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I am making very simple images that requires extreme precision. I would like to draw black boxes that have a width of 0.59266662mm, but illustrator rounds to 0.5927mm. I need this precision because the printer I'm using has very fine dots with of a width of 0.04233333m. So I need to print bars that have a width of whole number of dots to prevent aliasing from arising.

Is there any way to prevent adobe from round the numbers? If not, is there any way for me to specify units used in illustrator to have the exact dimensions as my printer dot dimensions?

I really hope this makes sense. Please let me know if you need any clarification.

Ty

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    What are you needing this fine detail for?? Are you not using registration marks? Are you using an Epson printer?
    – user9447
    Aug 14, 2014 at 16:25
  • are you setting up files for lenticular printing?
    – Mark Read
    Aug 15, 2014 at 1:57
  • This is useful for precise logo design.
    – Keavon
    Aug 15, 2014 at 1:57
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    @Matt If you're making some inorganic shape and you want to, say, align two shapes together, they should be touching exactly.
    – Keavon
    Aug 15, 2014 at 2:05

1 Answer 1

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According to the Adobe dev team... Illustrator honors exact precision. It is merely the input fields which round to 3 decimal places (4 in newer versions). So if you input 10 decimal spots, Illustrator uses 10 decimal figures, but the input field will only show 3 (or 4).

I can neither confirm nor deny that. Nothing I do needs that much precision. However, I do know there is no method to tell Illustrator to show more than 3 decimal places.

You might consider a measurement system other than milimeters. For example a mm is 1/25th of an inch, where as a point is 1/72nd of an inch - allowing more precision.

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    Its also possible to make a script gui that shows the data.
    – joojaa
    Aug 14, 2014 at 16:46
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    We used to make some gigantic -- as in 300 feet or more -- digital prints. To do so, we would have to work in scale, such as 1:12, 1:24, even 1:100 at times. I can verify from experience that Illustrator will honor the 'hidden' digits, even if it only displays 3 or 4 of them. There is a measurable difference if you size something by entering a little "scale math" such as 3610/24 (300' 10" in inches at 1:24th scale, which equals 150.416666667 behind the scenes) versus just typing 150.416 in a field.
    – TunaMaxx
    Aug 14, 2014 at 20:41
  • Thats good and all when you know the figure....but when I have created something and and want to replicate the number, even perhaps after resizing it its impossible to know. Autocad lets you put many decimal places. I dont see why Adobe cannot let you change it in preferences.
    – Ninjab
    Dec 30, 2016 at 14:37

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