Re: [artworks] Extra AW tools
- From: Martin Wuerthner <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: artworks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2008 15:58:57 +0100
In message <6e1cdd0550.jr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
rickman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> you wrote:
>> out of curiosity what are you creating that requires such tiny detail?
>> nick k
> It is a mouse mat design that has a year calendar on it. The day
> numbers and indeed all of the text was turned into shapes a long time
> ago to avoid font problems at the mouse mat manufacturer.
> To make a mat for a new year I shuffle the existing shapes about to
> allow for the days moving on.
> The alignment tool provides some help but most of the work is done by
> "sliding" numbers up and down columns or from side to side using the
> arrow keys. This way they keep their alignment in one dimension at
> least.
That sounds like you are creating a huge amount of unnecessary work
for yourself. It can be done far more quickly.
> The catch when using Artworks is that I need big steps to move a
> number across the page and tiny movements to put it in its exact
> place.
Well, as the name suggests, nudging is for tiny adjustments, it is not
meant for big movements. Why do you not just drag the objects with the
mouse? The only advantage you give for nudging is that it keeps
alignment in one dimension but Ctrl-dragging does that as well. Plus,
I bet it would be far quicker if you moved the objects to roughly
their destination positions then use the align tool to fix the exact
alignment, which does a row/column at a time, so you do not need many
operations for the complete design. To that purpose, it is useful to
keep a few guide objects on a background layer to mark lines and
columns to which you can align the numbers. Actually, using a few
guide lines and magnetic snapping you might even get the alignment
automatically. Yes, I just tried it: Assuming you right align your
numbers, create vertical guidelines for the columns and Ctrl-drag
objects horizontally. Then, they snap into position without any extra
work (you cannot snap to two guidelines at the same time, so you can
only use this trick for either horizontal or vertical positioning).
Aligning vertically using the align dialogue box does not work if you
have a font that uses descenders for digits, but that can be solved
easily by keeping the numbers as text and always editing the design
with the text on it. That allows you to use the "base line" alignment
feature that works even with descenders and it also allows you to
change the font at any time. Furthermore, there are no path handles
that get in the way for dragging.
You can convert to shapes at the time when you finally submit the
design to the manufacturer (and for any future editing work continue
on the text based design), but I am not sure why you would want to do
even that. For instance PDF export has a "text as shapes" option if
you really just want shapes.
Martin
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Martin Wuerthner MW Software lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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