Smart Guides able to recognise parallel lines

Here is a feature I would love to see Adobe include as an update for Illustrator CS5; the ability for the smart guides to recognise when a stroke being drawn or moved becomes parallel to the stroke nearest to it, [perhaps this distance could be adjusted via Preferences].
At the moment the smart guides tell us when our object is in alignment with others, but for working with the pen tool, a quick appearance of a smart guide line overlapping a stroke which is currently lying parallel to another stoke would be a lovely feature, and would enable much time-saving for things like architectural drawings, where ensuring accuracy is paramount.
Personally I'm amazed to find myself on the "suggest new features" page for a CS5 application. When I tried CS4 I was in awe, it was so obviously superior to CS3, which in itself was truly revolutionary to someone who had only used Photoshop 10 until CS3. I couldn't see that there was room to go further from CS4 -but you amazed us all Adobe: CS5 is truly awesome. I'm still a student right now -but I know that although there is other graphic design software out there, without becoming totally fluent in the CS suite, finding a job would be even more difficult.
Thank you to everyone at the Adobe team for your truly revolutionary software...........but please, please could you write a script or something so that the smart guides recognise a nearby line as being parallel or not.

I think you are getting confused with Illustrator - Smart Guides work differently in Illustrator. 45% angles would suggest that you are expecting Photoshop Smart Guides to work the same way, and as far as Im aware, they don't

Similar Messages

Smart Guides -Illustrator not really align rectangles CC2014

I'm testing the new version of Illustrator CC 2014 in windows 8.1 and all good except new bounding box of the rectangle tool, and if I want to align two rectangles with the same valiéndome features Smart Guides, these do not really line up, how when I make eh I reached the point of alignment of the figure that I have reference, as when zooming clearly see that not align myself really, we should mention that I have enabled the option to align grid of pixels, and also this does not happen with other tools like ellipse, or polygon, rectangle and only rounded rectangle, examples:
PD, and restore preferences, and reinstall the program and the problem persists

axs,
You may use old fashioned plain rectangles instead of live ones.
To be able to create a normal old fashioned rectangle, you can use the free script created by Pawel, see this thread:
https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1587587

Better appearing smart guides labels

It is good work with smart guides, but when I draw line, it snaps when I do not want also.
It is because of big snapping tolerance which I can set in Preferences.
Smart guides labels disappear very very soon too. Because of it people who draw lines or select them they must be VERY CAREFUL.
It is not good. No relax. It is stressful.
It would be nice, when snapping tolerance is not too high - about 2 pixels - and I can reliably grab handles (labels ALWAYS appear).
Because now when I work in Illustrator, smart guides handles sometime appear, but sometimes not. It is very irritating and I can not feel free to draw. It would be nice when the smart guides labels always appear when I am next to handle top, or next to point. It does not matter, when anchor is selected, or not. Labels always appear when I am going over it, or close to it. It would be very pleasant.
An I can Always reliably grab them - not depenting on snapping tolerance. Always reliably grab them.
Then I can comfortably and reliably draw lines with small snapping tolerance also.

9.1, Mavericks, no.
This may be related to advice here: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1321605
We're creating prototypes for sites and to circumvent the issue of InDesign not placing objects on whole numbers we're using a 1px x 1px grid... it could be that this interferes with the smart snapping and snapping of objects? We could swear though that we had both the green smart guide lines appearing and this grid simulataneously?

Is Illustrator CC's Smart Guides Intersect label MIA?

I recently upgraded from Illustrator CS5 to the latest Illustrator CC version and I noticed that Smart Guides no longer label intersecting lines... Is there a preference I need to enable for that label to appear as it did on CS5?

