CHAPTER 9 Moving, Scaling, Rotating: Basic Transformations
Often when you create or import an object, it’s not exactly where you want it on the page. Or it might be an inch away from where you want it, and a little too large. The object might also be rotated a few degrees off from where you want it to be—you get the picture. This chapter covers the common—and not so common—techniques to use in CorelDRAW for transforming objects, from the manual approach to pinpoint-precise numerical entry. You’ll soon have the skills and know the steps for composing elements on a page the way you want them, and then you can stop cursing at the cursor.
Basic Object Selection
You choose the Pick tool from the toolbox and then click an object to move, scale, or create other transformations. The easiest way to select more than one object is to hold SHIFT; you then add to your existing selection by clicking other objects. With one or more items selected, you’ll notice that information about the selected shapes is displayed on the status bar. The other workspace area to watch is the property bar, which shows the position, size of the selection, and offers options such as the number of degrees to rotate the selected object(s). Also, if you press ALT+ENTER with something selected, the Object Properties docker provides you with not only details about what you’ve caught, but also the opportunity to quickly change many of the object’s properties.
Pick Tool Selections
The Pick tool can be used for several things, the most important of which are to choose an object or several objects, and to create a change in the selected object(s) by moving it and adjusting its selection handles.
Clicking an object once selects it. While an object is selected, selection handles appear—the eight black markers surrounding the object, as shown in Figure 9-1. Additionally, depending on the type and properties of an object, you’ll see nodes at various areas around the object, which indicate the control points path (when a vector object is selected) or the edge of an object (when a bitmap is selected). A small X marker appears at the centermost point of the object, indicating its center origin. This origin can be moved, is quite useful for defining a center of rotation for an object, and will be discussed later in this chapter.
NOTE
Nodes are edited using the Shape tool, covered in Chapter 11. The Pick tool has no effect on nodes.
FIGURE 9-1 Select any object with a single click using the Pick tool.
Occasionally you or a coworker will create a shape with an outline stroke that’s very narrow and has no fill, and you have trouble selecting the darned thing with the Pick tool. If zooming in doesn’t make selecting it any easier, activate the Treat All Objects As Filled option. Open the Options dialog (CTRL+J) and choose Workspace | Toolbox | Pick Tool from the tree at left. Check the Treat All Objects As Filled check box, and then click OK to close the dialog, as shown in Figure 9-2.
Object Selection Techniques
You can use a number of tricks while navigating through a selection of objects or for selecting more than one object at a time using the Pick tool. Many of these object-selection techniques can also be used in combination with each other as you adopt your own selection technique. Here’s how you can make a selection of more than one object in one fell swoop:
FIGURE 9-2 Select unfilled objects by clicking anywhere on them using this option.
• SHIFT-clicking to select Holding SHIFT while clicking an unselected object adds it to your current selection. This also works in the reverse: holding SHIFT while clicking a selected object deselects the object.
• Marquee-selecting objects To select all objects in a specific area, click-drag diagonally with the Pick tool to surround the objects; a dashed blue outline representing the rectangular area of selection appears until you release the mouse button. While you’re marquee-selecting, all object shapes completely within the area you define become selected, as shown in Figure 9-3. The complete object’s shape must be surrounded for it to become selected. Holding SHIFT while using the marquee-selection technique causes unselected objects to be selected, and it also causes selected objects to become unselected.
• Holding ALT while marquee-selecting If you come to CorelDRAW from Adobe Illustrator, you can use the convention of selecting objects by merely touching a shape in a marquee-selection technique. Holding ALT as the modifier while click-dragging to marquee a specific area causes all objects within—and even those whose edge you touch—to become selected. Holding SHIFT+ALT while marquee-selecting causes the reverse to occur, deselecting any objects that are already selected.
FIGURE 9-3 A click-drag with the Pick tool in any direction marquee-selects the objects that are completely surrounded.
