Alignment Issues

T
Posted By
Thundercross
Jun 5, 2007
Views
2418
Replies
18
Status
Closed
The buttons to select the alignment of objects, on my options bar, are all greyed out, what am I missing? Cannot align things.

Thanks

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T
Thundercross
Jun 5, 2007
Referred to Help and followed advice there, and still cannot select alignment options.

Happens regardless of layer types…
JJ
John_Joslin
Jun 5, 2007
What do you want to align?

You have to select the relevant layers.
T
Thundercross
Jun 5, 2007
I want to align anything, pictures, text boxes, objects.

When I select the layer the alignment options are still greyed out. When I actually make a selection the alignment options remain greyed out….
C
chrisjbirchall
Jun 5, 2007
Have you tried using Smart Guides ? You can enable them from the View menu.
T
Thundercross
Jun 5, 2007
Tried, its not what I am looking for… But thanks.

I cannot align objects to say horizontal & vertical centre of the page, those options are greyed out…
T
Thundercross
Jun 5, 2007
Here is the screenshot:

< http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1esOmehqi7oM4XNkf8 2oSZ2wmmXaB1>

Items in yellow selection remain greyed out…
B
Bernie
Jun 5, 2007
When I actually make a selection the alignment options remain greyed out….

You don’t align selections, you align layers.
MB
Michael_Brower
Jun 5, 2007
Make sure you choose the layers you want to align. Use the control key to select multiple layers.
T
Thundercross
Jun 5, 2007
I HAVE selected the LAYERS I want and it still remains greyed out…
JJ
John_Joslin
Jun 5, 2007
So select that layer and the background layer which is in effect the canvas.
T
Thundercross
Jun 5, 2007
Is there not a simple button that says "Horizontal Centre" or "Vertical Centre"? Like most other Adobe programs (like the Title App in Premiere Pro)?

That means I have to create a new ‘referenace’ layer everytime I want to centre different images/layers either vertically or horizontaly on the page…
B
Bernie
Jun 5, 2007
As mentioned before, use the background layer
T
Thundercross
Jun 5, 2007
The background layer is not always what I want to align my object to, sometines things maybe in a box within a box off-centre.

If I align to the background the two images will align over one another…
JJ
John_Joslin
Jun 5, 2007
Then put the box on a layer of its own!
T
Thundercross
Jun 5, 2007
Im not getting my point across exactly… Thanks anyway…
JJ
John_Joslin
Jun 5, 2007
Im not getting my point across exactly…

That’s true!
R
RobertHJones
Jun 5, 2007
Regarding the greyed out buttons. There are two groups of buttons the one on the left is for alignment and becomes ungreyed only when two or more layers are selected (one of which may be the background). The one on the right is for distributing spacing between the objects and is becomes ungreyed only when three or more layers are selected (none of which can be the background).

Alignment is with respect to an imaginary bounding box that encompasses the non-transparent areas of all the selected layers taken together. You aren’t locked in to only aligning on the center of the canvas. In essence, you center on the geometric center of the bounding box.

Let’s take that case of centering some objects in an off center box. Create the box and the four objects on separate layers. Select the four layers with the objects and align them. Then, leaving the layers selected, drag them to the box and drop them where you desire them or when the smart guides indicate they are centered in the box if that’s what you want. You can distribute the space if you wish.

The bit with the backgound confused you. That’s just a trick to force alignment on the entire canvas (the background has no transparancy, so the bounding box is the canvas area). You don’t have to create a reference layer for alignment.
T
Thundercross
Jun 5, 2007
Okay that clarifies things up! Thanks! 😉

EVEN THEN, I am not satisfied with the way in which things need to align, but that’s my preferance.

I guess I’m used to Premiere Pro’s way of centering objects…

MacBook Pro 16” Mockups 🔥

– in 4 materials (clay versions included)

– 12 scenes

– 48 MacBook Pro 16″ mockups

– 6000 x 4500 px

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