It's a tweak to put the ruler origin in Illustrator back the way it was before Adobe changed in CS4.
Example:
In pre-CS5 if you wanted to move an object dimensionally up and the right 1 inch you would select the item, double click on the black arrow tool and and in the Move window you would type "Horizontal 1, Vertical 1" and it would move up and to the right 1 inch. But, in CS5 Illustrator was change from using quadrant 1 to quadrant 4 (similar to how Indesign is) so if you wanted to move the same object up and to the right 1 you would need to enter "Horizontal 1, Vertical -1".
Which means you would always be working in negative space. If you're new to Illustrator you wouldn't even notice this but for "Veterans" this was a bit of pain... so someone out there was cleaver enough to figure out to "tweak" how the ruler interprets the origin and restore Illustrator to use quadrant 1.
The tweak isn't very difficult, but I would not recommend this to novice users:
How to change the ruler origin in Illustrator.
To change the ruler origin (and direction of the Y axis) in CC to be the same as in CS4 and earlier:
Close down Illustrator (you can only change the preference file with Illustrator closed);
This is a global change so you only have to do it once (just as you can undo it once).
Pref file directory is as follows (please note the Library may be hidden):
/Users/<username>/Library/Preferences/Adobe Illustrator Settings/en_US/1
Find and open the Adobe Illustrator Prefs file with Textedit
Find and change the following two bits of code:
/isRulerOriginTopLeft 1 change it to /isRulerOriginTopLeft 0
/isRulerIn4thQuad 1 change it to /isRulerIn4thQuad 0
Close and save the Pref file.
I only use Illustrator 1n OSX so I don't know where the Pref file is stored on Windows. I did not figure this out and I do not take any credit for this tweak. ***Mod at your OWN RISK***

Turning off smart guides breaks pen line

Has anybody noticed that if you switch smart guides on or off (with Cmd+U) while you are drawing with the pen tool it breaks the path. You have to go back and draw from the last anchor point. Sometimes smart guides help, sometimes they're a pain, depending on what part of a path you are drawing, so it's useful to be able to turn them on or off while you are drawing. Is there a workaround? (CS3).

Thanks Kurt and Mon. This works fine.
However, there's another thing I noticed while I was playing around with smart guide prefs:
It seems there is no way to disable Angles, not even if you try to delete all figures from the 6 boxes. At least, I can't get Custom Angles to work that way. Smart guides always seem to revert to 90° & 45° Angles. When drawing with the pen it's often useful to see where other anchor points and paths are, but constrained angles are a pain.

Bisecting a line segment with smart guides?

Is it possible to use smart guides to place an anchor point exactly in the middle of a line segment?

Assuming the segment is straight, Object>Path>AddAnchorPoints will add an anchorPoint at the center of the segment.
JET

Why are my Red Line Edge Smart Guide indicators not showing up or continuing the image to the edge o

I have been messing with a single long page layout with scrolling effects. So I have 2 or 3 other objects behind another object pair that I have been trying over and over to get to extend to the edge of the browser by pulling the size anchor of the rectangle object that has a raster fill up to the point where the Red Line Smart Guide line shows up indicating the image will repeat and fill out to the edge of the browser.
The red line seems to only show up for a millisecond will pulling the transform horizontal anchor. Then it snaps past the edge point by 20 pixels. Even when I have "caught" the redline for that millisecond and release the transform anchor, it still doesn't work when previewing or previewing in browser.
Does the object that you want to have repeat to the edge of the browser have to be one object? I have tried experiments with more rectangles with just color fills as well and it's the same sporadic Redline.

In your Muse preferences make sure that your smart guides are turned on:

Smart guides not working

Hello,
I'm working in Illustrator CS4 on a Mac.
In Preferences, I set Smart Guides to 30 degree angles and clicked on Construction Guides.
In View, I clicked on Smart Guides (command U).
However, when I click on an anchor point and try to move it 30 degrees with Smart Guides to guide me, they don't show up.
I've tried restarting the program and turning Smart Guides on/off, but nothing seems to work.
Any idea why the Smart Guide lines don't show up?
Thank you.
Joe

No, I don't think Pixel Preview is the answer.
I've used Smart Guides effectively for years in Illustrator CS3 without Pixel Preview.
Often I draw my objects in Illustrator to appear isometric. So I turn on the Smart Guides to help me draw at 30 degree angles.
As I said, I've done this effectively for years. It's only recently that I noticed that the 30 degree angle guides are not working effectively. On some documents they appear correctly, some they don't appear at all.
I wonder if this is a glitch is CS4.
In the most current document I have, I am able to draw a stroke/line at 30 degrees using Smart Guides. I click to establish an anchor point and then move my curser to establish a second anchor point. When I go to click the second anchor (to create the line), 30 degree Smart Guides appear correctly. I am not in Pixel Preview mode.
However, when I try to move an object (or 2 or more selected anchor points), the 30 degree Smart Guides do not appear.
Can someone try to duplicate the above and see if they get the same results?
Thank you.

Legacy Smart Guides in CS5?

Wondering if there is any talk of being able to opt for "legacy" Smart Guides in Illustrator CS5? I would upgrade for that feature alone. The Smart Guides in CS4 are infuriating. I know this is an old gripe. And, yes, I'm aware of tweaking preferences and holding down command key. It's still not the same...and not even satisfactory. I would love a simple one-click option in prefs that would allow for the user to abandon the new smart guides in favor of the good ol' pre-CS4 smart guides.
Anyone know?