The Pick Tool’s Shape Tool State
If you’re getting an idea that the Pick tool has a host of hidden features, you’re right. One of these is its alternate state—the temporary Shape tool state. The Pick tool can temporarily act like the Shape tool while a single object is selected and when held over object nodes. But this isn’t its normal behavior, and you need to first enable this feature in Options.
Typically, the Pick tool is used for selecting and transforming objects, while the Shape tool is used for editing curves and selecting object nodes. The temporary Shape tool state lets you move object nodes without changing tools.
To access this, choose Tools | Options, and click to select Workspace | Display in the tree directory; then check Enable Node Tracking. This convenience gives you control to modify selected characters in a line of artistic text, to edit open and closed paths, and to modify an ellipse, star, polygon as star, graph paper objects, and even bitmaps. The next illustration shows this temporary state in action; you’ll see in your work that when the Pick tool is outside of a shape, it looks like an arrow cursor. However, after an object is selected and the tool is positioned inside a shape, the tool presumes you want to perform an operation such as moving the selected shape, and it becomes a four-headed arrow:
• Pressing TAB to select next object Suppose you have a bunch of objects in a document, but some of them overlap, and you’re getting nowhere by attempting to click the one you need. Pressing TAB alone while the Pick tool is active selects a shape and causes the next single object arranged directly behind your current selection to become selected (whether or not it overlaps the current object). Holding SHIFT while pressing TAB causes the single object arranged directly in front of your current selection to become selected. This tabbing action works because each new object created is automatically ordered in front of the last created object—no matter how the object was created (for example, using various duplicate, repeat, transformation, or object effect-creation methods). Tabbing cycles through single-object selection on a page, whether you have a current object selected or none at all. The key is to begin tabbing after you’ve chosen the Pick tool.
• ALT-click to select objects covered by other objects To select an object that is ordered in back of and hidden by other objects, hold ALT while the Pick tool is selected, and then click where the object is located. Each time you ALT-click with the Pick tool, objects that are ordered further back in the stack are selected, enabling you to “dig” to select hidden objects.
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Although you can select nodes with the Pick tool when Enable Node Tracking is active, you can’t perform editing operations other than moving a node. To create curves from straight path segments and work with node control handles, you need to use the genuine Shape tool.
Selecting Objects by Type
So far, you’ve learned to select any objects on or off your page. But you may also select objects by their type (such as text objects, guidelines, or path nodes) using commands from the Select All menu, shown in Figure 9-4. Each time you use a command, a new selection is made (and any current selection of objects becomes unselected).
Here’s how each of the commands is used:
• Select All Objects Choosing Edit | Select All | Objects causes all objects in your current document window to become selected. Quicker to use is the CTRL+A shortcut, which accomplishes the same result and is easy to remember because it’s used by many professional software programs.
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Double-clicking the Pick Tool button in the toolbox instantly selects all visible objects in your current document window view.
CAUTION
You can’t select what’s locked or hidden. Check the status of layers with the Object Manager if there’s an object that is apparently nailed to the page!
FIGURE 9-4 Select items in your document by using the Select All command.
• Select All Text Choosing Edit | Select All | Text instantly selects all text objects both on and off the current document page. Both artistic and paragraph text objects become selected after using this command (unless they have been grouped with other objects, in which case they are ignored). Text objects applied with effects (such as contour or extrude effects) also become selected using this command.
• Select All Guidelines Guidelines are actually a class of document page objects, different from objects you draw, but objects nonetheless. To select all guidelines on your document page, choose Edit | Select All | Guidelines. Selected guidelines are indicated by a color change (red, by default). To select guidelines, they must be visible and cannot be locked; use the Tools | Object Manager to edit the properties of guidelines before you try to select them. If guidelines you’ve placed aren’t currently visible on your page, choose View | Guidelines.
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Guidelines can be created using a click-drag action from your ruler onto your document page. Choose View | Rulers to display CorelDRAW’s ruler feature.
