Grouping objects to anchor them – but they already have Object Styles

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    • #70538
      Eugene Tyson
      Member

      Basically,

      I have say 3 images. They each have independent object styles. For example, one has a drop shadow, one has basic feather, and another has an innershadow – all applied via object styles.

      I group these images. And anchor them.

      But now I want to style the Anchor position so that when I copy and paste this again it appears in the correct anchored position – of course to do this you need to apply an object style.

      However, this object style then becomes the object style for all 3 images.

      How can I have 3 images grouped and anchored and with an object style so that the Anchored Object style is applied to all 3 without messing with the independent object styles?

    • #70575
      Tom Venetia
      Member

      .

    • #70586
      Eugene Tyson
      Member

      Post above is blank?

    • #70587
      Tom Venetia
      Member

      Sorry Eugene, I clicked without writing an answer. I am still investigating it.
      Regards

    • #70611
      Colin Flashman
      Participant

      Make a new object style that has all of the little checkboxes with a “-” in them in both the “basic attributes” and “effects for” parts of the window, with the exception of the anchored object instructions.

      Next, group your objects together and apply the anchor style as you were trying to do before, and the appearance will stay the same, but will now obey the anchored instruction rule.

      The bad news is that if you change an object style, items that were grouped in this fashion will no longer obey their old style rules and maintain their present appearance.

      Wish i’d known this trick earlier though, I could’ve saved myself hours on a recent project!

      Colly

    • #70615
      Eugene Tyson
      Member

      Ah very good. That’s a very delicate solution!

      Wish there was easier way though :)

      Thanks

    • #70630
      Colin Flashman
      Participant

      If the grouped objects don’t actually need to have an object style but just obey an anchored object command, then I have thought of another way but it involves scripting, and I’m at work at the moment so can only suggest the idea at the moment.

      If there was a script that would apply the desired anchored object settings to the selection, that should work AND be able to be either hot-keyed to a KBSC or available via the quick apply menu. The advantage is that objects should still maintain their object styles.

      All this is untested though.

      Colly

    • #70640
      Eugene Tyson
      Member

      Sounds great in theory!

    • #70643

      Just a thought, but could the grouped objects be pasted inside a container frame, sized to fit the content? The anchored object style could then be applied to that frame?

    • #70651
      Eugene Tyson
      Member

      Hmm, interesting thought stuart, I’ll have to try it out!

    • #70675
      Colin Flashman
      Participant

      My trick works… just a case of getting the script to play ball.

      So far, I have a found a script by Shirley Hopkins (www.yourscriptdoctor.com) that, when run, places an anchored object based on presets in the script. Her script has type in the anchored object, but I have changed it to a plain ol’ rectangle… but because my scripting skills are very basic trial-and-error stuff that makes most scripters facepalm, I’m having real difficulty pasting the grouped objects (that have their unique object styles) into the rectangle via the script. I’m sure the scripters out there could tackle it, no worries.

      Doing it step by step (i.e. running the modded script that generates the no fill/stroke anchored object in the right spot, and then clicking on it and going “paste into”, and filling frame to fit content) it works, and the object styles can be manipulated individually via the object styles menu and the object styles change independently, so the proof of principle is there.

      So it is possible, but not with my skillset unfortunately!

      Colin

    • #70680
      Colin Flashman
      Participant

      As I said before, it is possible but not with my skillset. Fortunately others have helped me on another forum to solve the issue:

      https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1579946

      Colin

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