Equal distance auto gaps

[truegold]

Hi all,

 

I was going through an Illustrator tutorial and I could do most everything (except of couple things). After creating the attached complex shape you could auto gap between the various (triangles) in this example.

 

I tried using Arrange Align Horizontally/Vertically but that created a mess. I think it solves a different problem.

 

Anyway is there any way to auto create a gap of say 10 pixels between each object in this shape?

 

Thanks,

John...

[truegold]

Hi All,

 

Well after some further experimenting, slightly different object, I realized that I can create a stroke (wide enough) and make it white then it will have the appearance of a gap on a white background. Not perfect but at least workable. See attached example/

 

Of course it would be better if the gap had no color then I can place it on whatever background without issue.

 

Further ideas?

 

John...

 

[Blacksmithdave]

Sorry I don't know about Affinity Designer, but in illustrator Select the pattern and the white line. Go to "Expand Appearance " . Then "ungroup" the selection. Then you can delete the white line leaving just the red behind. Hope that helps. David.

[anon1]

You could probably also set the white line to the blend mode "erase", it's available in AP, I think it's the same in AD?

 

Hope it works ;)

[truegold]

Hi all,

 

Yea I could use Illustrator. In this case I'm trying to see how well AD maps and what workarounds would be required. It's probable that using a blending tool in AP would work. But it doesn't really resolve the issue.

 

This exercise has shown that we need to be able to set horizontal/vertical gaps between objects. And I think we would need to take an object and have it convert the stroke and the fill into separate objects. That would help a lot.

 

John...

[retrograde]

I was going to suggest the erase blend mode as well. It's in AD and it's awesome.

[truegold]

Hi retrograde,

 

Interesting handle.

 

I took a look at the erase blend but it just "erases" everything. When I open up the editor I can figure it out.

 

Can you walk me through how using nth erase blend could create "gaps" between object?

 

Thanks,

John...

[A_B_C]

C’mon guys, it’s much easier to do the second thing …  ;)

 

Use the fantastic Power Duplicate feature. Simply duplicate your object by Opt+Drag (or Cmd+J), move it to the desired position, and “power duplicte” it by hitting Cmd+J the desired number of times … see my movie …   :)

Power_Duplicate.mov

[jmac]

Easy as A_B_C....nicely done!

[A_B_C]

The other one shouldn’t present any obstacles as well … perhaps you would have to adjust the position of the initial triangle a little better than it is shown in my video …  ;)

The_other_one.mov

[Madame]

I look at the videos, ABC, but I have no clue of what you are doing except for making a triangle and copying it once (that I can do too  several times   ;))

Could you please help me understand?

How do you space them? I look at the red and green lines with the move tool active, and have snapping on. But..

And how do you determin what size they will have?

[A_B_C]

Okay, sorry, Madame …  :(

 

Use the Triangle Shape Tool, and make sure that the bounding box of the triangle you create is twice as wide as high. Then place the first triangle according to the intended start position (think of how the entire figure could be created by rotating the triangle round the center). Now create a copy, hold Shift (thereby constraining the rotation angle), rotate the copy and move it to the intended second position (make sure to snap to object bounding boxes). Then just hit Cmd+J, thereby invoking the power duplicate feature, as shown here:

 

 

Hope that helps …  :)

Alex

[Madame]

Wow, thank you.

That's very usefull. And I have accomplised one goal today, -to learn something new! Awsome! :)

[truegold]

Hi ABC,

 

Ref: "Use the fantastic Power Duplicate feature. Simply duplicate your object by Opt+Drag (or Cmd+J), move it to the desired position, and “power duplicate” it by hitting Cmd+J the desired number of times … see my movie …    :)"

 

I did! That's how I created the original object. But I was not able to get the controlled horizontal/vertical spacing I wanted.

 

I'll take a look at your video. I probably missed something.

 

Appreciate,

John...

[truegold]

Hey ABC,

 

Too easy! I realize that I got lost in the stroke and missed the gap. Removing the stroke and then duplicating, rotating at the gap I needed, was all I needed in this case.

 

Thanks for helping me see the gap.

 

John...