• Select All Nodes You must have both the Shape tool and an object selected (closed or open paths qualify) to use this Select All command. Choose Edit | Select All | Nodes to select all of the object’s path nodes. For a quicker method in the same situation, use the CTRL+A shortcut. Special CorelDRAW objects such as rectangles, ellipses, and polygons can’t be selected this way because their shapes are defined dynamically by “control” points instead of nodes.
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Shapes are often made up of two or more paths that are combined. To select all the nodes on a combined path, first select the object, and then double-click the Shape tool on the toolbox.
Moving Objects
When moving objects, it’s important to lift using your legs and position yourself carefully to avoid back injury. However, moving objects in CorelDRAW is a lot less stressful, and you basically have two options: to move objects directly by using the Pick tool and dragging, or to use the keyboard arrow keys to precision-nudge objects in four directions.
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For information on moving and transforming objects, see the section “Applying Precise Transformations” later in this chapter.
Using the Pick Tool
Holding the Pick tool over certain areas of a selected object will cause the tool’s positioning cursor to become active, as shown in Figure 9-5. This means a click-drag action on the area will move your selected object(s) in any direction. As you drag your object, you’ll see a preview outline, indicating its new position. When the mouse button is released, the move is complete.
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If you’re having difficulty selecting and/or moving an object because it’s too small, you can increase your view magnification using the Zoom tool, or use the keyboard nudge keys, covered next.
Using Nudge Keys
As an alternative to using the Pick tool, you can also move selected objects by a distance you specify by nudging. You use your keyboard arrow keys; to nudge a selected object, press the UP, DOWN, LEFT, or RIGHT arrow key. Your object will be moved by the nudge value specified in the Rulers page of the Options dialog. You can customize the Nudge distance by opening the Options dialog (CTRL+J), clicking to expand the tree directory under Document, and clicking to display the Rulers options page, as shown here:
FIGURE 9-5 Moving objects with the Pick tool offers a preview before you actually move them.
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You have eight possible directions in which to nudge your artwork. In addition to using an arrow key, you can also press two neighboring arrow keys to perform a diagonal nudge.
Using nudge keys, you can perform moves according to this value, or by larger or smaller values. These respectively are referred to as super and micro nudges. Like “normal” nudges, these values are set in the Rulers options page. Here are the techniques for using super and micro nudges:
• Super nudge This action moves a selected object in larger increments than a normal nudge. To use super nudge, hold SHIFT while pressing the UP, DOWN, LEFT, or RIGHT arrow key on your keyboard. By default, this causes your selected object to move by 0.02 inch.
• Micro nudge The pint-sized version of a typical nudge is the micro nudge, which moves your object in smaller increments. To use micro nudge, hold CTRL while pressing the UP, DOWN, LEFT, or RIGHT arrow key on your keyboard. By default, micro nudges cause the selected object to move by 0.005 inch.
Transforming Objects
A transformation is any type of object shape or position change, short of actually editing the object’s properties. This includes changing its position, size, skew, and/or rotating or reflecting it. Dragging an object directly in a document is more intuitive than precision transformations—but both approaches to transformation have their own special advantages. In this section, you’ll learn how to apply transformations using both techniques.
Transforming Objects Using the Cursor
For the intuitive method, the Pick tool is what you need to transform objects by the simple act of click-dragging. Depending on the type of transformation you need to apply, you can click-drag any of the four, black, square selection handles that surround the selected object or group of objects to change an object’s size proportionally, by width only and by height only. Dragging any middle selection handle or side handle scales the object disproportionately—“smoosh” and “stretch” are the more common terms for disproportional scaling; see Figure 9-6.
During transformations, CorelDRAW keeps track of the object’s transformed size, position, width, height, scale, and rotation angle. CorelDRAW remembers your object’s original shape from the time it was created, regardless of how many transformations have been applied to it. You can remove all transformations and restore the object to its original state in a single command: choose Arrange | Clear Transformations to return your object to its original shape immediately.
