Divided Circle

[TokyoMike]

Hi - I would like to know the best strategy for precisely dividing concentric circles and then slicing the results so I can selectively remove piece as I choose. Below is not the final image but gives an idea of what I am trying to accomplish. I am evaluating a few tools and would like to know if this tool is made to create these types of images. My end goal is to create some complex shapes like this for time tracking, make them into a PDF and then copy them to my e-ink note-taking device. 

Question 1: Is this the right tool for these types of drawings?

Question 2: If so what is the best way to get the precise circle dividers? I thought about creating a line, copying it, then using the rotate parameter, then using the align center and middle commands, then repeat a bunch of times

Question 3: Once I have my lines on top of my concentric circles how to I slice them? I have struggled with lines interacting with shapes using the subtract and combine (probably operator error)

Thank you for your guidance!

 

[firstdefence]

You can use the Power Duplicate option and for slices use the Pie Shape Tool, you could create one shape with the marker lines grouped with a pie shape and then just duplicate it by rotating it around the centre axis.

[Move Along People]

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[TokyoMike]

Thank you both! I am a convert - going to purchase the product.

[gdenby]

Try the cog tool, and amazing shape maker. The cogs can be formed to thin lines, and made in different depths. They can then be converted to curves, broken at the nodes, and superfluous lines deleted.

Attached, a quick and sloppy version which was started by making 1 48 toothed cog, and altering it to ones of 24, 12, & 4 teeth w. different hole radii. Duplicated, and reduced proportionately for the second ring.

 

 

[TokyoMike]

Hi - edited previous post. I have solved it! The cog tool, make the lines dashed, then Layer > Expand Stroke. Then delete segments you don't need. Repeat with 48, 24, 12 spoke cogs made to look like lines.

NOTE: to preserve the dashed lines I found the following steps were required - Make Dashed > Layer > Expand Stroke > Divide. If I just did Divide first the shapes seemed like tiny filled rectangles. 

Practice makes perfect - thank you all for pointing me in the right direction! 

 

 

Edited May 4, 2019 by TokyoMike
solved!

[firstdefence]

An alternative is this: Taco Dial.afdesign Saved with history so you can jog back and forth in the history panel. 

[TokyoMike]

35 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

An alternative is this: Taco Dial.afdesign Saved with history so you can jog back and forth in the history panel. 

Hello - WOW- in a word, WOW! I followed the history and there are a couple of things I am confused about:

1. When you copied the lines they move to precise locations around the image - how did you do that?

2. Moved Guide - what is this?

3. Transformed Focal Point - what is this?

4. Toward the end there are a few lines created and an image of the hash marks that are off the edge of the page at the right - how are these used?

Thanks so much!

[TokyoMike]

And another challenge - could the same methods be used for this?

[firstdefence]

2 hours ago, TokyoMike said:

Hello - WOW- in a word, WOW! I followed the history and there are a couple of things I am confused about:

1. When you copied the lines they move to precise locations around the image - how did you do that?

2. Moved Guide - what is this?

3. Transformed Focal Point - what is this?

4. Toward the end there are a few lines created and an image of the hash marks that are off the edge of the page at the right - how are these used?

Thanks so much!

1. When you move the rotation centre  to the centre of the circle, you can hold down shift and it will rotate in 15º increments. Using power duplicate you can duplicate an object, rotate it and then press cmd + J to duplicate and rotate the duplicated object each time 15º

2. moved guide is just moving a guide that I created because the taco isn't in the centre of the screenshot so I nudged the guides to align better. and used the point the guides intersect as the rotation centre.

3. Transformed Focal point is where I moved the rotational centre of the object to the guides intersection. This enables you to rotate objects round a focal point.

4. The group of lines are the striped texture, I originally made a group of lines and just nested the group in the shapes with texture but later on I made a symbol out of the group of lines and replaced the groups with symbols so I could edit the symbols en masse, like change the colour or thickness of the lines.

[R C-R]

36 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

1. When you move the rotation centre  to the centre of the circle, you can hold down shift and it will rotate in 15º increments. Using power duplicate you can duplicate an object, rotate it and then press cmd + J to duplicate and rotate the duplicated object each time 15º

There is a similar method for power duplicating & rotating an object around any rotation center by any evenly spaced rotational increment:

1. Move the rotation center of the original object to wherever you want it to be.
2. Duplicate the object.
3. In the Transform panel, enter "360/n" in the "R:" field, where n can be any number & press return to rotate the duplicate.
4. Keep pressing cmd + J to power duplicate by that increment for as many times as needed.

This is particularly useful for increments that are not evenly divisible into 360°, like 360/19 or 360/22.

[TokyoMike]

Hi - Power Duplicate is not working for me. Could someone please take a look at the short video and tell me what I am doing wrong? 

[Alfred]

After you duplicated the donut segment, you selected the original object in the Layers panel. If you instead keep the duplicate selected and rotate it, you should find that subsequent duplicates are rotated by the same amount.

[TokyoMike]

3 hours ago, Alfred said:

After you duplicated the donut segment, you selected the original object in the Layers panel. If you instead keep the duplicate selected and rotate it, you should find that subsequent duplicates are rotated by the same amount.

Cheers - thank you. I had thought I needed to do a select but it seems the duplicate is already selected after the action. I was a little confused as it puts it at the top of the layer list. All sorted out now!

[TokyoMike]

Using the techniques from this lovely community I was able to create a much more complex (for me) graphic. I still have some things to learn - sometimes when I move the focal point it won't snap to the middle of my circle - but I am getting the hang of it. Thanks, everyone!

[R C-R]

16 minutes ago, TokyoMike said:

... sometimes when I move the focal point it won't snap to the middle of my circle ...

If too many snapping options are enabled at the same time, in complex documents it can be very hard for the app to pick the one you want, so maybe experimenting with different 'snap to' settings will help with this.

[gdenby]

Tremendous progress. I'll bet it was mostly fun. 

I think that when centering the focal point, the problem may be a simple manual one. The mouse button has not been released completely, and so the point shifts slightly as one moves ones hand away.