9 replies to this topic

[Charles Syrett]

I've been making a gradual transition from FreeHand to Illustrator and finding that the most basic functions are the ones that are hardest to figure out or find documentation for. Like....counting objects. In Freehand, you just select all the objects and look up at the top and you'll see the number of objects selected. Bang, done. So....how does one do this in llustrator? All it says is "mixed objects". Am I missing something here? Some special palette? Or plug-in? Thanks!

Charles Syrett
Map Graphics
http://www.mapgraphics.com

[Hans van der Maarel]

I've been making a gradual transition from FreeHand to Illustrator and finding that the most basic functions are the ones that are hardest to figure out or find documentation for. Like....counting objects. In Freehand, you just select all the objects and look up at the top and you'll see the number of objects selected. Bang, done. So....how does one do this in llustrator? All it says is "mixed objects". Am I missing something here? Some special palette? Or plug-in? Thanks!

Charles Syrett
Map Graphics
http://www.mapgraphics.com

I've often longed for something like this too.

If you have MAPublisher, the Map Selection Statistics window will show the number of selected/total objects, but only on the currently active layer and only if they're MAPublisher objects.

[Charles Syrett]

Oh come on now, Hans....you're kidding me, right? Everybody uses Illustrator, and it's been around since the 80s. One of the first things they would have programmed into it would be a count of the selected objects. Right? Come on, please tell me you're kidding.....I really do want to use Illustrator.....

Charles Syrett
Map Graphics
http://www.mapgraphics.com

I've often longed for something like this too.

If you have MAPublisher, the Map Selection Statistics window will show the number of selected/total objects, but only on the currently active layer and only if they're MAPublisher objects.

[aug_aug]

Is there any program or plugin out there to count the number of points in an Adobe Illustrator file?

Not that it's really necessary but I've always wanted some kind of scientific data on my illustrations. Like number of points, colors, time worked on... stuff like that. Does anyone know of anything like this?

Select All, go to Object/Path/Simplify and check the Preview box, it will give you a count of the currently selected points and the after count. Obviously you should cancel out of this, since you don't actually want to simplify.

It's a bit kludgy but it will work.

Or alternately, go to Window/Document Info and select Objects from the popup menu on the top right of the window.

I saw this on another site copy/pasted, I know they're talking "nodes", but maybe the center point of a circle, for an example object, would be counted as well?

And here's a script from Adobe.com:

Count Object Script

I forgot Illustrator even had scripts...

[Francis S.]

Hey Charles, thanks for bringing this up, because I've been needing it. I searched and found this link to a script for Illustrator: http://www.adobe.com...;extid=1706027#. Installed it, and by golly, it works!

Francis

[ErinGreb]

I found that script too, and it works for small files. But I tested it on a 6MB file with thousands of objects and it crashes Illustrator, even if I only have 5 objects selected.

[Charles Syrett]

Hey Francis, looks like you saved my life once again!
But geez....what a rusty old clunker this program is.....maybe some day it'll be re-written from scratch so folks don't have to keep writing scripts for basic functionality...

Charles Syrett
Map Graphics
http://www.mapgraphics.com

Hey Charles, thanks for bringing this up, because I've been needing it. I searched and found this link to a script for Illustrator: http://www.adobe.com...;extid=1706027#. Installed it, and by golly, it works!

Francis

[amtait]

Maybe I'm missing something but your original post said you wanted to see the number of objects you had selected and that is doable in AI.

Select your objects. Then open the "Document Info" palette and go to the little drop down menu for the palette (upper right, three lines) and select "Object Info". Should tell you the number of objects by type (path, symbol instance, etc.) that you have selected. No scripts needed.

__Alex

Hey Francis, looks like you saved my life once again!
But geez....what a rusty old clunker this program is.....maybe some day it'll be re-written from scratch so folks don't have to keep writing scripts for basic functionality...

Charles Syrett
Map Graphics
http://www.mapgraphics.com

Hey Charles, thanks for bringing this up, because I've been needing it. I searched and found this link to a script for Illustrator: http://www.adobe.com...;extid=1706027#. Installed it, and by golly, it works!

Francis

[Charles Syrett]

Alex, thanks for that -- for my immediate purpose, that works just as well and gives me the same result. The script, though, is to count selected objects, rather than all of a particular kind of object in the file. I do this all the time in Freehand -- for example, select by graphic style, and then read the count. This is very handy in all kinds of situations.

Charles Syrett
Map Graphics
http://www.mapgraphics.com

Maybe I'm missing something but your original post said you wanted to see the number of objects you had selected and that is doable in AI.

Select your objects. Then open the "Document Info" palette and go to the little drop down menu for the palette (upper right, three lines) and select "Object Info". Should tell you the number of objects by type (path, symbol instance, etc.) that you have selected. No scripts needed.

__Alex

[amtait]

Yes, selected objects is what it shows you, not total objects in a document. How you get those selected is another story. Nathaniel Kelso has created scripts for selecting by various object attributes in Illustrator, many mimicking the select by graphic style in Freehand.

Alex, thanks for that -- for my immediate purpose, that works just as well and gives me the same result. The script, though, is to count selected objects, rather than all of a particular kind of object in the file. I do this all the time in Freehand -- for example, select by graphic style, and then read the count. This is very handy in all kinds of situations.

Charles Syrett
Map Graphics
http://www.mapgraphics.com

Maybe I'm missing something but your original post said you wanted to see the number of objects you had selected and that is doable in AI.

Select your objects. Then open the "Document Info" palette and go to the little drop down menu for the palette (upper right, three lines) and select "Object Info". Should tell you the number of objects by type (path, symbol instance, etc.) that you have selected. No scripts needed.

__Alex