Scale drawings in Illustrator, maintain proportions of line weights and effects?

Question

My problem is that when I scale down my drawing, the line weights stay the same, blotting out the artwork. If I scale up, the line weights become too thin. I've noticed that parametric effects don't scale together with the drawing.How do I scale drawings in Adobe Illustrator and still maintain the proportions of line weights, gradients, and effects such as offset path?

Answer 1

Hi, this is an easy fix. By default, Illustrator scales up or down the object, but not the outline. In order to make the line bigger or smaller along with the object, you need to tell Illustrator to do just that, by using the scale tool.

step 1: With the object selected, double click on the "scale tool" on the main tool palette on the left (or you can click the letter "s" and pushing the "return" or :"enter" bar).

step 2: Under "options" in the appearing window, check the "scale corners" and "scale strokes and effects".

Done!

Remember that by leaving those options unchecked, you can achieve particular desired design results. For example, you might want to copy an original object with a set stroke and leave all copies with the same stroke (maybe they are all squares of different sizes containing photos or other images for a catalogue).