Using the Grid, Guides, and Rulers

When grids are displayed in a movie, they appear as lines behind the artwork in all scenes. You can snap objects to the grid, and you can modify the grid size and grid line color.

When rulers are displayed, they appear along the top and left sides of the movie. You can select the unit of measure used in the rulers. When you move an element on the Stage with the rulers displayed, lines indicating the element's dimensions appear on the rulers.

You can drag horizontal and vertical guides from the rulers onto the Stage when the rulers are displayed. You can move guides, lock guides, hide guides, and remove guides. You can also snap objects to guides and change guide color. Draggable guides appear only in the Timeline in which they were created.

To create custom guides or irregular guides, you use guide layers.

To display or hide rulers:
Choose VIEW / RULERS.

To specify the rulers' unit of measure:

1. Choose MODIFY / DOCUMENT.
2. Select an option from the Ruler Units pop-up menu.

To display or hide the drawing grid or guides:

1. Choose VIEW / GRID / SHOW GRID or VIEW / GUIDES / SHOW GUIDES.
2. Choose VIEW / GRID / EDIT GRID or VIEW / GUIDES / EDIT GUIDES. , and select Show Grid or Show Guides in the dialog box.

If the grid is visible and Snap to Grid is turned on when you create guides, guides will snap to the grid.

To turn snapping to grid lines or guides on or off, do one of the following:

1. Choose VIEW / GRID / SNAP TO GRID or VIEW / GUIDES / SNAP TO GUIDES.
2. Choose VIEW / GRID / EDIT GRID or VIEW / GUIDES / EDIT GUIDES, and select Snap to Grid or Snap to Guides in the dialog box.

Snapping to guides takes precedence over snapping to the grid in places where guides fall between grid lines.

To specify snapping tolerance for the grid or guides:

1. Choose VIEW / GRID / EDIT GRID or VIEW / GUIDES / EDIT GUIDES.
2. Select an option from the Snap Accuracy pop-up menu in the dialog box.

To change grid or guide line color:

1. Choose VIEW / GRID / EDIT GRID or VIEW / GUIDES / EDIT GUIDES.
2. Click the triangle next to the color box and select a color from the palette.
   The default grid line color is gray. The default guide line color is green.

To change the spacing of the grid:

1. Choose VIEW / GRID / EDIT GRID.
2. In the Grid dialog box, enter values for vertical and horizontal grid spacing, and click OK.

To move a guide:

1. Use the Arrow tool to click and drag the guide.
2. To lock guides or clear all guides:
3. Choose VIEW / GUIDES / EDIT GUIDES, and then choose Lock Guides or Clear All and click OK.

Clear All Guides removes all guides from the current scene.

To remove a guide:
With guides unlocked, use the Arrow tool to drag the guide to the horizontal or vertical ruler.