This is the perfect solution to ensure your drop shadows and other effects have the same effects on your object at any size. However, with the Scale Tool, you can turn on the option to “scale strokes & effects”. Let’s take a closer look at these magic settings… Scaling Object Effects (aka How to scale in illustrator, the right way)īy default, strokes and effects do not s cale in Illustrator along with the object they are attached to. With this UNCHECKED a stroke will appear to shrink when you scale up your image. Scale Strokes & Effects will scale these items proportional to the original object.With this UNCHECKED rounded corners will appear to shrink when you scale up your object. Scaling corner options will keep your rounded corners proportional to the original settings.Note the Options settings: (this is where the “magic” happens when you have effects applied to an object!) You can choose to scale an object uniformly, or non-uniform.You can manually enter in a scaling percentage.Here’s a screenshot of the Scale options dialog box: These options are accessible through the scale options dialog box that you can access by double-clicking on the Scale tool, or alt/apple clicking with the scale tool selected. The Scale Tool offers some advanced options such as scaling by percentage, and the ability to scale strokes and effects. Why is this important? Let’s dive into advanced image scaling to see! Advanced Image Scaling in Illustrator If you just click and drag anywhere on the artboard, you will rotate the object.Īlso unlike the scale tool, the Free Transform tool DOES NOT have any options to scale effects. Unlike the scale tool, the free transform tool requires you to select a node to click and drag in order to scale in Illustrator. Just like the scale tool, the free transform tool will constrain proportions when you hold down the shift key and you can set the reference point by clicking. Like the Scale Tool, the Free Transform Tool allows you to scale any object you have selected as well as rotate the object.

How to scale an image in illustrator