How to Measure the Perimeter of a Shape in Illustrator

Find the area of irregular shapes with a hidden command in Adobe Illustrator.

Finding the perimeter of a polygon is fairly easy — just add the lengths of the various sides. But for an irregular shape drawn in Adobe Illustrator CS4 or CS5, the answer is not plainly seen. Curves mixed with straight lines make for oddities you can't judge by guides and rulers. Adobe has a hidden debugging palette, though, that can yield the answer in a few clicks. Just make sure your work is saved before executing the command.

Instructions

1. Open your document in Adobe Illustrator. Draw the object for which you need to find the perimeter, if you haven't already done so.

2. Press the following combination of keys at the same time: command, shift, option and F12. If you are using a Mac keyboard with a volume control positioned at F12, also press the "fn" button.

3. Drag the corner of the debugging palette that opened, to make the window bigger.

4. Click on the artboard object for which you want to find the perimeter, using the black arrow.

5. Return to the debugging palette and click the word "Path" near the bottom. This will only appear as a word or link, not as a button.

6. Find the length measurement under the Objects heading in the debugging palette. Disregard any negative or positive sign. Divide the number, which is in points, by 72 to find the perimeter in inches.

Tips & Warnings

• Unless you are a qualified programmer, use the debugging palette only for this function and close it immediately when finished. Opening the palette or performing other functions inside it could crash Illustrator, causing you to lose any unsaved work.

References

• Illustrator Hints; Find the Area of an Irregular Object; March 8, 2010