Make a Perfect Triangle Path in Illustrator
There is no triangle tool in Illustrator, which to this day, boggles my mind (wtf Adobe?). I have memories of the times when I first started using Illustrator and really tried to get to know the program in depth. This was one of the things that frustrated me regularly (making a perfect, equilateral triangle) until I finally figured out a simple solution. If you use Adobe Illustrator on a regular basis, chances are you might need to create an equilateral triangle every once in a while. This may seem like a simple task, and it is, but not as easy as it should be. I’ll show you how to easily make a perfect triangle path in Illustrator, and hopefully, you will have one less vector headache to deal with in the future.
1. Select the Star Tool
Yes, believe it or not, the Star Tool is what you will use to make a triangle. I know it sounds weird, but go with me here.
2. Click Once on the Artboard
By only clicking once, you will get the Star Tool Options pane. This is where you can reduce the number of points to “3.” The trick is to set one radius 2 at your desired size for your triangle, then set the other radius at exactly half. Note: It doesn’t matter which radius is which. Radius 1 and 2 can be reversed as long as one is double/half the other. Choose the size of your triangle and click OK.
3. Get Rid of the Extra Anchor Points
Now that you have your triangle, you might want to get rid of the extra achor points created by the Star tool.
You can select the Subtract Anchor Point tool or hit the keyboard shortcut “-” (minus) and delete the 3 points that are in between the corners of your path.
Done!
There you have it. A perfect Triangle path in only a few easy steps, no pen tool necessary!
From here you can do anything you need to with it, like maybe reflect it and make it have the wide part at the bottom, etc. Remember that the angles in every equilateral triangle are 60 degrees, so if you need something to line up with one of the sides of your equilateral triangle, rotate that object in 60 degree intervals and you should be able to perfectly align things to your T-angle! I hope this little tip saves you some time and headache. It is often-times the little things that help the most. (from my experience)
aaaHHHH!!! Really it alway annoing to draw a triangles in illustrator… I always draw not proportional triangles! lol…
Thank you so much for the tip!
Oh my gosh!
This goes to show it doesn’t matter now much experience you have with Illustrator, there is always something you can learn!
Even when its as simple as a triangle.
Thanks again!
I’m confused. Why not just hit Polygon Tool, for 3 sides?
Great trick! For a right or isosceles triangle (two sides are equal, two angles are equal), simply make a square and delete out one anchor point.
You’d be proud… that’s how I figured out how to make them a while back just by toying around. Glad to know I did it like a pro!
Doug
Nice tip………this bugged me too when I first started out. If I’m not mistaken, there’s also a shortcut for this, that avoids the need to open the options pane.
I can’t remember it off the top off my head, but (I think) that if you left click and hold the star shape, you can use the up and down cursor buttons to increase or decrease the number of points of the star……..in this case to 3!
Maybe someone else can confirm this?
I’m with Sean – I’ve always used the polygon tool. No need to delete your extra points that way – one less mouse click means one more left before the carpotunnle.
Now if they could only make a Semi-circle tool and a harlequin-like-diamond tool…that would make my day.
I have to agree with sean, isn’t the standard 3 sided polygon an equilateral triangle.?..
use star tool
as you click and drag the star, press the > or
MISTAKE!
i meant press the UP and DOWN arrows to add/remove sides.
Yes, a 3 sided polygon is an equilateral triangle and it does eliminate the need to delete points.
Agreed – the poly tool set to 3 is far less clicks.
@ Deanna – you can use the Pie Graph Chart tool to make a semi-circle – it’s not quite like FreeHand, but it’s at least got some editable math behind it.
Also, you could change the constrain angle to 45 to create “diamonds” by default using the (constrained to square) rectangle tool. They’re not harlequin style, but it’s at least one less transform you’ll need to do after the fact.
enjoy.
Star tool and up or down is what I always used. I never realized people had problems with this very simple task.
Select the Polygon Tool
Drag to begin drawing a polygon, but don’t release the mouse button.
Press the Down Arrow key 3 times to reduce number of sides on the polygon to a triangle, move the mouse in an arc to rotate triangle.
another quick method is: use the rectangle tool to draw a rectangle of any dimension, the use the direct selection tool (white arrow) on one of the sides (not any anchor points), hit the delete key, then still using the direct select tool select the 2 anchor point left on the ends of the legs and hit command-option-shift-J, or the Join & Average endpoint command.
It’s 3 steps.
Yeah, I use Inkscape and that’s how I make triangles.
that’s a pretty nice trick! I’m amazed on that.
What I did last time, is by using Grid… although can achieve triangle but not true 60degree..
thanks, this helps a lot.
I’ve always done my triangle like this.
