Illustrator Precise Shaping Issue

Question

I'm having a very annoying issue with Illustrator and can't seem to find anyone else with this issue on the internet which is kind of odd.

I'm having trouble uploading images so I will try and explain my situation.

I have type and then I am trying to connect a shape to exactly match the size of the font. When I size the rectangle to fit the shape and zoom in to try and make it match the exact size its either just to big or just to small EVERYTIME! by such a small difference and when I try to move it to that in between where it would be perfect size the sizing guide just pops over to either to big or to small.

I will try and upload images to further clarify. Very annoying and cant seem to figure out how to get around it. Maybe Ill have to mess with the anchor points, but I don't understand why I cant just precisely size something up to another object, very annoying.

Answer 1

Try using smart guides to do it, also if you make a copy of the text as out lines (Right click - Create Outlines) it should be easier to align it perfectly.

hope this helps

Answer 2

First make sure Align to Pixel Grid un-checked in the Transform panel.

Also make sure Snap to Grid and Snap to Point are all un-checked in the View menu.

If you want to snap your shape to the type, the easiest way is to right click the type and select Create Outlines (this turns the type to vector shapes so you may want to work with a duplicate first) and turn Smart Guides on. Your shapes will now snap to the outlined text.

Answer 3

It becomes a little bit difficult to align text with objects, because the guides align to the text bounding box instead of the edges of the text. The only way to get a "vector perfect" alignment is to outline both the text and the stroke. Then those guides should be quite helpful.