line chart/coordinate system: a little bit "automatization"?

[Holger]

hello,
back and cooled down, I have a question on making line charts/coordinate systems: is there a way to make it a bit more comfortable?
For example to draw a line and let it automatically divide in millimeters and every centimeter with a larger mark or so. is there any kind of chart-tool/helper, or do I really need draw everything by hand?

regards
Holger

[Soquili]

Hello Holger,

There is no automatic way that I am aware of.

You can use the Duplication Distance setting in the Options > General tab.

The attached image was made in about 10 seconds.

Set page units to Centimeters.
Set page size to to the number of centimeters width and height to your liking.
Draw a vertical line. (you could draw a horizontal line if you want)
Set X Duplication Distance to 0cm. (if you drew a horizontal line make this 1cm).
Set Y Duplication Distance to -1cm. (if you drew a horizontal line make this 0cm)

Using a vertical line:
Draw a horizontal line to mark the centimeter points and position it at the top of the vertical line.
Use Ctrl+Alt+D to duplicate the line every centimeter down the vertical line.
Draw a smaller horizontal line to mark the half centimeter points and position it centered on the vertical line at the top most half centimeter position.
Use Ctrl+Alt+D to duplicate the line down the vertical line.


It takes much longer to describe what is done than it does to actually create the drawing.

[Holger]

yeah, that's really great, thank you!

[jclements]

Here is another generic method, but without using a coordinate system.

Build the graph via scaling with the Mouse, scaling with the InfoBar, and the Blend Tool. Then you can scale the result to a known measurement.

I didn't document all the steps but I think you'll get the idea.

Like Bill says in his example, I takes longer much longer to describe to do. It pretty easy procedure and very flexible.

John

[Holger]

very impressive, thank you.

[Albacore]

The blend tool is the way I would do it as well. If you draw your line with the Units set to cms or mm from the Page Options under the File Menu it is simple and quick to develop a scale to use. What is more it is so easy to edit it if you find the line scale is wrong and your not illustrating the info correctly as all you have to do is to reselect the blend and increase or decrease the number of steps in the blend. Much easier than using the Align Menu and spacing the divisions centrally equi-spaced after correctly positioning the outside lines then duplicating your line X number of times to achieve your line scale.