Matrix

matrix

Description

A transformation matrix specification, used to transform the geometry of objects. Use it to specify and retrieve matrix information from an Illustrator document or from page items in a document.

Matrices are used in conjunction with the transform method and as a property of a number of objects. A matrix specifies how to transform the geometry of an object. You can generate an original matrix using the Application object methods Application.getTranslationMatrix(), Application.getScaleMatrix(), or Application.getRotationMatrix().

A Matrix is a record containing the matrix values, not a reference to a matrix object. The matrix commands operate on the values of a matrix record. If a command modifies a matrix, a modified matrix record is returned as the result of the command. The original matrix record passed to the command is not modified.

Properties

Matrix.mValueA

matrix.mValueA

Description

Matrix property a.

Type

Number (double).

Matrix.mValueB

matrix.mValueB

Description

Matrix property b.

Type

Number (double).

Matrix.mValueC

matrix.mValueC

Description

Matrix property c.

Type

Number (double).

Matrix.mValueD

matrix.mValueD

Description

Matrix property d.

Type

Number (double).

Matrix.mValueTX

matrix.mValueTX

Description

Matrix property tx.

Type

Number (double).

Matrix.mValueTY

matrix.mValueTY

Description

Matrix property ty.

Type

Number (double).

Matrix.typename

matrix.typename

Description

The class name of the referenced object.

Type

String; read-only.

Example

Combining matrices to apply multiple transformations

To apply multiple transformations to objects, it is more efficient to use the matrix suite than to apply the transformations one at a time. The following script demonstrates how to combine multiple matrices.

// Tranforms all art in a document using translation and rotation matrices,
// moves art half an inch to the right and 1.5 inches up on the page
if (app.documents.length > 0) {
    var moveMatrix = app.getTranslationMatrix(0.5, 1.5);

    // Add a rotation to the translation, 10 degrees counter clockwise
    var totalMatrix = concatenateRotationMatrix(moveMatrix, 10);

    // apply the transformation to all art in the document
    var doc = app.activeDocument;
    for (var i = 0; i < doc.pageItems.length; i++) {
        doc.pageItems[i].transform(totalMatrix);
    }
}