It’s very easy to use this way :D
ehmmm… I normally use the polygon tool and set the numbers of sides on 3…
Ditto on the polygon tool to make a triangle. If you’re going to go with the star tool, though, then you might as well get rid of the extra anchor points using the object > path > simplify command. It doesn’t always work as promised, but it usually gets you most of the way without the need to delete points individually.
Or – you select the polygon tool… go to the artboard, hold shift and click with your mouse – chose 3 sides… and wallah.
star tool and hold the down button
I did a quick check with the polygon tool… drew out 3 3-sided polygons, and rotated each 120 degrees to check their dimensions against each other. They are, in fact, perfect equilateral triangles. So, this tutorial seems to be an extremely long way around for creating one. Also, Josh commented on creating a square and averaging 2 points on 1 side… while this will yield a triangle, it is not a perfect equilateral. I use this technique for quickly drawing arrows ( when the add arrowheads effect won’t work or would be too cumbersome) and it works well for that, but say you’re tesselating (tiling) the shapes… they’ll need to be perfect equilaterals.
While I usually find this blog extremely helpful, and I LOVE the freebies… this tutorial left me laughing…. it’s like a Rube Goldberg device for constructing perfect triangles.
[...] has come up with another handy Illustrator hint on how to Make a Perfect Triangle Path in Illustrator . I know many people who are new to Illustrator will find this tip useful as I have often been asked [...]
lol, yeah polygon tool does it!
that’s nice thanks Bitt.
I?ve always considered your website a designer source of inspiration, but this is not something new for me. Making a perfect triangle is as easy as using the polygon tool to do it. Just set the polygon tool to 3 sides, ando you?ll get a perfect triangle, just like the one you made using the star tool. The difference is, that you don?t need to erase the anchor points in the middle because…there is no anchor point in the middle of each side of the triangle.
The fact that he provides an alternative way to solve his problem, even if not as easy as using polygon tool, just shows how he’s able to workaround a problem, no matter how much you know the software you’re using. This is “to be skilled”: the capability to solve an issue you run into even without knowing by heart each key shortcut or each function the software provides. He needed to do a triangle shape and he did it, doesn’t matter the way how he got to it.
I pay off my compliments to this site, I always find your posts really interesting.
Best regards
IDIOSUITE ? Rascal
I completely stumbled on this concept on accident myself in the way that you described. However, I never even thought of decreasing the number of points. Thanks, BB!
Actually I already knew how to do this particular thing. Nevertheless, this page is the most complete and instructive I’ve ever seen! it’s amazing!! It has an answer to every question I’ve ever asked in he matter of design and, let me tell you, your designer skills are absolutely out of the question remarcably TOP OF THE LINE in any way you want.
Congrats for the success and I’ll be coming back again and again to see what else you have new for us.
Cheers!
Daniel
Designer in Cochabamba, Bolivia, South America
Thanks for all the comments. The teacher has become the student! I’ve never used the polygon tool before in my life!! :/ You all have no Idea how much I learn from reading your feedback. You are all an inspiration to me, and this just goes to show us that no matter how much you know, there is always room to learn more.
~Bitt
Great tutorial.
It’s much faster to drag a perfect square and then delete one of the corners.
Deanna
As it were, there’s no quick press-a-button method to semicircles or Diamond shapes (although, they’re pretty quick to make). What I’ve found useful for quite some time now, is to take more complex or most used shapes and turn them into symbols. That way I simply drag them onto the sheet (break the link if needed) and there it is, fully editable.
Hope it helps…
uhm… clarification: I know it’s basic stuff, but just in case….
Semicircle: Press L, draw a circle with shift held down; Cmd+Shift+A to deselect everything; Press A, select anchor point, press Delete. Select the open ends and shift+J to join ‘em.
Diamond: Press M, draw square with shift held down; Option click >Transform >Reset Bounding Box (personally, since I use it quite often, I’ve got a Shortcut assigned); then simply squeeze into shape.
Again, it’s basic stuff, but I’ve found it helps to see stuff written down (hotkeys n everything)
Cheers
Klay
::grins:: small detail I forgot. Before reseting the bounding box you have to rotate it 45 degrees, of course. Sorry, stuff happens when you write a comment while doing five other things at the same time.
cheers
Klay
There IS a triangle tool in Illustrator, at least since CS2 and probably before. It’s built into the Polygon Tool.
While you’re dragging out a polygon use the UP and DOWN arrow keys to change the number of sides of sides it has, which are all the same length so you’ll get an equilateral triangle when you select three sides.
Oops. A schmillion other people alread said that.
…but the part about the arrow keys is new I think.
I’ve always just used the Star, pressed the down arrow to get rid of all but three points, then held down the option key to straighten the edges.
Bam, perfect triangle.
Yeah, I’m with sean… polygon tool.
Very useful!!!
Um… I used the Polygon tool to make a 3-sided Triangle..
