Hi,

Sometimes finding the cross (X) for moving a pattern within a shape is more difficult than the worst "Where is Wally" you can imagine. Is there any easier way to find it than broken your eyes agaisnt the display?

Thanks a lot in advance,

It depends on the source of the pattern. If you used one of the ready-made patterns in the Fill and Stroke dialog, the pattern handles will be located at the top left corner of the page border. You can grab the X and drag it closer to the object, to make it easier to adjust and still see what you're doing.

If you created a custom pattern, the handles should be located right on the object that you converted to a pattern. However, there's a bug which might cause them to be distributed anywhere. So for a custom pattern, you might have to do some searching. For me, they are usually somewhere above where I'm working, but the bug could really cause them to be placed anywhere. Ummm....if it works in your image, you could create a new layer, and if you place the object (before you convert to pattern) in the new layer, it won't be affected by the bug, and the handles will be right on top of the object. But I realize that won't always be possible.

I agree that they can be hard to see sometimes. The easiest way to see them, at least with my eyes, is on the white default background. Once you find them though, you can drag them wherever you want, so that you can find them easier next time. Depending on what's happening on my canvas, I have a couple of different customs. If I just have 1 or 2 patterns in the image, I keep the pattern handles right beside the object to which they're applied. But if I'm using a lot of different patterns, I arrange them outside the page border directly either horizontal or vertical from the object to which they're applied. Sometimes I even use the text tool to label them, which of course I delete after I finish the image -- the text just helps me while I'm working.

Hi brynn,

Well, what I do now is to move the object that containst the pattern outside the document boundaries over the white background, and play with the zoom until I find it. Sometimes I also need to apply some transparency to the object itself, because the X is over the pattern and difficult to see.

Most of the time I use images as pattern, and I have been doing some things that need to use a big JPG image as pattern for example. In these cases if the image is very big, the X and other controls may be kilometers far away from the object, although the others are easier to locate becuase they are a circle and an square with white fill and black border, while the X is just black, so it is very difficult to see over a dark background.

Regards,

Oh yes, in that case (JPGs as custom patterns) I imagine that those handles are indeed very hard to find. Hhmm.........I wonder if you went into Outline mode, whether the pattern handles would be displayed??? I guess it would be worth a try anyway?? I'm about to fall asleep at the moment, so let me know if it helps?