I hesitated to try to explain the old behavior of the guides, but I wasn't confident that I could convey the idea without making it more confusing to those who don't know what we are talking about. But, you pretty much nailed it. It is infuriating when I am dragging an object and hovering over a point on another object, expecting to be able to constrain my angles of movement from that point (as in CS3), and it just doesn't work. And to make things even worse, sometimes the point that I want to align with seems to be the only point on the entire artboard that I CAN'T align with. It feels like a deliberate prank. "Smart" guide lines are lighting up all over the place like "Do you want to line up with this point? How 'bout now? No? This one? That one? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here? Here?" NO GODDAMMIT! I want to line up with the point that I am hovering over....not every single other shape on the board.
That is the behavior that I was alluding to when I described this Adobe "improvement" to be Microsoft-Office-like. I don't know if any of you have had the misfortune of having to use Microsoft Word over the years, but if you have, then you know what I am talking about. You type in the word "Dear" and the program assumes that you are trying to type a letter and starts making all sorts of suggestions and formatting changes and pulling up names from your contacts. Or you type a bullet point and all of the sudden your margins and font point size and indentations and everything else changes because the "smart" program makes assumptions about what you are trying to do. 99.9% of the time the software is wrong and you spend 10 minutes undoing everything the program just did to "help" you. It used to not be that way.
I have grown to expect that sort of behavior from Microsoft and their bloatware. Now I fear that we will be seeing more and more of this from Adobe in the future. I think at some point certain software titles reach a point of maturity where the product works so well that the engineers and programmers resort to needless tinkering in order to justify their existence and put out a new and "improved" version when corporate says so. Bummer.
It would be one thing if it were a give-and-take scenario. If I found some of the new smart guide behaviors to be an improvement I would possibly accept the absense of the old behaoviors. But that is not the case. There is not one single new aspect to the smart guides that I find to be an improvement. That feature is now completely blown for me in Illustrator....and probably will be forever. It may seem like a tiny gripe to some people...but when you consider that I probably logged in over 2,000 hours on CS3 and grew to rely heavily on the behavior of its smart guides, these later versions of Illustrator have been like learning a whole new program in some ways.
If only I could convince all of my clients to upgrade from CS4/5 to CS3...

Anyone notice the Smart Guides bug in CS5?

ID CS5 has a Smart Guides bug when resizing frames to match the size of other frames. When releasing the mouse after the Smart Guides pop up showing the sizes are equal the frame size changes. When analyzing this it appears the frame does not resize to where the SmartGuides popped up but where the cursor is located. There is also jumpiness between the position of cursor and where the Smart Guides pop up. This behavior occurs vertically and horizontally. While some jumpiness still exist, it works reliably when frames are aligned. In other words, if a frame is resized to a point where two sides are aligned then the size of the frame does not change when the mouse is released.
I have verified the bug in both Windows and Mac versions of IDCS5.
None of the behavior exist with Smart Guides in ID CS4.
Is anyone else experiencing this behavior?

Thanks for checking Peter.
I am using a laptop, Mac OSX 10.5.8, with ATI Radeon X1600. The issue still existed wtih my Wacom tablet mouse and a Logitech mouse. I also just uninstalled the program and reinstalled it and the issue still existed.
This issue also exists on an iMac with Windows 7 running ID CS5 for Windows.
Are you using a Mac by any chance? The issue does not exist so much when the frames are aligned. So, if you are trying it out and Smart Guides creates a line connecting the two frames you need to move them out of alignment. Also, if your cursor is dead center over the edge of the frame all is ok. What it's really doing is snapping to where the cursor is and not to where the Smart Guides popped up. I'll be really surprised if you're not seeing it with a Mac.

Problem with smart guides in CS5 with converting type object to outlines.