FIGURE 9-6 Dragging these handles changes the size of an object proportionally or otherwise.
While transforming objects, you can constrain certain shape properties by holding modifier keys. Here are the effects of holding modifier keys for constraining a transformed object’s shape:
• To change object size (scale) Click-drag any corner handle to change an object’s size proportionally, meaning the relative width and height remain in proportion to the original object shape. Hold ALT while dragging any corner selection handle to change an object’s shape disproportionally, meaning width and height change, regardless of original proportions.
• To change width or height only Click-drag any side, top, or bottom selection handle to change the size of the object in the drag direction. Hold SHIFT while doing this to change the width or height from the center of the object, or hold CTRL while dragging to change the width or height in 200-percent increments.
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When transforming an object using the Pick tool, click the right mouse button during the transformation, and then release both mouse buttons to “drop a copy.” The active object you’re dragging becomes a copy, applying the transformation to a duplicate, not the original. When combined with the CTRL key, this technique is a quick and easy way to mirror a duplicate and make symmetrical compositions.
You can also rotate or skew an object using Pick tool states that become available after you click a selected object a second time—you click an object once that is already selected to display rotation and skew controls around the object. This action causes an object (or group of objects) to look like Figure 9-7.
You control the point around which objects are rotated or skewed, by moving the center origin marker (anchor point) of an object or group of objects. Your cursor will change to display either the rotation or a skew cursor when held over a corner or side handle. A good creative example of offsetting the original center of an object is shown in the following illustration. The spade shape is a simple extrusion, and by putting its origin at the crosshairs in this illustration, holding CTRL to constrain rotation to CorelDRAW’s default of 15 degrees while rotating, and then right-clicking to transform a duplicate, a wonderfully intricate pattern can be made in less than a minute.
FIGURE 9-7 Clicking a selected object will cause these rotation/skew handles to appear.
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To flip a selected object quickly, either vertically or horizontally, use the Mirror Vertical and Mirror Horizontal buttons in the property bar while using the Pick tool.
Using the Free Transform Tool
The Free Transform tool is the middle ground between controlling transformations entirely with mouse gestures, and the hands-off controls of the Transformation docker. When you use the Free Transform tool, the property bar offers four modes of transformation: Free Rotation, Free Angle Reflection, Free Scale, and Free Skew. Here, Free Angle Reflection is used to mirror the drawing’s original location and left-to-right orientation.
To transform a selected object in one of these four modes, click to select the mode, and then use a click-drag action on your object. A live preview of the new object’s shape appears. While using Rotation or Angle Reflection modes, a reference line appears as you drag to indicate the object’s angle transformation from its original state.
Using Free Transform and then applying a little transparency can yield compositions that contain believable reflections. Free Transform works with bitmaps as well as native CorelDRAW vector objects.
Copying Effects with the Attributes Eyedropper Tool
You can copy transformations between objects using the Attributes eyedropper tool. To do this, choose the tool, have both the objects in view, and use these steps:
1. With the tool selected, click the Transformations button on the property bar, and then check the individual properties you want to sample. Click OK to close the flyout and save your choices.
2. Click the item whose transformation properties you want to sample and apply to a different object. Groups of objects do not qualify; however, the PowerClip items in the illustration you see next—the silverware drawings—do indeed qualify because a PowerClip is seen as a single object.
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Individual objects can be changed even when they’re grouped. With the Pick tool, hold CTRL to select within a group. See Chapter 11 for details on using PowerClips.
3. After an object has been sampled, your cursor becomes an “apply” cursor—a paint bucket. Click the object you want to apply the transformation to. The rotation, scale, and/or position is immediately copied to the new object. The Attributes eyedropper is persistent: you can continue applying attributes to other objects; click the select (eyedropper) icon on the property bar to redefine attributes you want to apply and continue; or choose a different tool, and your transformation work is done.
