{"id":98,"date":"2019-05-28T07:13:51","date_gmt":"2019-05-28T07:13:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/embers.nicejacket.cc\/blog\/?p=98"},"modified":"2019-05-28T14:23:42","modified_gmt":"2019-05-28T14:23:42","slug":"measuring-area-in-illustrator-to-scale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/embers.nicejacket.cc\/blog\/2019\/05\/28\/measuring-area-in-illustrator-to-scale\/","title":{"rendered":"Measuring Area in Illustrator to Scale"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’m building out a full wiki for The Embers<\/a>, and one element in the Infobox I’ve been leaving blank is Area (square miles). Counting hexes and estimating seems laborious and ineffective, but there wasn’t a good way to measure the exact area of nations, baronies, tribal reaches, and free cities of Eilar\u00fbn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Fewer red links each day, but those xxx,xxx haunted my dreams.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This might not be helpful to those who map in Photoshop, GIMP, etc., though Inkscape does have a feature similar to Illustrator’s Image Trace, so one could always export a large bitmap from whichever program and get SVG shapes that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scroll to the bottom if you just want the code.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I knew that my hexes were 24 miles from center to center, or 12 miles from center to apothem, but I didn’t know the side length, which is, I think, the easiest way to calculate hexagon area:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A = (3 \u00d7 \u221a3 \u00d7 s\u00b2) \/ 2<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Illustrator, Window > Document Info > Objects will give you the length of a path. So that solved side length, and I could calculate area. A side was 0.1419 inches. My hexes were 0.052314 inches square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now to figure out the ratio and get a scale factor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I always try to check my math – a post<\/a> on a 1e d&d forum (so you know they’re serious) gave me the area of a hexagon at certain dimensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I created a line that was 24 inches at 90\u00b0 in Illustrator, Alt+Shift created a hexagon centered on the lower endpoint, and then Alt+Shift expanded the bounding box until the upper edge reached the midpoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My math from the side above matches the forum’s number. I now have my ratio (scale factor):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

R = (hex area in miles) \/ (hex area in inches on map)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found this code snippet<\/a> on Github, which allows one to get the area of a shape in Illustrator, in in\u00b2 and cm\u00b2. Using the scale factor, I can calculate the area in mi\u00b2 (because what self-respecting grimdark would use a logical system like metric?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(shape area in miles) = R \u00d7 (shape area in inches)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m already using a script; why not fork and modify for this specific use?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adds\/changes to bryanbuchanan<\/a>‘s code:<\/p>\n\n\n\n