illustrator rotate tool Q

[Papercuts]

I never get this right. I want to use the rotate tool to make something like this:

http://img.skitch.com/20091216-d2dji...8it7jgc12t.jpg

But that last row to be copy>rotated never fits in with the rest of them.

I want to think you are suppose to use the rotate box and specify 5º angles but when I do that I cant select the position from which to rotate.

How do I A. make that last row flush and fit with the rest and B. if it is the 5º deal then how do you specify the rotate axis when the box pops up?

[Mark McCormick]

duplicate the object that you want to rotate so that the two are stacked on top of each other. your rotate axis should be in the middle now.

THEN use the rotate box and specify your angles.

[Papercuts]

i dont want to rotate off the center axis though, it gives a different effect. Like this right?

[Mark McCormick]

sorry, that's not what i meant.

take your original piece, turn it so it is horizontal, then duplicate it and flip it so you have two of them side by side... like this... _ _

then your axis will be in the middle and you can specify the rotation angles so that it is all evenly spaced. hope that makes sense.

[phoondaddy]

Is that a J-peg? If so, you may need to delete that pink if you don't want it to show up in the pattern.

[swagger]

What I would do in this situation, is focus on creating one row, stacked vertically. You need to scale each object in the stack slightly if you're simply duplicating a single shape over and over again. Once you feel that you've gotten the first row to look the way you want it to look, follow the method that Mark McCormick illustrated above. It will still take a little trial and error to get your rotation angles set right, but this is the method I would use.

[dross]

option click to set the rotation point. in the angle box enter a number that is a factor of 360, ie. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12