4. Remember that the knife in a formal table setting always has the cutting edge facing left; fortunately, this is a simple transformation.
Applying Precise Transformations
The Transformation docker is terrific for applying multiple transformations with a single command. The docker has five Transformation buttons: Position (Move), Rotate, Scale And Mirror, Size, and Skew, as shown in Figure 9-8. To open the Transformation docker, choose Window | Dockers | Transformations, or choose Arrange | Transformations, choose a command, and then click the button that applies to your task.
FIGURE 9-8 The Transformation docker offers precision over position, rotation, size, and skew changes.
For all transformations, the procedure is the same: click the button for the type of transformation, enter the values you need, and then click the Apply button in the docker to transform the selected object(s). In this section, you’ll learn what each area does for you and the options offered for each.
Using the Transformation Docker
Options in the Transformation docker vary by transformation type. In the illustrations shown in the next few pages, examples show only the specific transformation being discussed.
Positioning (Moving) Objects
Options for the Position page will move your object selection a specified distance, either vertically (V), horizontally (H), or to a specific point on your document page, as shown in Figure 9-9.
While the Relative Position option is selected, entering new values and clicking the Apply button causes your objects to move by a specified distance. If the Relative Position option is not selected, new values you set for absolute, nonrelative position move an object to the absolute location shown on your current ruler position.
FIGURE 9-9 This object was precisely moved by applying a Position transformation.
Rotating Objects
With Rotate, you can make multiple copies, and enter exact angles of rotation based on degrees and in default increments of 5 using the spin boxes. Figure 9-10 shows two very different results when using relative and absolute positioning and making two copies of the teakettle.
Entering negative values rotates an object clockwise, while positive values cause counterclockwise rotation. Selecting the Relative Center option allows either Vertical or Horizontal to rotate objects, according to the object’s center marker position, and the position of that is specified as either V or H. You can specify a new center origin position for your object’s rotation by changing the existing value in the H and V boxes. When Relative Center is not selected, your object is rotated according to the page center.
Scale and Mirror Objects
The Scale and Mirror transformation has features for entering precise changes in object size. You can also cause the object to be flipped either V or H, and/or simultaneously, by clicking one of the two mirror buttons, as shown in Figure 9-11.
When the Proportional option is unchecked, your object’s new horizontal and vertical scale values are unlinked, meaning you can apply scaling commands to either the width or height, independent of each other. While the Proportional option is checked, width and height scaling operations are locked to each other. This means that scaling the width or height by a given percentage value causes the adjacent value to be calculated automatically to preserve your selected object’s original proportions.
FIGURE 9-10 The Rotation transformation features an offset option when you choose Relative positioning for duplicates of the original object.
FIGURE 9-11 Both Scale and Mirror changes were applied to the drawing.
Sizing Objects
This transformation type gives you the option to change either the V and/or H measure of an object selection based on the values entered. For example, entering 2 inches in the H box and clicking the Apply button causes the selected object to be scaled to a width of 2 inches. When the Proportional option is unchecked, the width and height values can be changed independently. While the Proportional option is selected, width and height values are linked and calculated automatically to alter the size of the object proportionally.
Precision Skewing
The term skew means to change the position of two sides of a shape in a parallel fashion while leaving the other two sides alone; slanting is a more common term for “skew.” The Skew transformation also gives you the chance to apply both vertical and horizontal skew independently or simultaneously by entering degree measures, in turn, transforming the object either V or H. As with rotation commands, negative degree values cause clockwise skews, while positive values cause counterclockwise skews. Choosing the Use Anchor Point option enables you to specify left, center, right, top, bottom, sides, or corner points as the point around which your objects are skewed, as shown in Figure 9-12. The skewed copy more or less looks like a cast shadow of the original symbol, doesn’t it?
