Rotating, Shearing and Mirroring Objects

Rotating, Shearing, and Mirroring are some of the most fundamental controls for manipulating objects. These options are almost always available when controlling objects in the second tab of DesignCentral.

Shearing is the act of moving only side of the image, leaving the opposite stationary; this produces a stretched or leaning effect to the image.

You can quick access these tools by Double-clicking on the desired object.

Rotating, Shearing, and Mirroring Using DesignCentral

• Select the objects.
• Select the Second Tab in DesignCentral.
• Alternatively, from the Arrange menu, select Rotate
  • (or press Ctrl+R on the keyboard).
• In DesignCentral, adjust the following parameters:

	Changes the rotation angle of the selected objects.
	Changes the shear angle of the selected objects.
	Rotates the selected objects 90 degrees counterclockwise and clockwise.
	Mirrors the selected objects horizontally and vertically.
Keep Original	Retains a copy of the original objects after rotating or mirroring.
	Sets the stationary reference point from which the above adjustments are made.

• Click Apply

Rotating may also be done using DesignCentral, but some of the above options may not be available.

Rotating and Shearing by Dragging Control Points

• Select the objects.
• Click the Rotate tab in DesignCentral.
  

The Stationary Point appears as a small white circle with a dot in it. Its position is determined by the point selected on the DesignCentral Reference grid.

• To adjust the position of the Stationary Point, do one of the following:
  • Select a point on the DesignCentral Reference grid.
  • Hold Ctrl and drag the Stationary Point to any of the nine positions on the Reference grid.
  • Click and drag the Stationary Point to any desired position

• Position the cursor on a Rotate or Shear control point.

• Click and drag the desired control point.

  • Hold Ctrl and drag to create a copy of the original objects.

  • Hold Shift and drag to constrain the rotation or shear angle to the increment set in Preferences (default = 45 degrees).

• Ctrl and Shift can be used together to copy and constrain.

Stationary Point examples:

	Center
	Bottom Left
	Click and Drag (custom position)

Creating Mirrored Objects

You can use the Flip function as shown above to quickly mirror an object. However, if you want a more controlled tool to mirror an object, use the Mirror tool in the Arrange menu. This can mirror an object in any direction while allowing the option to keep the original object to duplicate it.

• Select the objects.
• From the Arrange menu, select Mirror.
  
  • A mirrored image is displayed, along with a Mirror Line. If the Mirror Line is not visible, increase the distance in DesignCentral.
    

• Adjust the Distance in DesignCentral. This value is the total distance separating the original and mirrored image. To adjust the distance, do one of the following:
  • Click and drag the control point in the middle of the Mirror Line to adjust the distance.
    
  • Click and drag a control point located at the Mirror Line's end to adjust the angle.
    
  • Hold Shift and drag to constrain the angle.
• Check Keep Original to create a copy of the original image.
• Click Apply.