How to align objects on objects

[Khell]

Hi there,

 

I would like to align objects on other objects so that they are evenly put onto the circle like you can see on the attachment.

 

I would like to apply this to the triangles.

 

Can you help?

How can I do that?

Thank you!
 

[gdenby]

To date, AD requires on to do this semi-manually.

 

Here is a method I'd use, tho it can be somewhat clumsy.

 

Make sure snapping is turned on. Select the polygon tool, and set the number of sides equal to the number of triangles you want. The number of sides above 48 has to be entered by hand in the number box, not selected w. the slider. Select a center point, and constrain the polygon for proportion and center while drawing it to the size you want.

 

Copy the poly, and scale it up to where you want it.

 

For triangles, which are default drawn w. the bottom side horizontal, the polygon will need to be rotated around its own center to bring a facet to horizontal. Draw the 1st triangle over the horizontal facet of the poly.

 

Now move the center of rotation of the triangle till it snaps at the center of the poly. Duplicate the triangle (Edit menu, duplicate.) Now rotate the duplicate the required number of degrees by manipulating the rotation handle. I.E. 60 degrees for 6, 5 degrees for 72.  The is where it can be awkward, doing it manually. When I've tried doing it from the transform dialogue, the triangle rotates around the center of its bounding box, not the rotational center. Then continue using the duplicate command repeatedly which will then continue adding more triangles and rotating them around the center of the poly.

 

Delete one of the polys, and draw a circle from the origin of the remaining poly. Repeat so the triangles are within the ring. Or just use the donut tool. 

 

One reason many folks are waiting for a blend tool is that one can just select a circle, draw a triangle on it, and enter the number of duplicates to be made, assuming there is an option for "blend along line."

[Guest]

Hi Khell,

 

You can start by making the circles or a ring to the dimension you want. Then you make a triangle (in your example), position it at the top of the circle (at noon as for a clock) by aligning it vertically with the circle.

You take the center of rotation of the triangle and you bring it to the center of rotation of the circle.

 

With the triangle always selected, "Ctrl / Cmd + J", then move the triangle on the circle by rotating it by its handle of the desired number of degrees (30 ° for 12 triangles in my drawing). Do not use the "Transform" tab to rotate the triangle: use only its handle. Finish by repeating "Ctrl / Cmd + J" as many times as remaining triangles.

Sorry for my English.

[R C-R]

For triangles (& a few other similar shapes) here is yet another way to do this. It sounds more complicated than it is in practice & it has some advantages for creating a large number of triangles and ones spaced at angles difficult to drag a duplicate to accurately.

 

1. Use the Star tool to create a star shape with as many points as you want triangles. Use snapping to center it on the same center as your circles. Scale it so the tips of the points are where you want the outer tips of the triangles to be. Set it to no stroke (optional) & to the fill color you want the triangles to be.

 

2. Draw a polygon on the same center with the same number of sides.Rotate it using the Transform panel with the rotation center set to the center square in the panel (so it rotates around its center) a number of degrees equal to 360 divided by twice the number of sides. (You can enter this as a math expression in the Transform panel's "R:" parameter; for instance like 360/2*27 for 27 triangles.)

 

3. Scale the polygon so that the sides are where you want the bases of the triangles to be.

 

4. Adjust what will become the base width of the triangles with the Inner Radius parameter of the Star shape.

 

5. Make sure the star shape is below the polygon shape in the Layers panel, then select both shapes & apply the boolean Subtract operation. The polygon shape will cut away everything except the tips, leaving a perfectly spaced set of triangles:

 

 

This general technique has many variations, for example changing the Outer Radius of the star shape if you want blunted points, or using other shapes besides polygons (including other star shapes) to create different base contours.

 

To make this slightly easier to understand, I have attached a sample AD file, set up to just before the Subtraction step.

27 triangles.afdesign

[PixelPest]

Why not use a Boolean operation on 23 sided Star and Polygon (rotated 360/46=7,826°)

 

Cheers

P.

 

Edit: Ah same idea here it seems.  :D

[JimmyJack]

Or just use the Cog tool. One stop shopping.

 

Totally adjustable (in many ways... play with it).

I made the tips super pointy by adjusting the Mitre in the Line Dialog.

