---
title: "Using Adobe Illustrator to Create A Sine Wave"
description: "When working on the (http://www.addohms.com/ep5), I needed a vector diagram with a sine wave. Using Adobe Illustrator, I tried with a Bézier tool, but it didn't look quite…"
canonical: "https://www.baldengineer.com/using-adobe-illustrator-to-create-a-sine-wave.html"
author: "James Lewis"
date: "2013-11-15T11:33:52Z"
lastmod: "2015-03-24T22:16:16Z"
image: "https://www.baldengineer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/illustrator-sine-banner.png"
categories: ["software","tutorials"]
tags: ["illustrator","sine","waveforms"]
---

# Using Adobe Illustrator to Create A Sine Wave


When working on the [AddOhms video on the difference between AC and DC](http://www.addohms.com/ep5), I needed a vector diagram with a sine wave.  Using Adobe Illustrator, I tried with a Bézier tool, but it didn't look quite right.   Here's two methods I found to create a better line sine.

## The Quick (but not Accurate)

This method will give you something that looks sort of like a sine wave, but isn't actually a sine wave.  So if you just need a quick wavy line, this is pretty simple.

## Step1:  Draw a line

The first step is to simply draw a line like this:

![line_only](/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/line_only.png)

## Step 2:  Use an Effect (Zig Zag)

Next select the "Zig Zag" effect from the Effects Menu.

![select_zig_zag.png](/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/select_zig.png)

## Step 3:  Enable Smooth

The default waveform will look like a triangle wave.  Change the Points to "Smooth" in the Zig Zag dialog and you end up with a rounded out "waveform."  (Don't forget to enable "Preview"!)

![triangle_round_with_smooth](/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/triangle_round.png)

That's not quite a Sine Wave but for many purposes it'll work just fine.  So if you need a mathematically correct sine wave, check out this code example.

## Using Postscript for a (more) correct Sine Wave

Using Illustrator's Postscript interpreter, you can insert a better approximation of a [sine wave as the images from Telegraphics](http://telegraphics.com.au/sw/info/sinehow.html) show how:

[![sine6](/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sine6.png)](/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sine6.png)[Toby Thain](https://twitter.com/telegraphics) offers this GPL Postscript code, which will generate the sine wave below using Illustrator's [Postscript Interpreter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PostScript).

Once you download sine1.ps, use File -> "Place…" to place the sine1.ps into your document.  I recommend checking Telegraphics.com.au for some cool tools.

![sine_placed](/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sine_placed1.png)

## Conclusion

Whether you use the Zig Zag effort or Toby's code, either way you can get some amazing results for the most elementary wave shape.

> **Note:** What other tools or methods have you used to generate waveforms for documentation?