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Drawing rectangular grids


    You can draw rectangular grids by dragging or by setting specific grid parameters in the Rectangular Grid Tool Options dialog box.

To draw a rectangular grid:

  1. Select the rectangular grid tool  the rectangular grid tool , and drag diagonally.
  2. As you drag, do any of the following:
    • Press Shift to constrain the grid to a square.
    • Press Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) to extend the grid from all sides of the origin point.
    • Press Shift + Alt (Windows) or Shift + Option (Mac OS) to constrain the grid to a square as it extends from the origin point.
    • Press the spacebar to move the grid as you draw.
    • Hold down ~ (tilde) to create multiple grids.
  3. To adjust the grid's dividers, do any of the following as you drag:
    • Press Up Arrow or Down Arrow to add or remove horizontal lines.
    • Press Right Arrow or Left Arrow to add or remove vertical lines.
    • Press F to decrease the logarithmic skew value for the horizontal dividers by 10%.
    • Press V to increase the logarithmic skew value for the horizontal dividers by 10%.
    • Press X to decrease the logarithmic skew value for the vertical dividers by 10%.
    • Press C to increase the logarithmic skew value for the vertical dividers by 10%.

To create a rectangular grid by specifying properties:

  1. Select the rectangular grid tool  the rectangular grid tool , and click in the artboard to set the grid's origin point and display the Rectangular Grid Tool Options dialog box.
  2. In the Rectangular Grid Tool Options dialog box, do any of the following and then click OK:
    • For Default Size, enter Width and Height values for the entire grid. Then click a corner of the Origin Point icon to determine the point from where the grid is drawn.
    • For Horizontal Dividers, enter the number of horizontal dividers you want to appear between the top and bottom of the grid. Then enter a Skew value to determine how the horizontal dividers are weighted to one side or the other.
    • For Vertical Dividers, enter the number of dividers you want to appear between the left and right sides of the grid. Then enter a Skew value to determine how the vertical dividers are weighted toward the top or bottom of the grid.
    • Select Use Outside Rectangle As A Frame to replace the top, bottom, left, and right segments with a separate rectangular object.
    • Select Fill Grid to fill the grid with the current fill color (otherwise, the fill is set to none).