FIGURE 9-12 A precision Skew changes both the angle and the size of this object in a single command.
Controlling the Order of Things
How your objects are ordered is another consideration when organizing drawing objects in a composition. The order of objects determines whether an object appears in front of—or behind—another object. Your page and the pasteboard (the area surrounding your document page) are always the backmost point, while your screen is always the frontmost point. All objects are layered between these two points.
When overlapping objects are ordered, they appear in front of or behind each other, according to their order. As you create each new object, it is put in front of all existing objects on the current document layer. Changing the object order lets you rearrange overlapping objects without changing their position on the page. To do this, CorelDRAW has a series of order commands that let you shuffle the order of objects in various ways. You’ll find them in the Arrange | Order submenu, but you can also apply them using shortcut keys; a list follows.
NOTE
The hierarchy of object ordering on a layer is very different from object layers. Although layers each have their own collections of objects that can be ordered in a sequence, the layers themselves can also be ordered. This means that if you’re trying to control the ordering of two or more objects, check the status bar to make sure they’re on the same layer. If you skipped over Chapter 4, that chapter explains layers and provides some fun working examples of layers and the Object Manager.
Here’s how each of the object order commands works:
• To Front Of Page (CTRL+HOME) This command puts objects on top of all objects on the uppermost layer. If your composition has only one layer, these two page commands simply do what To Front and To Back Of Layer do. You will receive an attention box concerning moving objects to different layers—you can permanently dismiss this box by checking the Don’t Show Warning Again check box.
• To Back Of Page (CTRL+END) The converse of To Front Of Page, this command puts the selected objects on the back of the object order on the bottom layer of the page.
• To Front Of Layer This command shuffles your selected object(s) to the very front of the current layer. Press SHIFT+PAGE UP or choose Arrange | Order | To Front to apply it. The To Front command is also available as a property bar button when an object is selected.
• To Back Of Layer This command shuffles your selected object(s) to the very back of the current layer. Press SHIFT+PAGE DOWN or choose Arrange | Order | To Back to apply it. The To Back command is also available as a property bar button while an object is selected.
• Forward One This command shuffles your selected object(s) forward by one in the object order of the current layer. Press CTRL+PAGE UP or choose Arrange | Order | Forward One to apply it.
• Back One This command shuffles your selected object(s) backward by one in the object order of the current layer. Press CTRL+PAGE DOWN or choose Arrange | Order | Back One to apply it.
• In Front Of This command is interactive and puts your selected object directly in front of any object you specify in the current layer order. A targeting cursor will appear, and you use it to choose which object to shuffle your selection in front of. Choose Arrange | Order | In Front Of to apply it.
• Behind This command also causes a targeting cursor to appear, enabling you to specify which object you want your object selection to be shuffled behind in the object order on the current layer. Choose Arrange | Order | Behind to apply it.
• Reverse Order This command effectively shuffles the order of your selected object so that it’s in the reverse of its current order on the layer. Front objects become back objects and vice versa, as shown in Figure 9-13. For example, if your objects were numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4 from front to back, applying this command would cause them to become reordered to 4, 3, 2, and 1. Choose Arrange | Order | Reverse Order to apply it.
FIGURE 9-13 You can quickly change the order of objects within a layer by using Reverse Order.
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When changing object order using the Reverse Order command, grouped objects are considered a single object, so their relative order in the group will be preserved. To reorder objects within a group, you’ll need to Ungroup (CTRL+U) the objects before applying the command.
Hopefully this chapter has shown you not only how to transform objects, but also your skill level with CorelDRAW. You now know how to move, scale, rotate, and perform other operations on page objects and their duplicates. You also know how to both manually transform and use the dockers and other features for precise moving and alignment of the elements you need for a terrific design. Chapter 10 takes you into creating these shapes that you now know how to move. Put Chapters 9 and 10 together, and your family’s going to start missing you, because you’ll be having too much fun designing to sit down for regular dinners!