8

Aligning Objects 9
Source and Target Objects
Alignment involves two entities: one is the source
object or selection set, where the process begins;
the other is the target object, where t he select ion
process ends.
Source object—Object or objects you want to move
into alignment with another object. You select one
or more s ource objects to begin the alignment
process.
Target object—Object used to define the a lignment.
You select the target object during the alignment
process. It cannot be selec ted beforehand.
After selecting the s ource, choose To ols menu
>AlignorclicktheAlignbuttonontheMain
toolbar, and then select the target object.
Next, the
Align dialog (page 1–447) appears.
Setting a Coordinate S ystem
The effects of alignment dep end on the current
reference coordinate system, such as View, World,
or Local. You should decide which system you
want to use before beginning align m ent.
Ref erence Coordinate Sy stem—Determines the
axes used for positional alignment and the size of
the bounding box for maximum and m inimum
positions.
To align objects using a ctive grid axes:
• Choose Grid as the reference coordinate system
from the list on the toolbar.
To a lign t wo obj ects using thei r own ax es:
• ChooseLocalasthereferencecoordinate
system. Alignment is then str ictly between the
two objects. Object bounding boxes determ ine
maximum and minimum posit ions.
As a reminder to you during the a lignment process,
the current reference coordinate system appears in
parentheses following the Align Position label in
the Align Selection dialog.
Basics of Aligning Objects
Alignment controls are on a sing le dialog. As you
make a sett i ng, the object being aligned moves
immediately to the new position. This lets you
experiment with alignment until you get what you
want. Settings can be made in any order.
You can also work step-by-step, by applying
position choices, for example, before deciding
on final orientation. You can cancel a t any time,
returning the scene to its original state. You can
also undo any a lignment and start over.
Aligning Multiple Objects
Aligning multiple objects to the arrow o bject (eac h ph oto is
adjusted in a different correction)
When you select multiple objects for alignment,
thesamesettingsapplytoallofthem.However,
the effect on each source object can be different.
In practice, you’re aligning separate objects at the
same time with the same settings.
Toalignacollectionofobjectsasasingleunit,
select the objects and
group (page 1–95) them.
Thealignmentnowtakesplacerelativetothepivot
and bounding box of the entire group.