Only caveat is that the edges parallel to the circle will be curved. Up to you if that's acceptable or not.... or even noticeable at a high count.

 

[PixelPest]

Or just use the Cog tool. One stop shopping.

Yeah - even better:

 

Cheers

P.

[R C-R]

The only drawback to using a Cog shape for this is you don't get true triangles -- the bases are curved because the cog has a radius. Not a big deal if you have a lot of teeth but as the tooth count goes down, it becomes more noticeable. If not for that, it would not be necessary in the subtraction method to use a rotated polygon -- a circle would work the same way to cut curved bases.

 

Combining the two methods offers a near infinite number of variations. Like you said, play with it!  :)

[gdenby]

But to generalize: What about evenly spaced question marks?

[JimmyJack]

But to generalize: What about evenly spaced question marks?

 

Use the Cog tool ......  :D . Just kidding.

 

Go with the power duplicate procedure as you described...

 

Edit: well, actually.... for question marks I'd use the artistic text tool  ;) .

 

But I get what you're saying.

[PixelPest]

The only drawback to using a Cog shape for this is you don't get true triangles -- the bases are curved because the cog has a radius. Not a big deal if you have a lot of teeth but as the tooth count goes down, it becomes more noticeable. If not for that, it would not be necessary in the subtraction method to use a rotated polygon -- a circle would work the same way to cut curved bases.

 

Combining the two methods offers a near infinite number of variations. Like you said, play with it!  :)

Another more advanced technique would be a non-destructive Boolean operation which will leave both shapes intact and editable:

 

Cheers

P.

[Ben]

If you are going to use boolean subtraction with a circle, you may as well be using the Cog as you will get the same result. The Cog should provide the best geometry also - minimal points.

[PixelPest]

Mmmh - As R C-R mentioned the cog tool alone doesn´t provide real triangles - right?

 

Cheers

P.

[R C-R]

Like PixelPest said, if you want triangles with flat bases, neither the Cog tool nor a subtracted circle will provide the correct geometry. You could work around this by converting the resultant shape to individual curves, selecting all of them & all their nodes with the Node tool, & convert them to sharp nodes, but then you end up with a lot of separate shapes.

 

The star & polygon subtraction method generates one Curves object & from what I can tell creates no extra nodes -- there are exactly three sharp nodes per triangle shape.

[Guest]

For triangles (& a few other similar shapes) here is yet another way to do this. It sounds more complicated than it is in practice & it has some advantages for creating a large number of triangles and ones spaced at angles difficult to drag a duplicate to accurately.

 

1. Use the Star tool to create a star shape with as many points as you want triangles. Use snapping to center it on the same center as your circles. Scale it so the tips of the points are where you want the outer tips of the triangles to be. Set it to no stroke (optional) & to the fill color you want the triangles to be.

 

2. Draw a polygon on the same center with the same number of sides.Rotate it using the Transform panel with the rotation center set to the center square in the panel (so it rotates around its center) a number of degrees equal to 360 divided by twice the number of sides. (You can enter this as a math expression in the Transform panel's "R:" parameter; for instance like 360/2*27 for 27 triangles.)

 

3. Scale the polygon so that the sides are where you want the bases of the triangles to be.

 

4. Adjust what will become the base width of the triangles with the Inner Radius parameter of the Star shape.

 

5. Make sure the star shape is below the polygon shape in the Layers panel, then select both shapes & apply the boolean Subtract operation. The polygon shape will cut away everything except the tips, leaving a perfectly spaced set of triangles:

HI R C-R,

 

Your method with a polygon has an enormous advantage over Power Duplicate: depending on the number of triangles (or other figures) to place in a circle, if the angle between each figure is not an integer number of degrees, since AD Rounds the number entered for the move, the difference between the first and last figure is different from all others. :(

 

In my example I did not have this problem because the gap was 30 ° and I realized the problem when I tried to do a test with 28 figures ...

 

Your way of doing makes it possible to have a constant spacing between all the figures. :)

 

Thank you for sharing your technique which will be very useful.

[R C-R]

Thank you for sharing your technique which will be very useful.

I am glad you found it useful but it isn't my technique. Like so many other things it is something I learned from other contributors to this forum.