0

I have created a bunch of diagonal lines. When I select them I have a rotated selection box which is not what I want. Instead I want what I drew in red:

enter image description here

How to change the selection mode to reflect the red square?

5
  • Can I ask why does it matter that the selection is rotated? Why are you trying to do this, or what is the ultimate goal? The reason I ask is because nobody will see it in your final work.
    – Billy Kerr
    Oct 24, 2019 at 10:16
  • If i want to scale it vertically only it makes harder like this
    – nowox
    Oct 24, 2019 at 10:24
  • 2
    If that's the case, can't you rotate the lines, then use a rectangle as a clipping mask? It's just that the accepted solution to Expand is destructive. Using a clipping mask would not be. So, you might want to consider that.
    – Billy Kerr
    Oct 24, 2019 at 10:34
  • Is it easy to do a clipping mask ?
    – nowox
    Oct 24, 2019 at 11:17
  • Yes its easy to do a clipping mask
    – joojaa
    Oct 25, 2019 at 5:36

3 Answers 3

3

Frame challenge: seeing what you are needing to accomplish in your floorplan, I'd suggest an alternate workflow - instead of drawing a bunch of lines to make a hatch, use illustrator's pattern fills and make your life easier as the design iterates over time.


If you look at the appearance palette in this screengrab, you'll see that there's one polygon, with a pattern fill, and I've used the checkbox in the transform palette for "Transform Pattern Only" and rotated the pattern 45° to get an angled hatch - then switching back to the default "Transform Object Only" allows you to edit your poly and have the hatch stay perfectly undisturbed.


Applied pattern

enter image description here

Transform palette, switch back to "Transform Object Only"

enter image description here

And transform or scale your poly with complete impugnity!

enter image description here

Which to be clear, allows a lot more easily flexibility to delineate, say terrazzo or polished concrete...

enter image description here

Hope this helps.

1

Are those lines made with strokes? If so, I think choosing Object > Expand will solve the issue.

0
1

If the desire is to merely have a squared-off, rectangular, bounding box.. Select the object(s) and choose Object > Transform > Reset Bounding Box from the menu. This will remove the rotated bounding box and replace it with a squared-off bounding box which will no longer adhere to the rotation of the objects. This means any dragging you do with the new squared bounding box will distort the objects.

If the goal is to keep the angled lines, but only see what is inside the red rectangle, a Clipping Mask may be easier.

Draw your lines, and then draw a rectangle above the lines indicating the area you want visible. Select the lines and this rectangle and choose Object > Clipping Mask > Make from the menu.

This will hide anything outside the rectangle, and provide a (squared) rectangular bounding box.

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.