Nice solution. I’m with you on the “wtf adobe?” What I’ve always done was to draw a square (hold shift while dragging out if you ultimately want isosceles), rotate it 45?, draw a quick horizontal line that’s longer than the square and center the 2 horizontally, and then on the pathfinder intersect the two and ungroup, creating two triangles.
Stars in Illustrator:
1. Choose the star tool
2. Click and drag to draw the star
3. While holding down the left-mouse button, hit the “down arrow” twice to drop the number of corners.
Tip: this is also a really cool way to make multiple-tip stars! cool for backgrounds. have fun!!!
I love you. You’ve solved the major half of a problem that’s driving me nuts.
Create any number of sided shape. Minimum you can create a triangle and maximum number of corners as u wish. Just follow my my steps below.
1. Pick the STAR tool
2. Drag to draw the star but don’t release your mouse button. Press continuously.
3. Press DOWN arrow key on keyboard to decrease number of star sides.(minimum 3 sides)
Or
Press UP arrow key on keyboard to increase the number of star sides. (maximum as u wish)
4. Now continuously Press the SHIFT keyto set all star sides equal. and now release the mouse button.
5. Now release the SHIFT key.
6. You will get the Perfect shape.
TIPS:-
Actully shift Key is generally used to create perfect shape like Square with Rectangle tool, Circle with Oval tool and resizing the object shape with proper ratio.
Its more simple if you just use the poligon tool and than chose the number of angles, hold shift and thats it
do you not just use the star tool but put ‘3′ point?
there is too a triangle tool. u have to use the star tool and than while yuo are scaling the size you either hit the arrow keys or the “” i forget which one is which. try it.
There is a triangle tool in Illustrator, sorta.
Use the star tool & make the points options 3 instead of 5 & make
radius options whatever you like.
Instant PERFECT triangle!
I thought it was odd that you weren’t aware of this,…
You can make a perfect triangle! Just use the “Star” tool (same box as the rectangle, elipse,etc), then choose 3 as the number of sides.
Let me know if this works for you!
Good luck!
Actually there is an easier way.
It’s called Polygon Tool…
It’s under the same menu as the Star Tool.
Just hold down shift and drag it out after defining that you want 3 sides.
Simple.
[...] sharonb under Illustrator Bittbox has come up with another handy Illustrator hint on how to Make a Perfect Triangle Path in Illustrator . I know many people who are new to Illustrator will find this tip useful as I have often been asked [...]
I swear by illustrator and never knew how to make a perfect triangle.
Thanks for the STAR TOOL tip and this tutorial.
I will probably use the Polygon tool and learned that one here as well.
Thanks everyone!
Sean and Schmee are correct – the Polygon tool.
You could even press the Up or Down arrows while the mouse is held down to achieve the number of sides you want. Hold down Shift and voila! Equilateral Triangle.
I think using a star tool to build a lousy perfect triangle, it’s a little “slow”….
you just
1 – click on the polygon tool
2 – click on the dashboard
3 – insert 3 on the dialog box that appears
and thats it
…think… sometimes…
that’s how you become fast
Nothing is Slow,
its depend on you and your perfection.
“Clicking on Dash Board” and put number of sides for desired shape is not enough,
we need SIZE of the Object. And As per my experience I know that most of the people are deciding the size of the object by just mouse dragging with the combination of Shift, Control and Space bar keys.
we are using dialog box in very rare cases like when we need to create some icons and logos for any web or windows application.
Now you can say That’s It.
dear Chandresh Kesri (m/f)?
you’re probably right, except the “now you can say that’s it”
cause we also might need COLOR of the object, LINE color of the object, SHADOW of the object, POSITION of the object, TRANSPARENCY of the object……and other million things you can do in illustrator with a stupid triangle….
but you see… I think the object or theme of this tutorial is another: “Make a Stupid Perfect Triangle”
and that’s it!
so in this case (even though I mentioned the shift hold thing) I think my “tutorial” was very concise and helpful (hope so). trust me, you don’t need to waist more time on a stupid triangle… this is not the case when you need to go slow.. ;)
the method with polygon tool + arrows up and down is much faster and better!!!
Ok thanks.
I agree with your response. Both methods are good and easy to remember.
With regards,
Chandresh Kesari
just use grid an draw your own triangle, how hard can it be?
As mentioned above there’s the polygon tool which easily makes a triangle or the star tool which achieves the same. Both use the cursor keys to achieve the amount of sides required.
What’s also possible with key combinations and the star tool is using the cmd and alt key (prob control and alt key on a PC). Create a star by click and dragging (without releasing), use the cursor keys to adjust the amount of sides eg. 7, use the alt key to make a dumpy looking star and use the cmd key to make a thin star (great for starbursts).