Hi There,
I recently upgraded to Illustrator CS5, and am having some issues with the smart guides. I create some type with the text tool, then convert that type object to outlines. Now, when I want another graphical object to "snap" to any of the anchors of the outlined text graphic, the smart guides don't kick in! The problem does not seem to occurr if I make a standard graphic with other tools, only when I create a graphic from a type object. I need to be able to snap to graphical objects that are created via the convert type to outlines command. Has anybody experienced this issue before? It's kinda frustrating.
The issue didn't seem to happen in CS3, and I've noticed the design of the smart guides is a bit different in the CS5 version as well. Am I missing something?
Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

When you switched to CS5 did you turn on view >> snap to Point
If your snapping tolernace is set to a small value, you may need to zoom in more to get snapping to work, or just increase the value. Also make sure you have the appropriate items checked (eg:Anchor Path Labels)
Edit Preferences >> Smart Guides >> Snapping Tolerance

Cannot center Smart Guides exactly? CS6

Hello: Level: Newbie OS: Windows 7 64 bit Illustrator CS6
I am learning about Smart Guides but have found myself a bit perplexed.
I have drawn a Circle with the Ellipse tool by clicking and then entering the values: 432x432
Then I hover the mouse over the "center" square which reads: x:260 & y:259.5 which doesn't make sense to me ~ if it is the Center shouldn't the x & y values match? Any way, so then I manually type in the x & y value boxes 260.000 and they both stay at 260.
However, when I pull out the Smart Guides and place the horizontal guide over the center the x & y values also do not match and so I enter the number manually but the values will not stay where I set them.
e.g. The x value states: 259.5 and the y value: 260.000 and no matter how many times I reset the x value it always reverts back to 259.5 ... ???
The vertical smart guide is also off by rougly .5
Now, since I am attempting to make a symmetrical object ... won't this differentiation cause "eye sores" once the artwork is done?
I am (still) attempting to construct a compass with a rose, increments, needle etc. etc. and my first attempt ... and I quote the awesome Jacob ...
looks as if I have dropped it on the floor
So, after all that ramble'n ... I suppose I would like to know from others if this is just the way things are and rather I am suppose to just deal with things being a "bit" off??
Thank you for your time
hope you're having a great day/night

Hey Jacob ...
So, I did the Move the Folder but ... dang'it I'm slow at times ... and so, I am unsure if I followed your directions right ...
I signed into my computer under admin and then when I searched my C drive for the Adobe Illustrator CS6 Settings folder ... two folders came up
One for the Admin account and one for mine
So, I right clicked on both of them and chose ... Move to Desktop ... placing both folders on the Desktop of the Admin
Then I restarted my computer and logged in under my user name not as the Admin & then opened Illustrator but I am still having the same problems.
The Align tool doesn't Align so I gotta eye things out. The first compass I showed you was a result of "listening" to illustrators X/Y/H/W settings.
And when I have the Align to Pixel Grid ON I still do not have integer values when they ought to very well be integers.
So, I just hoping I didn't go about things the right way.
I am now going to go log back into my pc as an Admin and undo the Moved folders and give things a go again.
Jacob ... you've been such a huge support to me that I cannot thank you near enough!!
PS. to check things I made a circle that's 300x300 > the W = 300 and H = 300 and the X = 250 and the Y = 250 < the Align to Pixel Grid is on
Then I choose the Line tool and make a Line of 20px > then directly below I make an other Line of 20px with the Align to Pixel Grid on ...
I select the top 20px Line and the Values are: X = 249.5 and Y = 132 H = < Align Pixel Grid is on
I select the bottom one and X = 250 and Y = 358 and H = 20 and W = 0 < Aliign Pixel Grid on
Then I Group them both and the values are: X = 249.5 and Y = 245 and H = 246 and W = 0
Then I Rotate by 20 degrees and the first set Values are: same as just above
The next set Values are: X = 249.5 and the rest is the same as above
The next set Values are: X = 249.5 and Y = 245 and H = 231.164 and W = 84.137
As I go around the H & W values keep changing. After all you've patiently taught me ... they shouldn't change? OR the H & W do change b/c the bounding boxes outline the Path and Not the line itself ... right?
The 5th copy Values change to: X = 249.5 and Y = 244.999 and so on from there. Not to beat a dead horse but is this how it ought to be?
Uhhh sigh ... ...

