Quick Tip – Adobe CS6 – Using Math to Place Elements

I just started using the Adobe Creative Suite 6 (CS6) and on accident, I discovered a handy little tip. Adobe allows you to use math to place elements. For the purpose of illustrating this tip, I used Adobe Illustrator.

The tip also works in Adobe InDesign as well, but doesn’t seem to work in Photoshop (I tried the Free Transform option and kept getting an error when I tried to input a math function).

On this image (click it to see a larger version), I placed a rectangle at the center of an 8.5″ x 11″ page. The center “X” point is indicated by the circled area is 4.25.

Next, I went up to my “X” position field and added a “-2” after the 4.25. So as the next image indicates, it’s 4.25-2.

Finally, hitting “return” or “enter” will do the math, and move the image to an X position of 2.25.

This is incredibly handy for those of us who don’t want to whip out a calculator. You can also divide, multiply and add.

I was also able to use this tip in Adobe CS5 and CS5.5. It’s possible that it may have been around longer and may not be that big of a secret. In any event, I think it’s incredibly useful.

What about you? Any tips to share?

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