Evenly Space Objects in a Circle

In this quick tip, we learn how to evenly space objects inside of circle by using the Circular Copy tool. For this example, we learn how to create a clock face. This works in Vectric Aspire, VCarve, and Cut2D and this also works for 2D vectors and 3D components.

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Video Transcript:

Hello, everyone. In this quick tip, we are going to look at how to evenly spaced objects around a circular pattern. And for this example, we're going to be looking at creating a clock face. So let's get into starting a new project. Okay,

for this example, I'm going to be using a single sided project. I'm going to do eleven by eleven inch job size and I'm going to zero off the lower left corner. But you may find it's easier to center off of the center position instead, because that will be easier to reference from.

But for this example, I'm going to show you how you can reference from the lower left corner instead. So let's click OK. All right, so to start, we're going to use a circle. So I'm going to go up to my draw circle tool.

I'm going to make a ten inch circle, so I'm going to type in ten there and make sure that's the diameter. And I'm going to snap that right to the center of the job. So now we have a ten inch circle centered in our project.

So let's click close. OK, so now we're going to use some text to make the numbers. So we're going to use the draw text tool, and this does not have to be text. This could be either 2D vectors or 3D components.

But for this example, we're going to be using text. So I like to start off with the larger number, which in this case would probably be twelve. And the reason I like to start off with the larger number is because you can only copy array one object and then you have to edit the individual objects later.

So by starting with a larger number in the physical size of the shape, that's going to allow me to make sure my spacing isn't overlapping each other. So in this case, I'm going to start off with twelve And an important step here,

you want to make sure your text alignment is set to center. If you have it set up for left or right text alignment, that's going to mess you up in the upcoming step. So make sure you're set to center and choose the font and the text height that you'd like.

And then you want to place it somewhere where you think it's going to lie. So I'm going to snap it right to the center there, and I'm going to place it right about there. You want to make sure your first object is about where you want it to end up.

So I'm going to put the twelve right at the top there. OK, so let's click close. OK, so now the tool that we want to use is in the offset and layout menu, and that's called the circular copy.

So we want to select the text that we want to copy, and we want to select the circular copy tool. Now with this tool, you have to set your rotation center. So this is going to be the center point that you're going to rotate around.

And in this case, we want it to be center of the actual circle. So this is a step where I mentioned that centering off the center of your project would be much easier because if you place the circle on the center position, when you're zeroed off the center, that position would be 0,0.

But in this case, since we are zeroed to off the lower left corner, now we have to find where this new center position is of this circle. So there is an easy way to find that, and we can just click close on this and you can select the circle that we want to reference from and then go

to your move tool. So in your move tool, if you're in the absolute position and anchored to the center. This will tell you the exact center position of the circle, which in this case is five and a half in the X and five and half in the Y.

So those are the numbers we're going to use for the rotation center in the circular copy tool. So let's click close. Let's go back to that circular copy tool. We want to select the number twelve and you can actually see if we deselect that again, select the circle.

This will give us the center of the circle in this tool as well. So that's another way you can find the exact center. So we know it's five and a half in the X, five and a half in the Y.

So when we select the circle and select the number twelve, we just have to change the Y position, which would be 5.5. And now that's our new rotation center. OK. And next, we have the option to rotate the copies if you wanted the numbers to rotate as they go around the circle,

then you want to keep this checked. But if you want to be able to read them like a normal clock face, then you may not want to rotate them. So you would deselect that and that would keep the numbers vertical.

You can do either or whichever one you prefer there. Next, we need number of copies. So in this case, we want twelve numbers, so we're going to type in twelve. And then finally, down here, we have to set our spacing so you can either do a total angle or a step angle, which would be in between each

number. In this case, when you're going all the way around a circle, it's much easier to do a total angle and a total angle of a circle would be 360 degrees. By typing in 360 degrees, it will evenly spaced the objects as it goes fully around the circle.

OK, and then finally, there's an option to group the copies, but I would recommend not grouping these if you're doing a clock face because we're going to have to edit these numbers individually afterwards. So now we're just going to click copy and you could see it copied that number twelve all the way around in twelve different

positions and evenly spaced them in between. So like I said, you could not do different numbers. In this case, you have to do one number and then edit them afterwards. But you'll see this will be easy to edit.

So all we have to do is click close. Then deselect the numbers, select the first one that we want to edit, and then we can go to our draw text tool. Then in here, you don't want to change any of the settings at the bottom.

The only thing you want to do is change the number. So in this case, I'm going to type the number one and then I'm going to select the next number. Type the number two and then select the next one and type the number three.

So I'm just going to go all the way around, clicking the number and then selecting another number on the keyboard. OK, and then once you get all the way back around to the number twelve, you can leave the top one alone.

OK, and then we can just close this tool and now you can see all of our numbers are evenly spaced going all the way around this circle. And if you find that your numbers may have been too big or too small, you can select the numbers.

We'll just draw a selection box around those and make sure it's only the numbers selected, not the circle. And then we're going to go to the scale tool. And if you're using version eleven or above, you have the option to scale items individually.

This will scale each of these numbers individually by the values you enter here. And since these numbers are all different sizes, it's better to go by a percentage instead of the inches. So now let's say we wanted to go 10% smaller, so we would make sure the X and Y is linked together and the anchor is set

to the center. And then we'll change one of these numbers to 90% and click Apply. And you could see the numbers got 10% smaller and you could do the same thing to make them larger as well. If you type in 110%, click apply, they will get 10% bigger.

And then lastly, if the numbers were too close to the edge, you could scale the selection instead. And you can either type a value in here, or you could click one of these handles in the corner and hold your shift key.

And you could see these will get smaller as they go closer to the center, or they'll get bigger as they go closer to the edge. So you can adjust them that way as well, and they'll keep their even spacing all the way around.

So that's all I have for this tip. If this helped you out, make sure you like and subscribe for more.