Smart Guides off by a tiny amount

I've recently been working on a project involving a large amount of stroked paths. I'm tracing a scan of a line drawing and have been using the Scissors tool a lot to trim where one path runs into another. When I do this I turn Smart Guides on and use Scissors to "snip" paths at intersections. I'm careful about only clicking when the intersection is highlighted, but occasionally I notice that the trim is a tiny bit off. Usually I'll spot a line's round cap extending a little past the line it "runs into" (as in the image here), and when I zoom in I can clearly tell that the anchor point I created with the Scissors tool is a little off. Often it's more obvious than the image example I've provided. I then have to use Scissors again, usually at max zoom, and I continue on with a slight queasy feeling in my stomach, knowing there are ones out there I haven't caught.
I can't even be sure if this issue is only related to the Scissors tool, it might just be a Smart Guides thing. This is obviously not a crushing problem, but I think this community can respect a desire for precision in vector artwork, not to mention the fact that when I start adding fills I may run into problems. Pathfinder might work better than Scissors here, but I don't need a workaround, there's no reason Smart Guides should be dysfunctional with Scissors.
I've searched past discussions pretty thoroughly and haven't found anything like this. Maybe it's something with my prefs? I've never messed with them -- just started using Illustrator on this machine several months ago. Also, for this project I'm currently working with pixel units with Align to Pixel Grid turned off, if that helps. Can't recall ever experiencing this issue before, although most of my work in Illustrator has been on different machines.
CS6, late 2013 iMac running 10.9.2. Thanks in advance if you have any ideas!

Tara,
You may be haunted by the Align to Pixel Grid ghost.
If so, select everything and untick Align to Pixel Grid in the Transform palette, and also untick Align New Objects to Pixel Grid in the options there.
To avoid it altogether, use a document type without Align to Pixel Grid as the default (RGB documents for web and the like), or change the default.

Smart Guides Turning Off - Can't Turn Back On!!

I love the smart guides and use them all the time... unfortunately my smart guides have been turning off (I'm either inadvertently doing something, or this is a glitch or something going on) but after using smart guides on a document it all of sudden stops working. The only way I've been able to negotiate around this problem is by opening a new document and just copying my old materials in there and moving forward like that. That's a pain and and also doesn't explain what's going on!!!
When I go View> Grids & Guides ... smart guides is selected but the option is grayed out and I can't change it even if I want to. I'm really not sure what's going on here. Using CS6
Any help is much appreciated!!!!

Okay ran the update but didn't seam to change the issue. When I tested the user ID I made a new one. The issue is that reguardless of the user id it seams like once it "goes bad" there is no getting it back. Since I'm working on these files at my job I'm on them for a while as part of a series or larger project. Its usualyl when I'm like 80%-90% done. Some of these files I've been working on for over a month and others I've only been working on for only a few days before the smart guides stop working. So far 3 out of 3 projects I've been working on have eventually run into this issue. Its hard to say when its going to stop working.

Smart guides labels appears but sometimes NOT.

When I am using smart guides in illustrator cs6 it is problem which makes me nervous.
When I select point, handles appear. When I move next to handle top the label appear. But SOMETIMES NOT appear, SOMETIMES APPEAR. It is terrible.
- It might be nice when labels ALWAYS APPEAR, WHEN I AM NEXT TO HANDLE TOP or NEXT TO THE ANCHOR POINT.
Because then I know, that when label appear, I can work with that concrete handle, or point.
I know, that it depends of the snapping tolerance, which I can set in Preferences. But when the snapping tolerance is too high, it is unpleasant to draw anything. When snapping tollerance is high i can draw objects on A4 leter which is usual, but my lines and handles are attached anytime when I do not want.
When I do not use smart guides it is unpleasant to draw lines too. Sometimes I grab handle when I want, but sometimes I fail.
I think it may be a good solution if you fix it so that the snapping tollerance will be lower, but labels will appear sooner and reliably.
I like Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop. But this is the reason, why Illustrator makes me crazy, when I work there. Thanks

David,
I do not have align to pixel grid or snap to grid turned on
It sounds as if Illy thinks the former.
The following is a general list of things you may try when the issue is not in a specific file (you may have tried/done some of them already); 1) and 2) are the easy ones for temporary strangenesses, and 3) and 4) are specifically aimed at possibly corrupt preferences); 5) is a list in itself, and 6) is the last resort.
1) Close down Illy and open again;
2) Restart the computer (you may do that up to 3 times);
3) Close down Illy and press Ctrl+Alt+Shift/Cmd+Option+Shift during startup (easy but irreversible);
4) Move the folder (follow the link with that name) with Illy closed (more tedious but also more thorough and reversible);
5) Look through and try out the relevant among the Other options (follow the link with that name, Item 7) is a list of usual suspects among other applications that may disturb and confuse Illy, Item 15) applies to CC, CS6, and maybe CS5);
Even more seriously, you may:
6) Uninstall, run the Cleaner Tool (if you have CS3/CS4/CS5/CS6/CC), and reinstall.
http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cscleanertool.html

Smart Guides able to recognise parallel lines

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for