How do you align an object to an anchor point?

Question

Is there a way to align an object to an anchor point without changing the shape of the object?

Let's say I wanted to align this triangle to a single anchor point on a complex shape like so:

I can align an anchor point, or multiple anchor points from the triangle to the anchor point on the complex shape like so, but this just stretches the anchor point:

But how would I align the triangle to this spot without changing it? Like so:

Or with just the edges of the object aligned, like so:

Is this possible?

Answer 1

I think the reason your triangle is distorting is because you are grabbing it by the bounding box handle which will reshape your object.

This Alignment technique works with or without Smart Guides on-

1. First off turn off the Bounding Box ( View> Hide Bounding Box)
2. Go to View> Snap to Point and make sure it is checked
3. Select the object you want to move with either the Selection Tool (Black Arrow) or alt/option select it with the Direct Selection Tool (white arrow) this will select the entire object.
4. With the same selection tool grab the object from the anchor point you want to align with something and move it where desired. It will snap to another anchor point.

As far as the second part of your question- aligning an anchor point to an object's shape bounds- you will need to drag a guide from the rulers and manually align that to the object you want to align to. Then once again grab the object you want to move by the anchor point you want to align to and it will snap to the guide.

Answer 2

This has to be done manually. There's no automated method to align to any anchor point, only shape bounds.

Switch to Outline Mode, turn on Smart Guides, and manually align things.

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Note you can align anchor point to anchor points if you select them with the Direct Selection Tool and you don't select all the anchors on a shape. But aligning anchors will change the shape pretty much all the time.

Answer 3

Very similar to Kyle's answer, but here's my method. Caveat: I may forget about settings and preferences that are default for me, and I'm using Ai CS6.

1. Turn on Smart Guides: View > Smart Guides;
2. Turn on Snap to Point: View > Snap to Point;
3. Turn off the Bounding Box: View > Hide Bounding Box (all three these first options are switches; make sure you have them on the right setting);
4. Use the Selection tool (V) and click on your triangle to select it and release your mouse button;
5. Hover over the triangle's right anchor; your cursor should change shape and inlcude a little square dot below it; smart guides should display the word 'anchor';
6. Click and hold to grab the entire object at that anchor and drag it towards the other shape;
7. Drag the cursor to the bigger shape's anchor and hover over that anchor; your cursor should change to white rather than black;
8. Release your mouse button.

To make things a bit easier, after step 6., you can press and hold Ctrl / Cmd to have Smart Guides display even more information when you are actually aligning the anchors. This is my preferred method, also because the snapping distance here is bigger: Illustrator is more likely to snap to the right point.