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Area Calculation

Having an area calculator would be awesome!

61 votes
kt shared this idea  ·   ·  Report…  ·  Admin →
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Completed (Comments Open)  ·  AdminShashwat Dixit (Product Manager, Adobe Illustrator) responded  · 

The latest Illustrator release - v29.3 now offers Area Calculation using Measure Tool:

  • Select the objects in your artwork you want to calculate the area for.
  • Select the Measure Tool from the Toolbar.
  • The calculated area will be displayed in the Info panel, shown automatically.
  • Shift + Click on a segment in the existing selection to remove/add it to area calculation.
  • Configure measurement options by accessing the flyout menu of the panel. You can customize units, precision, and scale to suit your requirements.

Please update to v29.3 from your Creative Cloud Desktop application and keep sharing your feedback!

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  • Jean-Michel Le Goff commented  ·   ·  Report

    I agree, we need a little more
    The area value need to be usable as variable text.

    Stop thinking Illustrator is only for « Illustration ».
    Ils a true CAD software for many of us

  • iviansur commented  ·   ·  Report

    How is this completed? See what CADTools has been capable of for years!!! I have to ask: do you guys use ChatGPT to develop requested features?

  • AdminEgor Chistyakov (Admin, Adobe Illustrator) commented  ·   ·  Report

    No-no-no, it’s not completed.
    I don’t agree with this statement.
    It’s VERY basic and lack a ton of things.

    No area until you pick the tool. No live text, no compounds shapes, no clip groups or objects within one, no mesh, and even no area for objects without a fill — why should I add one to calculate it? It’s not 'ink coverage', it’s 'area'!

    Made it a separate entry: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447/suggestions/49526816

  • Chris Mitchell commented  ·   ·  Report

    So far, it seems to work really well. I've had a couple of crashes while using it, but other than that the numbers seem to be making sense and I really like how it's been added to the measure tool, well done!

  • Jean-Michel Le Goff commented  ·   ·  Report

    Ok, I get it,

    But nos, is there any way to copy this value in the clipboard and paste it as “text” ? Or could it be added in “dimension” as a label?
    It could be useful for architectural floor map or for pattern design in fashion

  • Chris Mitchell commented  ·   ·  Report

    Hi Egor,

    I've attached another file for you to take a look at. I'm not quite sure how to explain how it's working, but if I place a closed and filled shape on top of another, then use the pathfinder's divide tool, then drag the topmost shape off of the one on the bottom, I am able to get the area for that one, but not the one on the bottom (now with the cutout from the divide tool). Does that make sense? I'm hoping at the end of it all, we'll be able to click on any closed, filled area and get the calculation. This is off to a good start though! I'll attach the AI file I was playing with. This file was created in AI Beta 29.3 20.

    Thanks again!

  • AdminEgor Chistyakov (Admin, Adobe Illustrator) commented  ·   ·  Report

    Oh, I see now clearly what is happening.

    First, it seems that for now it doesn’t support compound paths AT ALL, making it near useless.
    The only path in the EXIT sign is the head, and it’s separated from the base (that is a compound path).

    Same goes for the blue EXIT — each letter is a compound path (which is normal when you Create Outlines), and even though they have no paths included to have holes, it’s still restricted.
    But even if these get released to become simple paths, the calculation is all wrong.
    When I measure the I letter in EXIT, it’s 14.394 × 84.667 mm, the area of it should be something like 1218 mm², minus rounded corners...
    But it sees 3488.81 mm²...

    The green head is roughly a 15.665 mm wide circle... so it’s 46.8² × pi, and it should give 192.73 mm²... the panel shows 546.45!
    Something is wrong.

    (Edited by admin)
  • Chris Mitchell commented  ·   ·  Report

    Hello, I think I may be missing something... I've converted some large block text to outlines, added a fill and a 2pt stroke. I click on the closed path, but I get the same area for all the closed paths that I select. The total area for multiple paths does not seem to work at all. (I'm doing this on an M1 Studio Mac). I've attached a brief video showing what is happening.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    When will this be available to try. I installed the Beta version but this feature wasn't available.

  • Chris Mitchell commented  ·   ·  Report

    Scenario #1-2 seems to be the most appropriate of the two options in scenario 1. It would seem that factoring in the stroke regardless of its alignment may be a bit confusing. By expanding the shape and eliminating the stroke, the user can see precisely the area being calculated.
    Scenario #2 nails it. Being able to calculate the area of ANY closed shape would be ideal!

    Thanks again for all your hard work on this, I can't wait to see it in a future update!

  • Alex Musick commented  ·   ·  Report

    Scenario #1. Yes, that sounds great, the area of the real expanded area of the shape / closed path.
    #2. Yes, any appearance added effects, strokes, blurs etc. should not be included in the area, just the inner fill of the path.

  • Konrad Prajsnar commented  ·   ·  Report

    I don't mind so much expanding objects, my final designs are expanded and color separated for screen printing, but for the heads up, im dealing with all kinds of complicated paths (eg. attachment). I hope that not that much harder to achieve :)

  • Jean-Michel Le Goff commented  ·   ·  Report

    it's working for me, but in the Scenario #2 it will be a little difficult to get the right area if you have to edit the shape and expand it to get the area, in the case of you are asked to create a shape of this given area...

  • AdminShashwat Dixit (Product Manager, Adobe Illustrator) commented  ·   ·  Report

    Hey everyone,

    Happy to announce that we have started working on this request. As a first step, we want to make sure we understand your requirements correctly and build the right feature set for this.

    Hence we are requesting if you could spare some time to get on a quick 1-1 call with us so we may explore your requirements together. Please feel free to book a session with the following link, we will share an invite on the email address you specify at the time of booking. Thanks!

    Block the calendar here: https://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/c1b7ecea1cbd42a2a7068cfeb7861bdd@adobe.com/meetingtype/Fn8tXNebh0eyv4xTnvQ-3Q2?anonymous&ep=mlink

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