QuickOps

QuickOps Panel Overview

1. Flyout Menu

See QuickOps Panel: Flyout Menu.

2. Panel Banner

The QuickOps panel banner has a help button on the right which opens the help documentation in the Astute Manager. If this does not automatically appear, please ensure your Astute Manager is running first. 

3. Operation Buttons

Each button can be clicked when the current selection is compatible with its operation. The order of the buttons can be changed, and, if there are operations that are rarely or never used in your workflow, those buttons can be hidden to make the panel smaller (see QuickOps Panel: Flyout Menu).

Some operations have an alternate mode, which can be accessed by holding down the Shift key when clicking the button.

For details about each operation, see other documentation pages.

4. Preference Indicators

Operations with customizable preferences have an icon to their right. Clicking the icon brings up a small dialog with preferences which are specific to that operation.

The Guide Through Points operation creates a straight-line guide that passes through the selected two anchor points. If more than two anchor points are selected, the operation works on an path-by-path basis (ignoring groups). Paths with fewer than two selected anchor points are ignored. Otherwise, guides are created through successive pairs of the path’s selected anchor points, working around the path in the order in which they are encountered. For example, if a path with seven anchor points has points 0, 3, and 5 selected, then three guides would be created: a) through points 0 and 3; b) through points 3 and 5; and c) through points 5 and 0. 

QuickOps Guide Through Points

The Rectangle At Bounds operation creates a rectangular path around the orthogonally-aligned bounds of each selected art object. The operation honors the general Illustrator preference Use Preview Bounds. Groups are treated as a single object unless Shift is held down when the button is clicked.

QuickOps Rectangle at Bounds

Clicking the icon to the right of the button will bring up the Rectangle At Bounds Preferences dialog: 

QuickOps Rectangle at Bounds Preferences

1. Stroke Color

Specifies the color of the rectangles. Clicking the color chip brings up the standard color picker dialog. The default color is black.

2. Stroke Weight

Specifies the stroke weight of the rectangles. The default weight is 1 pt.

3. Positioning

Specifies whether the bounds rectangles are created above the original art, below the original art, or to replace the original art.

4. Keep Selection

When enabled, the original art stays selected; otherwise the bounds rectangles become the new selection.

5. Group Bounds of Group Members

When Shift is used to create multiple bounds rectangles for each member of a group, these rectangles are also placed in a group when this preference is enabled.

The Rectangle At Bounds (Text) operation creates a rectangular path around the bounds of each selected text object, treating it as if the text were outlined. The operation honors the general Illustrator preference Use Preview Bounds (although unless the text has live effects attached to it, this will generally not matter since text is not typically stroked). If the Shift key is held down when the button is clicked, then bounds rectangles are drawn around each glyph in the text object. If the text object is scaled, rotated, or sheared, the bounds rectangle(s) will reflect that transformation matrix. 

QuickOps Rectangle at Bounds - Text

Clicking the icon to the right of the button will bring up the Rectangle At Bounds (Text) Preferences dialog:

QuickOps Rectangle at Bounds - Text Preferences

1. Stroke Color

Specifies the color of the rectangles. Clicking the color chip brings up the standard color picker dialog. The default color is black.

2. Stroke Weight

Specifies the stroke weight of the rectangles. The default weight is 1 pt.

3. Positioning

Specifies whether the bounds rectangles are created above the original text art, below the original text art, or to replace the original text art.

4. Keep Selection

When enabled, the original art stays selected; otherwise the bounds rectangles become the new selection.

5. Group Bounds of Glyphs

When Shift is used to create multiple bounds rectangles for each glyph, these rectangles are also placed in a group when this preference is enabled.

The Shift Art... operation allows art to be moved directly to a specific numerical position without dragging it. With artwork selected, clicking the button will switch the current tool to a special temporary one that snaps (with a red ring) to anchor points, image corners, text origin points, etc., as it is moved over the selected art. When it is above the desired reference point, clicking with the tool will bring up a small dialog which lets you specify the desired numerical position of that reference point (clicking on anything other than a reference point or pressing the Esc key will cancel the operation).

QuickOps Shift Art Example

When the OK button is pressed, all of the selected art will be shifted (as one unit) such that the reference point lands exactly at the specified numerical coordinates. The tool will then automatically switch back to the previously-selected tool. 

The Center-Center Objects operation simply moves each of the selected objects to the center (both horizontally and vertically) of the current artboard. If Shift is held while clicking the button, the selected art is treated as if it were grouped (that is, it is moved as a single unit). 

