InDesign & Illustrator Tip for the Mathematically Challenged

[GypsyGraphics]

i thought this was common knowledge, but in the past few months i've seen people use a calculator instead of letting inDesign & Illy do the math for them.

did you know anyplace where you would enter a dimension you can enter an equation?
say for example you have a 4.875" wide x 5.3625" high object (doc, placed file, text box anything)
and you want to reduce it by a third of it's original size.... in the dimensions field, simply type in the equation behind the current dimensions.

so the fields would look like this:
4.875 / 3 in. (spaces or not, doesn't matter)
5.3625 / 3 in.

presto chango
1.625 in
1.7875 in

i probably use this feature more to set up guides or to determine what size on object has to be if i need a certain number in a given space. or if i'm given doc dimension in column widths and don't want to trust my math skills (or lack there of) to calculate the width my page should be

 

[Letterbox Mike]

wow that's cool! I had no idea you could do that. Thanks GG!

 

[J Hill Designs]

corel too

I use it alot to move items a specific distance

 

[John Butto]

scale tool

Just use the scale tool in Illustrator and use 33.33% and it will give you 1.6248x1.7873

 

[royster13]

It also works with +, - or *.....

 

[J Hill Designs]

I just found out that ^2 works (squares it)

 

[Border]

Nice tip!

 

[GypsyGraphics]

Just use the scale tool in Illustrator and use 33.33% and it will give you 1.6248x1.7873

i'm sure that's how everyone scales objects, especially when working with basic percentages like half, thirds, quarters, sixteenths but maybe not so when you get to less common fractions.

and scaling wouldn't help with setting doc dimensions or for the last few purposes i mentioned.

you can do so much more letting the dimension fields work for you.

 

[GypsyGraphics]

It also works with +, - or *.....

works with all equations, like a calculator... i was just using the most basic example

 

[J Hill Designs]

If for some odd reason you want the square root its ^1/2

hehe

 

[Jet Fast Printing]

use it ALL THE TIME!! it's hard being a dyslectic in this business, you learn to use every tool you have.

 

[Kwiksigns]

Flexi too. Maybe all of them do

 

[iSign]

wow... 20 years using adobe software & I never knew that...

 

[thewood]

That feature is available in Flexi as well. Frankly, I don't know how one could function without it.

 

[James Burke]

Very cool....thanks for the tip.

 

[SeaWriter]

Great tip! Took me years before I learnt that one as well.

Also works great with rotating objects around a circle when constructing objects.
i.e. 360/24 is the amount to rotate a shape and place 24 objects evenly around a circle.

 

[Mosh]

Used Corel since Corel 2.1, learn something new every day.

 

[gabagoo]

wow....it does work in Flexi...never knew, always used a calculator.


Does it work with Signlab? let me see brb ..........................
HOLY $%$# it works in Signlab too.

Thanks guys...now if only I retain this vital bit of info

 

[Malkin]

Just use the scale tool in Illustrator and use 33.33% and it will give you 1.6248x1.7873

Also, I try to make my most common shortcuts the same from one program to the next. Since I use Gerber a lot, I assigned ctrl + i to the scale tool in Illy.

GG That is a wicked cool tip though, I am sure I will use it a bunch.

 

[weaselboogie]

Good to know. I just learned that you can do that in quickbooks too. If you want the total invoice to come to $100 even WITH TAX. Type 100/1.065 in the amount field (or whatever your sales tax is...) 93.8967 plus tax