-
Corel X5 - Align and Distribute problems:
trying to align-distribute 6 dog tags within a box to make an engraving template. The distribute function doesn't do what I have checked off to evenly space them within the box horizontally. There are other ways I can accomplish it but I'm just curious why the distribute command would not work. I tried converting the dog tags to curves, broke apart the hole and the outline, grouped, ungrouped, combine, and nothing allowed the distribute command to work correctly. I even tried convert curve to object with no luck. Then I tried putting two guidelines in the same distance wide as the box, selected the guidelines and the dog tags and tried align-distribute and it didn't work as expected. Have you ever had this issue in X5 ?
-
I've only tried A&D once or twice. I've found- for me anyway- that it's much faster to just do my matrix layouts manually using the 'duplicate' function.
example- I want to batch engrave 25 watchbacks, and I need a matrix of holes in a piece of cardboard for them, 5 across and 5 down. The holes are say, 1.25", and I want them 2" apart.
I position the first hole where I want it, say 4" from left left and 4" from the top.
Now I'll enter the engraving I'll be doing within the hole.
Now I enter 2" 'X' and 0" 'Y' in the 'duplicate' boxes.
I group the circle and engraving, press CTRL then D four times, now I have my 5 across..
Now I change the dupe to 0" "X" and -2" "Y".
I group the five circles, then CTRL-D four times, now I have my 5 rows down.
Done!
have 25 holes ready to cut for the backs to fit into. All I have to do is cut the holes, place the backs in them, add Cermark, and the engraving will hit each one dead to rights.
I watch my BIL do the A&D thing with batches of 1x3 plates. I can walk over to my computer, do the same batch he's doing, finish, then walk over to his computer and he's still aligning and distributing. For me, it's more trouble than it's worth :)
-
Kev I normally do it the same way you described.
I just tried the Align and distribute thing to see how it worked and was perplexed that it didn't.
I'll continue experimenting with it just to see if I can determine what causes it to not work, or what conditions it needs in order TO work. I'm a glutton for frustration I guess...
One of my other design programs has an "array" function which works really good because you can specify in one screen how much space you want between items and if the duplicates are created off a corner or from the center outwards, etc. With options for if the space between items edge to edge, or center to center and so on.
Maybe newer versions of Corel have this function.
-
i have used Kev's method a lot, saw a guy use the transformation docker to do the same yesterday and it might be slightly quicker if you know how many copies you need. one click on apply after putting in your number of copies. about the same time to determine location i guess. just another method!