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Illustrator 101: Perfect Path Alignment

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Today I have a simple but important tip when drawing in Illustrator. Have you ever needed 2 points to be perfectly aligned but nudging simply won’t work? Well, you can align points, just like you can align objects. In this example I’m going to use some outlined text. Let’s get started.

Ok, take a close look at the screenshot above. You’ll notice that the line I circled is not perfectly horizontal. You can tell by the steps in the path. Sometimes you can adjust your keyboard nudge increment in the preferences, select one of the points, and nudge it to where it needs to be. But another way to make a perfect alignment between 2 points is using the Align palette and the direct select tool, just like you would for 2 objects. Here’s how:

1. Open the “Align” palette and make sure you have “Align to Selection” checked.

2. Using the Direct Select tool (White Arrow) select both of the points you want to align, the hit the “Vertical Align Center” button in the Align palette. Now both points will be perfectly aligned, thus, your path will be perfectly strait.

This can come in pretty handy on those paths that you need to be perfect, like designing fonts or cutting out stickers for example. Hope some of you find it useful :)