indesign Tip #8 Using equations to cut a circle into equal sections

What we are accomplishing: Dividing a Circle into equal sections by using a simple equation.

Unlike Illustrator, inDesign does not have a tool that will allow you to create a circular pie chart.  Of course, you could just create the pie chart in illustrator and pull it over to inDesign, but you may lose some editing capabilities doing so.  If you wish to cut a circle into equal parts you will need 2 things, a circle and a line.  Make the line the exact length of the circle’s radius.  Next, align the line to be center aligned horizontally to the circle.  Copy the line and paste in place (shift+option+command+v) to create a new line.  Once you have the new line, you need to make sure your point of rotation is correct.  While the object is selected,you will have an item located at the top left of your screen that contains 9 boxes.  This is your reference point identifier.  You will want to change the reference point to be either the top or bottom of the line, depending on which side of the circle you placed the line.  We do this so that inDesign will know where it will pivot your rotation from.  Now that you have that set up, you are going to want to rotate it.  Select the line and go to “Object > Transform > Rotate…”.  In this menu, you will see a field where you enter the value that you wish to rotate.  Instead of doing an exact value, you will want to do a formula.  To make the graph 3rds, just type in “360/3″, which is 120°.  The next step is just to add 120° to a duplicate of the line you just rotated.  In other words, just create a new radius line that is rotated 240°.  Voila!  You now have a circle that is cut into sections!  I understand that this post may be a little confusing.  If you have any questions over the instructions of this post, feel free to email me at indepthindesign@yahoo.com.

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