As stated before, the polygon tool does the trick, however using the star tool defines the center of each vertices. This way you can draw lines from the center of the vertices to the bisectors of the opposite side to create medians. Where the three medians bisect in the center defines the true center of the triangle.
In developing a chart, I needed to divide an equilateral triangle into three equal proportions. Using the star tool made defining the center of the vertices easier.
hey Bitt.
i found another way to make a triangle, while creating a shape using the polygon tool, just use the down arrow on your keyboard to reduce the number of sides to 3, or you can raise the number of sides to anything.
Totally awesome! The tips and tricks you all have come up with are sooooo appreciated here! I’m a Graphic Design student and graduate in June and need all the help I can get. I am new to Bittbox, feel so much like a ‘kid in a candy store’ here…Thanks again!
We all have different ways of working and the great thing about these tip-sharing sites – of which Bittbox is probably the best – is that even if people have better/different methods, or know something already, things get shared and we all learn something!
Personally I have always used the Polygon tool and set the side amount to 3, but I didn’t know about the up and down arrows thing when drawing stars and polygons. And now I, and several others, know!
Moral: don’t just slag off a tutorial if you know it – share something else with us and embellish it!
Polygon is the best way i have seen, thanks so much for this excellent little piece of knowledge.
Once again…. you rock.
Ha, I would draw it in Solidworks then copy directly to illustrator. More useful if the sketch gets really complicated and you wish to dimension things or add relations to lines…etc
THANK YOU SFM.
MAN!!!!! Thank you SO much. I was almost loosing my mind trying to do it from a rectangle.
There’s a much faster way to get a triangle. Select the star tool, create a star, but before releasing the mouse button push the down arrow key on your keyboard until you have a triangle :) You can also use the up arrow keys to add points to the star.
Easier way for a triangle is the polygon tool with just 3 sides, and you won’t have to delete any points
Um, the reason why there’s no triangle tool is a triangle is just a 3 sided polygon, and there is a polygon tool which allows you to specify any number of sides.
That’s a great option! Thank you! I am amazed.
I am of least average intelligence and I couldn’t figure out how to make a perfect triangle…thanks for talking about the star and the polygon options… you have just dramatically increased the quality of my life.
p.s. stop sharing your knowledge or you might get labeled communist…
Thanks! What a pain!
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THANK YOU THANK YOU just saved me a bunch of time!
Well, I’m a complete newbie in Illustrator. This tutorial and all the comments have answered so many questions and problems that I’ve had lately that I cant thank you enough.
Making a triangle is easy once you figure it out :)
Now can anyone tell me an easy way to draw 2 or 3 “concentric” triangles?
When I scale up or down a triangle, it offsets upward. I also tried vertical and horizontal alignment but that doesn’t work.
from what I understand, this is no easy task.
i use the polygon
but a half circle tool could be awesome instead of the frustration of the scissors (am i the only one who doesnt get how the scissors work?)
thank you soooooooo much!
thanks for the great tutorial! triangles have been bugging me for months now. even though ppl have been hating about the polygon vs. star tool, i think it’s great that this article is up and i can read about both methods.
While using the star tool you can change the number of points on-the-fly by using the up and down arrows on the keyboard while drawing the a star with the tool.
So, to get a triangle you can draw a star and before releasing the mouse button to complete the star press the down arrow twice. Enjoy!
didn’t know that, thanks
i found out that in InDesign u can do that too plus u can adjust inset percentage with left and right arrows
A perfect triangle can be made with the polygon tool, by specifying 3 sides.
Thanks a lot for your – useful, readable & understandable guideline. This was just what I needed.
Kind regards, Christine Fürst (aka Stinie)
@ shadysprings – True, the align feature does not do this quite right. To create concentric triangles I would:
1. Turn on your grid
2. Pick a point to drag your 3-sided polygon from (should be dragged out from a center point)
3. Hold shift while you drag – Repeat for more triangles making sure to start your shape from the same point
This may not be mathematically perfect but it is optically as close as you can get. If you want 3 or more triangles evenly spaced I would:
1. Drag out one outer triangle
2. Drag out one inner triangle using that concentric method
3. Go to Object>Blend>Make and then use your blend options to specify the number of steps in between your first two triangles you want illustrator to make. You can then expand those steps and have editable triangles. Hope that helps!
p.s. Thank you to C, Paul Scott, Daniel, Bobby, Schmee, Smaneal and all the other wankers who can’t read and realize that they are posting the same info over and over and over.
Man, Thanks that was so helpful for sure.
Select the polygon tool click once, change number of sides to 3, yay you are done. your method works too. Funny thing with illustrator, several strategies for one result.
Top boy for that it was doing my head in :(
Who needs a triangle tool when you make it look this easy! Thanks a lot. You rock!
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Great Dear…..simple but Great