Adobe Illustrator Zoom around selected, not to screen centre?

Question

Command (Cntrl) and = gives zoom in, in Adobe Illustrator.

Is there a way to set it so that it zooms to the selected object rather than the centre of the screen?

Answer 1

2016 UPDATE:

Illustrator CC now has the ability to smooth zoom.

If your graphics card supports it - just hold Command/Ctrl+Spacebar and move the cursor over the area you want to zoom in to... That's all there is to it.

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Pre-CC answer.....

No. Illustrator provides no mechanism to "zoom to selected".

It may be possible via scripting.

However.....

You can temporarily access the Zoom Tool by holding the Command/Ctrl+Spacebar key combination. This will allow you to draw a rectangle around what you want to zoom in on. (Add Option/Alt and it becomes Zoom Out.) Then just hit Command/Ctrl+0 to zoom to page again. Pressing Z toggles the magnifying glass tool to give the same functionality without holding down buttons, but will require switching tools after (probably A or V for most things.)

And you may find the Navigator Panel (Window > Navigator) handy. It's designed to move the "zoom" around with a click-drag in the panel.

You can also open an additional window for the document you are working on via Window > New Window. With this option you can set the zoom differently for each window allowing you to work zoomed in, then view the art zoomed out, without the need to continually zoom in and out. Changes in one window are reflected in both windows.

Answer 2

I built the following scripts to replace Ctrl+1 (zoom to 100%). When nothing is selected, it will center the view to centerpoint of active artboard. When one or more elements are selected, it will center the view on the object(s) centerpoint.

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UPDATE:

GitHub repo created to host these adobe scripts to handle the functionality described:

• Zoom: 100% and Center Selection
• Zoom to Fit Selection (+ padding) in Viewport and Center

Save the linked code into your scripts folder (assuming default install location of Adobe 2017 for Windows 10): C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CC 2017\Presets\en_US\Scripts.

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*Additional note: I've also created some AutoHotkey scripts to help Windows users with creation of hotkeys to execute these scripts easier. I'll update this post when they've been added to the repo.

Answer 3

Using the Alt modifier key and the Scroll wheel, you can zoom around the mouse pointer. Point at what you want to zoom into, and use this shortcut key combination to zoom.

Answer 4

Zoom to selected is a great feature that I also use constantly on other design programs...the closest I can find in illustrator is to assign a hotkey to "Object >> Artboards >> Fit to selected art" which creates an artboard around your selected object and then you can use the hotkey (CTRL + 0 on mine) to "Zoom to Artboard"...I know this is not ideal because you end up creating a bunch of useless artboards but it is the closest way I can find to duplicate the effect...my latest problem is I realized that it zooms differently if I am in outline mode or preview mode. After pressing 'z' for the 'Zoom tool' I get marquee zoom in outline mode and "scrubby zoom" in preview mode...can't find settings to change either...baffles me how core functionality like this is still not right after all these versions...

Answer 5

I got the proper solution from the very easy script Zoom Selection which can be downloaded from here.

The script Zoom Selection (developed by John Wundes) is designed for instant zooming in of the objects to a full screen. This feature will help you quickly view and edit objects.

Answer 6

if anyone else is looking for a quick way to locate or zoom to a selection / layer in the viewport, you can do this without scripts in Illustrator CC by creating an automated Action.

Works on text too!

Use the Insert Menu Item... option in the drawer menu to choose or type these steps instead of recording them.

• Fit to Selected Art
• Fit Artboard in Window
• Undo

What this does is

1. Resize the current artboard to your selection
2. Zoom viewport in on the modified artboard (Ctrl + 0)
3. Undo and change the artboard back!

Answer 7

Bobby Zopfan has posted an excellent solution:

I got the proper solution from the very easy script Zoom Selection which can be downloaded from here.

The script Zoom Selection (developed by John Wundes) is designed for instant zooming in of the objects to a full screen. This feature will help you quickly view and edit objects.

I'd like to add that it is possible to create a shortcut in illustrator for running a script in Mac. You use AUTOMATOR!

