Is there any way to "jiggle" all existing points on a path so they all snap to the grid at once?

[Ian Jaffray]

Hello,

I have a lot of closed paths in which all the points on those paths are
"almost" where they should be, namely on the grid intersections. The paths
were created with the Trace tool in FH10 MX.

Currently, I'm very dumbly grabbing each point that Trace has created and
tugging it, which causes it to snap to the very-close-by grid intersections
if it is not already lined up with that position. In this particular case,
all the points on each path could be safely snapped to their nearest grid
intersection if it could be done en masse for the closed path.

I haven't found a way to create the original corner points snapped to the
grid during the Trace operation, which would also be another way to an
acceptable result.

What I was hoping for was a command that performed something like "Snap all
selected points to nearest grid intersection," but I haven't found a way to
do that to all the points on a path at once. Any ideas?

One other thing, which may just be my misunderstanding of how Grid is
supposed to work. Viewing a page at 400%, with a Grid spacing of 6 creates
12 snappable grid dots; changing the Grid spacing to 10, at this
magnification, creates 8 snappable grid dots. What's the "secret" of this
spacing scheme? I would have thought, 6 creates 6 and 10 creates 10.

Many thanks for any help,

Ian J.

[Judy Arndt]

Ian Jaffray wrote:

> I have a lot of closed paths in which all the points on those paths are
> "almost" where they should be, namely on the grid intersections. The paths
> were created with the Trace tool in FH10 MX.

I normally use guides and the align tools for jobs like this. Select the
points you want to align horizontally. You can select either by
option-dragging a marquee-selection with the pointer tool or option-dragging
with the Lasso tool.

Align. (I use Align buttons in my toolbar.) Snap-to-guides on. Now drag all
those points to snap to a guide.

If you want all the points to be corner points rather that curve points, go
the path inspector and click the Handles arrows to retract point handles.

Now you'll have to do the same select/align operation for vertical
alignments.

I know, you wanted it to all be done automatically, but I know of no way to
do that. Maybe someone else has a better method.

Judy Arndt

[Ian Jaffray]

Just in case anyone is still wondering about how to do this, I realized the
idea of "jiggling" the points is better thought of as rounding off the
decimal locations of the points to integer values.

One point, for example, is at (x,y) = (159.928, 559.927). The nearest grid
point is at (160, 560). So, what I want to happen is for the current decimal
locations of all the points on the path to be rounded up to integer values.

I thought I might be able to do that by scaling the object WAY down and then
back up, but (fortunately for all other reasons) FH is representing points
with enough precision that that didn't work.

An Xtra may be the only way to go, and conceptually should be easy to
implement.

Course, I'm just talking to myself at this point ...

Ian J.


"Ian Jaffray" <jaffray@interlog.com> wrote in message
news:bfh3hs$c3m$1@forums.macromedia.com...

> Dear Judy,
>
> I do feel better about having to do this by hand knowing that there isn't

a

> simpler way to do it.
>
> Thanks for your information, Judy, I'll keep that handy.
>
> Ian J.
>
> "Judy Arndt" <jarndt@shawbiz.ca> wrote in message
> news:BB416AD2.476C%jarndt@shawbiz.ca...

> > Ian Jaffray wrote:
> >

> > > I have a lot of closed paths in which all the points on those paths

are

> > > "almost" where they should be, namely on the grid intersections. The

> paths

> > > were created with the Trace tool in FH10 MX.

> >
> > I normally use guides and the align tools for jobs like this. Select the
> > points you want to align horizontally. You can select either by
> > option-dragging a marquee-selection with the pointer tool or

> option-dragging

> > with the Lasso tool.
> >
> > Align. (I use Align buttons in my toolbar.) Snap-to-guides on. Now drag

> all

> > those points to snap to a guide.
> >
> > If you want all the points to be corner points rather that curve points,

> go

> > the path inspector and click the Handles arrows to retract point

handles.

> >
> > Now you'll have to do the same select/align operation for vertical
> > alignments.
> >
> > I know, you wanted it to all be done automatically, but I know of no way

> to

> > do that. Maybe someone else has a better method.
> >
> > Judy Arndt
> >

>
>

[Ian Jaffray]

Still talking to myself ...

The answer to this question, if any hack that gets the job done is
considered an answer, is ... I wrote a VBA script that opens the EPS files
(which are just Postscript text files) and finds the points at the end of
the file, then rounds the values to integer values and writes them back out
to the file. Voila.

Works, and no Xtra programming required.

Now I'll shut up.

Ian J.

in a text editor and
"Ian Jaffray" <jaffray@interlog.com> wrote in message
news:bfjeu4$gju$1@forums.macromedia.com...

> Just in case anyone is still wondering about how to do this, I realized

the

> idea of "jiggling" the points is better thought of as rounding off the
> decimal locations of the points to integer values.
>
> One point, for example, is at (x,y) = (159.928, 559.927). The nearest grid
> point is at (160, 560). So, what I want to happen is for the current

decimal

> locations of all the points on the path to be rounded up to integer

values.

>
> I thought I might be able to do that by scaling the object WAY down and

then

> back up, but (fortunately for all other reasons) FH is representing points
> with enough precision that that didn't work.
>
> An Xtra may be the only way to go, and conceptually should be easy to
> implement.
>
> Course, I'm just talking to myself at this point ...
>
> Ian J.
>
>
> "Ian Jaffray" <jaffray@interlog.com> wrote in message
> news:bfh3hs$c3m$1@forums.macromedia.com...

> > Dear Judy,
> >
> > I do feel better about having to do this by hand knowing that there

isn't

> a

> > simpler way to do it.
> >
> > Thanks for your information, Judy, I'll keep that handy.
> >
> > Ian J.
> >
> > "Judy Arndt" <jarndt@shawbiz.ca> wrote in message
> > news:BB416AD2.476C%jarndt@shawbiz.ca...

> > > Ian Jaffray wrote:
> > >
> > > > I have a lot of closed paths in which all the points on those paths

> are

> > > > "almost" where they should be, namely on the grid intersections. The

> > paths

> > > > were created with the Trace tool in FH10 MX.
> > >
> > > I normally use guides and the align tools for jobs like this. Select

the

> > > points you want to align horizontally. You can select either by
> > > option-dragging a marquee-selection with the pointer tool or

> > option-dragging

> > > with the Lasso tool.
> > >
> > > Align. (I use Align buttons in my toolbar.) Snap-to-guides on. Now

drag

> > all

> > > those points to snap to a guide.
> > >
> > > If you want all the points to be corner points rather that curve

points,

> > go

> > > the path inspector and click the Handles arrows to retract point

> handles.

> > >
> > > Now you'll have to do the same select/align operation for vertical
> > > alignments.
> > >
> > > I know, you wanted it to all be done automatically, but I know of no

way

> > to

> > > do that. Maybe someone else has a better method.
> > >
> > > Judy Arndt
> > >

> >
> >

>
>