7 replies to this topic

[Greg]

Anyone who has done drawing in AutoCAD has used the line tool with the 90 degree polar option...

Is this possible in Illustrator?? I am digitizing about 1000 buildings for a map. I can draw the buildings with the shift key to keep my angles 90 degrees, but then i have to rotate each building after it has been drawn, which is a time killer when working with this amount of digitizing!!

[Matthew Hampton]

There is plug-in for Illustrator that looks like it would do the job for you.

It's called CADtools and they have been around for awhile - so they probably have good support and it's most likely well written. I tried it out a long time ago (AI7), and think of them as a reliable company.

They'll always have a warm place in my heart for providing the first method of getting transparent effects into Illustrator.

[Greg]

There is plug-in for Illustrator that looks like it would do the job for you.

Thanks Matthew,

I had a read through the site's documentation, it looks like it might do the job, but I think that's a pretty hefty price to pay to be able to draw a right angle!

There must be some way to do this within Illustrator?

[frax]

Try snapping to a grid, wouldn't that make it easier, at least?

See also: http://www.cartotalk...?showtopic=2951

[mlbostwick]

I'm not sure if this would accomplish what you need, but have you looked at Rick Johnson's "Square Up" plug-in?

http://rj-graffix.co...e/plugins.html#

$10 is a pretty cheap investment, and the rest of his plugins work really well.

Martha

[frax]

Rick Johnson's plugins work fine up to CS3 - but they are not ready for CS4, yet! (he is working on that - I have been corresponding with re: that)

[Greg]

Try snapping to a grid, wouldn't that make it easier, at least?

See also: http://www.cartotalk...?showtopic=2951

Holding shift with the pen tool will snap to the grid, but the problem is that i would have to rotate the grid every time i drew a building, since most of the buildings are not parallel. (along curved roads)

The "Square Up" plug in sounds perfect..
"Press the Shift key, and paths will be made square along the current constrain angle."
too bad its not CS4 yet!

[frax]

you can set it so that all actions snap to the grid (without holding shift), and you can easily rotate the grid in that setting in the preferences.