1. Create a new Service

2. Service receives [no input] in [Adobe Illustrator CC 2017.app]

3. Search and add Action: Get Specified Finder Items. Add the downloaded .jsx script here.

4. Search and add action: Open Finder Items. Open with: "Adobe Illustrator CC 2017.app"

5. Save service: Cmd+S Use a name, best e.g. ZOOM SELECTION

6. Go to OSX System preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts

7. You find your script under Services. Z makes it to be at the bottom

8. Add a shortcut for it. I suggest Cmd+SHIFT+0

Relaunch Illustrator and voila!

Word of caution: This is an action in system keyboard shortcuts! It is not restricted to Illustrator, alas, I don't know of any software that uses Cmd+SHIFT+0 for anything. I suggest that you do NOT assign an F key.

Answer 8

I have the latest version and had the same problem. In the latest I went to Preferences, Performance and turned off Animated Zoom

Answer 9

I heavily modified https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/a/81334/75091 / https://github.com/iholler/adobe-scripts/blob/master/fit-and-center.jsx to create this script: (the colors and shapes and commented-out code are for debugging)

/******************************************************************************
>> Center Viewport - Zoom to Fit (+ a little padding for aesthetics)
******************************************************************************/

var
    topL_X,
    topL_Y,
    botR_X,
    botR_Y,
    document = app.activeDocument,
    view = document.activeView,
    currentViewBounds = view.bounds,
    selection = document.selection,
    padding = 0.05;

var cyan = new CMYKColor();
cyan.cyan = 100;
var magenta = new CMYKColor();
magenta.magenta = 100;
var yellow = new CMYKColor();
yellow.yellow = 100;


function createRectangleFromBounds(bounds) {
    return document.pathItems.rectangle((bounds[1], bounds[3]), (bounds[0], bounds[2]), (bounds[0] - bounds[2]), (bounds[3] - bounds[1]));
}

function applyColors(rect, strokeColor, fillColor) {
    rect.strokeColor = strokeColor;
    rect.fillColor = fillColor;
}


if(selection.length > 0) {
    var objectBounds = selection[0].controlBounds;
    topL_X = objectBounds[0];
    topL_Y = objectBounds[1];
    botR_X = objectBounds[2];
    botR_Y = objectBounds[3];

    for(var i in selection) {
        objectBounds = selection[i].controlBounds;

        //applyColors(createRectangleFromBounds(objectBounds), yellow, NoColor);

        topL_X = Math.min(topL_X, objectBounds[0]);
        topL_Y = Math.max(topL_Y, objectBounds[1]);
        botR_X = Math.max(botR_X, objectBounds[2]);
        botR_Y = Math.min(botR_Y, objectBounds[3]);
    }
} else {
    var artboard = document.artboards[document.artboards.getActiveArtboardIndex()];

    topL_X = artboard.artboardRect[0];
    topL_Y = artboard.artboardRect[1];
    botR_X = artboard.artboardRect[2];
    botR_Y = artboard.artboardRect[3];
}

//applyColors(createRectangleFromBounds([topL_X, topL_Y, botR_X, botR_Y]), cyan, NoColor);
//applyColors(createRectangleFromBounds(currentViewBounds), magenta, NoColor);

view.zoom = view.zoom / (1 + padding) * Math.min(Math.abs(currentViewBounds[2] - currentViewBounds[0]) / Math.abs(botR_X - topL_X),
                                                 Math.abs(currentViewBounds[3] - currentViewBounds[1]) / Math.abs(botR_Y - topL_Y));
view.centerPoint = [(topL_X + botR_X) / 2, (topL_Y + botR_Y) / 2];

Answer 10

If you just select an object and then press ctrl+ it will immediately center that object and zoom in one increment. From there, 99% of the time it takes between 1-3 more presses of the + key (or - key if for some odd reason you're selecting an object that is already overflowing the working area) for the object to roughly fill your working space. More often than not it's only 2 more presses. This way seems easies

Answer 11

it is in Preferences -> GPU Performance, you have to uncheck "Enable Animated Zoom"

Answer 12

I got my zoom back! It's called GPU preview [⌘E] Sorry, I don't know for PC.

It zooms in/out by click and drags the mouse. I hope this helps fix some of you guys problems!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lip_g8mbpvg

https://youtu.be/rsPqOtw37OQ?t=138