute Vertical Centers and
menu and choose Show Options.) Distribute Horizontal Centers options to evenly space the
three fish.
Using the Align To Selection option, selected objects align
to one another 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
following image).

Using the Align To Key Object option, the middle image was
selected as the key. The Align options apply to the edges of
the defined key object:

(If you don’t see the Distribute Spacing options, open the
panel Options menu and choose Show Options.)

Project 1: Campground Icons 43