QuickOps Center Center Objects

The Expand-Expand Appearance operation is equivalent to using two menu commands on the selected art: Expand Appearance, followed by Expand..., with the Fill and Stroke options turned on, and Expand Gradient Mesh set to “128 Objects”. If Shift is held while clicking the button, strokes will not be expanded. 

QuickOps Expand Expand Appearance

The Distribute to Grid operation moves the selected artwork into a rectangular grid formation. The center of the grid is placed at the center of the bounds of the original selected art.

QuickOps Distribute to Grid Overview

Clicking the button brings up the settings dialog: 

QuickOps Distribute to Grid Settings

1. Spacing

The two grid spacing options are Fixed Spacing and Minimum Spacing.

In Fixed Spacing, the centers of the grid cells are placed a fixed distance apart, and therefore all of the cells are squares of the same size. If this distance (specified further down in the dialog) is less than the size of any of the pieces of filling art, that art will simply extend beyond the grid boundaries, and may overlap with the art in adjacent cells.

QuickOps Distribute to Grid Fixed Spacing

In Minimum Spacing, each grid cell is only as wide as the widest piece of art in its column (and only as tall as the tallest piece of art in its row) plus the distance value specified further down in the dialog. If all the art were the same size, this distance value would be equivalent to a gutter width/height.

QuickOps Distribute to Grid Minimum Spacing

Bounding boxes of clip groups are calculated using the clipping paths only, ignoring the clipped content. 

2. Use Preview Bounds

Overrides the general preference of the same name. When enabled, the strokes and live effects of the artwork are included in its bounding box, which affects the cell size (when spacing is set to Minimum Spacing) and the position of the art within the cell based on the orientation setting.

QuickOps Distribute to Grid Use Preview Bounds

3. Columns

Specifies the number of columns in the grid, from 1 to 1000.

4. Rows

Specifies the number of rows in the grid, from 1 to 1000.

5. Underflow Warning

If one or more of the selected art objects will fit into the grid (because the number of cells in the grid is less than the number of objects), the warning icon will be displayed and the Fit button will become available. If the dialog is OK’d regardless, the objects which did not fit are simply left at their original positions.

6. Fit

Available when the grid size is too small to contain all of the selected art objects. Clicking the button will automatically adjust the column and row counts to accommodate all of the objects. Holding down Option/Alt while clicking will only adjust the column count, while holding down Shift will only adjust the row count.

7. Distance

When using Fixed Spacing, the distance value (from 0 to 4000 pt) specifies the distance between the centers of each cell in the grid (i.e., the square cell size). When using Minimum Spacing, the distance value specifies the extra space added between rows and columns after they have been adjusted to the minimum size needed to fit all the art. If all the art were the same size, this distance value would therefore be equivalent to a gutter width/height. 

8. Orientation

The Orientation setting, specified using the standard “nine-block” control, indicates where in each cell the art will be positioned. When all the art is the same size, this generally does not produce any visible difference unless the grid lines are turned on.

QuickOps Distribute to Grid Orientation

9. Stacking Order

Specifies how the art should be placed into the grid, based on its original stacking order:

QuickOps Distribute to Grid Stacking Order

10. Grid Lines

There are three options for grid lines (stroked rectangles around each cell in the grid). When set to No, they are never created. When set to Preview Only, they are visible while the settings dialog is open, but are not actually created as artwork afterwards. When set to Yes, they are both previewed and left as artwork after the grid is created. Grid lines are always placed behind the artwork that forms the grid. 

11. Color

Available unless Grid Lines are set to No. Specifies the color of the grid lines. Clicking the color chip brings up the standard color picker dialog. The default color is black.

12. Weight

Available unless Grid Lines are set to No. Specifies the stroke weight of the grid lines. The default is 1 pt.

13. Occupied Cells Only

Available unless Grid Lines are set to No. When enabled, only cells which contain art will have lines constructed.

QuickOps Distribute to Grid - Grid Lines on Occupied Cells Only

14. Group

Available unless Grid Lines are set to No. When enabled, the rectangles which form the grid lines are placed into one group.

15. Preview

When Preview is enabled, both the art objects’ final positioning and the grid lines (unless turned off) are shown on the artboard and will update whenever the settings are changed. Turning Preview off will show the objects in their original positions.

The Align Pattern operation makes it possible to directly set the origin point of the patterns in one or more objects. With artwork containing at least one pattern selected, clicking the button will switch the current tool to a special temporary one (if the pattern(s) to be aligned are in the strokes of an object, Shift-click the button). The tool’s cursor can be snapped to anchor points, center points, etc. by using Smart Guides.

