Illustrator: Rock-Solid Alignment using Anchor Points
We all know that alignment is a huge part of any design. The more control we have over alignment, the better. After a certain point, 100% alignment control gives way to new opportunities to make Illustrator even more useful, like making seamless patterns for example. I want to show you how “anchor points” work in Illustrator, and hopefully send you into control-freak bliss.
Understand this first:
1. If you noticed from the screenshot above, you can access Illustrator’s anchor points from the Transform palette. (or the horizontal quick menu in some of the latest versions of Illy)
2. Using Anchor Points to align objects only works when numeric values (x, y coordinates) are entered into the Transform Palette. (i.e., choosing an anchor point and then using the Align palette will not work.)
Get to Know the Artboard:
Here is an example of a default coordinate system on a 400 X 400px Illustrator artboard. Since you must use the (x, y) coordinate system to enjoy this feature, it’s important to familiarize yourself with, at the very least, where Illustrator puts (0, 0)
Example 1:
In this example (from the Transform palette) I chose the bottom left anchor point to do my alignment. I then entered in the x and y coordinates (0, 0) and I’m instantly able to be 100% sure that my shape is perfectly aligned to the bottom left corner.
You might look at the example above and say to yourself, “You can do that with the Align palette.” In this case you would be correct, but in example 2 below, you’ll see something that the align palette can’t do.
Example 2:
In this example, I chose the center anchor point, and aligned my object to the upper left corner by entering a 0(zero) x value, and 400 y value. Now my circle’s exact center is exactly aligned to the upper left corner. Why is this so special? Well, for one thing, this amount of control is great for making seamless patterns. And seamless patterns are file-size reducers, as well as time savers in most cases.
Tags: Align, Alignment, Anchor Points, Illustrator, Tutorial
Hey that great tips there for alignment!!!
Thank you v;ery much !
Nothing new but as the Photoshop 101 before a usefull trick to some. This has always been working in INdesign and Illu too.
Keep on posting these little tricks. Even experienced use don’t know all of them.
P..:
The Transform, Align and Pathfinder tools are my favourites!
You had me at “control freak bliss”, great post! I’ve struggled with aligning objects in patterns, this technique will be really helpful. Much better than my old technique of “zoom in really far and drag the object to where I think I want it.”
FINALLY!
Been missing illy on this blog for sooo long! Nice to see you are back with the vector curves, I was very worried and didn’t knew who to call.
There are millions of PS sites, but only one vector – keep that spot and i’ll send you love all day long :-)
Seriously Mr. Bitt this was missed, thank you for coming back on track
E.T
Another similar feature which I use incessantly are the “Smart Guides” (View menu, or Command-U on a mac). Then when you mouse over an anchor point, it alerts you as such. If you then drag it to another object edge or anchor point, it lets you know you’re aligned, and snaps into place. You can also add/modify guide angles and snap tolerance for this in Illustrator’s preference. I can’t live without it :)
Great post. This is an excellent way to manipulate individual anchor points too!
Very nice bittbox. One of my favorite features of the palettes is the ability to calculate math within the fields.
For example, if you wanted to create a duplicate circle from the upper-left, to the upper-right corner, enter x:[0px + 400px], hold the option key and press return.
If you would like your circle to be a third as big, enter w:[215px / 3], hold option and command (constrain proportions) and press return.
You can also mix different units of measurements (72px or 1in or 1p0 or 25mm, etc.) and it will convert on the fly.
Yeah if you master InDesign you learn how to work on this, if you want to learn more about it just look up some InDesign books for explanation.
Still I was thrilled learning about this
this is all very slow and not really efficient method comparing to Corel Draw aligning system. Is there any keyboard shorcuts in Illustrator for aligning two objects or directly to artboard?
for example in CD only one keyboard key is enough to center the object on artboard …
I wish Illustrator would snap object edges to guides even when moving them by grabbing from the Fill area; I’m not one for aligning with the numeric entries.
And while I’m complaining, the align to preview bounds feature shouldn’t take drop shadows into account IMO. But then again, I am sure there are situations where I’d complain if it didn’t do this.
Thanks. Nice tips
Hey!…Man i just love your blog, keep the cool posts comin..holy Wednesday
I would’ve thought you would’ve put in more time explaining how this could truly be mindblowingly useful, like aligning two objects in amazing ways rather than to learn how to stick something on the corner of the artboard. Just my two cents.
Love this site, the freebies, and the tutorials. I got into this method of aligning, curiously, through Quark!
Annoyingly, Quark only uses the top left corner as an anchor point of an object (doesn’t give you the 9 choices in InD and Illy) and puts the 0,0 of the page top-left (not bottom-left in InD and Illy). Thank god I hardly ever use Quark anymore!
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