Working with Grids

Working with Grids

I grew up using guides, but then I discovered the power of FreeHand's grids. Grids are much more powerful and versatile than guides. If you change your design, grids are much easier to modify than guides. You can also use one object to be the starting point of the grid for other objects.

To view the document grid:

Choose View > Grid > Show. If you choose Show when it is checked, you turn off the grid.

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Although the grid is displayed as dots , the actual grid is created from lines that intersect those dots. So the grid is active along the lines that connect the dots

Figure 18. The Document Grid is displayed as dots evenly spaced along the page.

Figure 19. The actual grid is a series of lines that connect the dots of the visible document grid.

To change the document grid intervals:

Choose View > Grid > Edit. The Edit Grid dialog box appears

Figure 20. The Edit Grid dialog box lets you change the increments of the document grid.

In the Grid size field, type the distance you want between the imaginary lines of your grid.

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The Relative grid checkbox is described on the next page.

Click OK or press Return.

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You can change the size of the grid at any time.

You can work with objects so that their edges always fall on the grid. This is called setting an object to snap to the grid

Figure 21. When an object is drawn with Snap To Grid on, its sides stay on the grid. When Snap To Grid is off, the sides fall between the intervals.

To turn on Snap To Grid:

Choose View > Grid > Snap To Grid. If you choose Snap To Grid when it is checked, you turn off the feature.

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The grid does not have to be visible for objects to snap to it.

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If Snap To Grid is on, you cannot draw objects between the grid intervals.

You can also work with a relative grid. Instead of the grid starting at the edge of the page, a relative grid uses the selected object as the start of the document grid. When the relative grid is turned on, if you copy one object, the copy is aligned to the original

Figure 22. Turning on the Relative grid means that when the object is duplicated, it stays aligned to the object's relative grid (dotted lines) rather than the document grid square dots).

To work with a Relative Grid:

Check Relative Grid in the Edit Grid dialog box (see previous page).

FreeHand also lets you snap to points . This lets you use the points of one object as a type of grid so you can align other objects.

Figure 23. The Snap to Point dot next to the pointer indicates that the object being moved will snap to a point on the other object.

To turn on Snap To Point:

Choose View > Snap To Point. If Snap To Point is already checked, you turn off the feature when you select the command.

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Snap To Point overrides Snap to Guides, which in turn overrides Snap to Grid.

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FreeHand (Mac) offers sounds that play when the object snaps to a guide, the grid, or a point. The sounds are set in the Preferences (see page 398).