Selecting another tool or pressing Esc while moving the cursor will cancel the operation. Otherwise, when the cursor is in the desired position, click the mouse button and the pattern(s) will be shifted so their origin point is at the clicked point. The tool will then automatically switch back to the previously-selected tool.

QuickOps Align Pattern Example

Aligning the pattern normally retains any transformation matrix that the pattern has (rotation, scaling, shearing). To align the pattern and also reset this matrix (removing the transforms), Shift-click with the tool. 

QuickOps Align Pattern Remove Transforms

The Text-Aware Reflect operation reflects artwork either horizontally or vertically while keeping type objects (except text-on-a-path objects, which are not handled) unreflected and in the same relative position. The button is available when the selection contains at least one text object. This can be grouped with other art, but does not need to be. Clicking the button will reflect the selection horizontally (i.e., across the vertical axis); to reflect vertically, hold down Shift while clicking. Reflection is always through the center of the bounding box of the art.

QuickOps Text Aware Reflect

Mixed case text with descenders may require minor adjustment of its vertical position after vertical reflection in order to keep it optically centered. 

The Scale Justify operation creates a single, justified column of text (sometimes known as “slab text”) from one or more selected text objects. Justification is done by scaling up each line of text to match the width of the longest line. Any text rotation is removed, and the top-to-bottom order of the text is retained.

QuickOps Scale Justify Overview

With at least one text object selected (except text-on-a-path objects, which are not handled), clicking the button brings up the settings dialog:

QuickOps Scale Justify Settings

1. Block Width

Specifies the width of the justified block of text. When the dialog is first brought up, the width will initially be set to that of the longest line of selected text, but it can be adjusted up or down as desired (from 1 pt to 4000 pt). 

2. Line Spacing

Specifies the space between the lines of text, from –1000 pt to 1000 pt. When set to zero, the lines will just touch (remembering that glyphs with ascenders, descenders, serifs, or curves may make it appear as if there is still some space between the lines). Negative values can be used to create overlapping lines of type:

QuickOps Scale Justify Line Spacing

3. Preview

When Preview is enabled, the scale-justified text will be previewed on the artboard, and will update whenever the settings are changed. Turning Preview off will show the text in its original position.

The Trim Open Paths operation is used to trim off one or multiple selected open paths where they are intersected by other visible, unlocked paths (or by self-intersections). By default, the trimming can occur from either end of the path (the shorter end, if the path is intersected only once; otherwise both ends), but Shift can be held while clicking the button to force trimming from only one end; which end depends on the preferences setting. 

QuickOps Trim Open Paths

Clicking the icon to the right of the button will bring up the Trim Open Paths Preferences dialog:

QuickOps Trim Open Paths Preferences

1. Shift-Clicking Button Trims Path

Specifies which side of the path to trim if the button is clicked with Shift held down.

2. Split Variable Width Stroke Profiles

When enabled, and the trimmed path has a variable width stroke, the stroke profile will be split to keep the width of the untrimmed section as close to the original as possible. 

QuickOps Trim Open Paths - Split Variable Width Profiles

QuickOps Panel Flyout Menu

1. QuickOps

Provides access to all of the QuickOps operations, which are listed in alphabetical order. This is mainly useful for accessing a lesser-used operation whose button has been hidden from the panel. As with the buttons, Shift may be held when selecting the menu item to get the operation’s alternate mode. 

2. Configure Panel...

Allows the buttons on the QuickOps panel to be configured to your liking. Removing QuickOps that you never use will make the panel smaller and less cluttered. Choosing the menu item will bring up the panel configuration dialog:

QuickOps Panel Configuration

• A. Available QuickOps List: The QuickOps that can be added to the panel QuickOps, from among all possible QuickOps. Multiple QuickOps can be selected by using Shift or Command/Ctrl, as usual.

• B. Panel QuickOps: The QuickOps that will have buttons on the panel.

• C. Add/Remove Buttons: These buttons move one or more selected QuickOps into or out of the panel. The panel list must contain at least one QuickOp.

• D. Move Up/Move Down Buttons: Move the selected QuickOp(s) upwards or downwards in the panel list, thereby changing the order of the buttons.

3. Restore Default Configuration

Re-configures the panel to its default configuration, with all buttons visible and in the default order.

All of the QuickOps may be recorded and played back as actions, except the two that use an interactive tool (Shift Art and Align Pattern).