Transforms

There are so many ways to get objects where and how we want them! Let’s have a look at most of them, from the free-form to the highly precise.

Note: With almost all of these, holding down the option/Alt key yields a copy of your object rather than transforming the original.

Movement

With the Selection Tool—Two Ways

This will not be a surprise: if you drag an object with the Selection tool, you move it (avoiding the Content Grabber if it’s an image frame, unless you wish to move the image within its frame). Holding down the option/Alt key as you drag creates a copy of the object at the location where you release the mouse.

A second, easily missed method is to select one or more objects then double-click on the Selection tool in the Tools panel. This summons a dialog box where you can enter a precise movement. You can also choose to move either the original (by clicking OK) or a copy (by clicking Copy). Be sure to activate the Preview to see what’s going on.

X Location & Y Location Fields

As mentioned on the previous page, both the Control panel and the Transform panel have various fields where we can enter values by which to move an object.

Rotation

With the Selection Tool & Bounding Box

If you’ve selected an object and then move the Selection tool cursor just beyond any corner of that object, you’ll see a curled arrow inviting you to rotate the object. If you approach an angle of rotation to which another object on the same spread has been rotated, a Smart Guide will gently snap this object to the same angle. Holding the shift key will snap the rotation to 45º angles (45, 90, 135, etc.).

Rotate Tool

Just below the halfway point of the Tools panel are the Transform tools, including the Rotate tool. The default (the one shown if you haven’t changed it) is the Free Transform tool. Right-click it (or whichever tool is showing) to choose any of the other three. Note the letter to the right that you may press to access each tool (at least two of them make sense).

The Rotate tool offers one benefit over using the Selection tool: you may choose the axis of rotation. The usual procedure to use the Rotate tool is to first select an object (here, an image), then with the Rotate tool, click the point around which you wish the rotation to occur (it can be anywhere at all, on the object or not). In this example, I clicked about halfway down the left-hand side of the image, in the middle of one of the lamps.

Then you drag. From where is not critical, though I’d recommend it not be very close to the axis of rotation. I chose the middle of the image in this case, but I could have dragged from anywhere. You don’t get much finesse if you drag too close to the axis, much like one doesn’t get much leverage pushing a door open near its hinges. As you drag, InDesign shows you the angle of rotation and a growing wedge. Holding the shift key would snap the rotation every 45º, and holding the option/Alt key would rotate a copy rather than the original.

Rather than dragging to rotate, you may double-click on the Rotate tool in the Tools panel. You can then enter a precise angle the object should rotate around the axis of rotation.

Rotation Buttons & Angle Field

For a quick 90º rotation, you can use the Control panel. First set the Reference Point (see figure on page 219), then click either the Rotate 90º Clockwise or Rotate 90º Counter-Clockwise button.

Near those buttons is a field where you can enter an angle. The object will then be rotated that much around its reference point.

Scaling

When scaling, be aware of how the When Scaling preferences are set. See “Apply to Content/Adjust Scaling Percentage” (page 165).

With the Selection Tool & Bounding Box

Simply dragging the corner of a frame’s bounding box will resize it. Holding shift will preserve its proportions. To resize a frame and its content, hold down the ⌘/Ctrl key. Use ⌘-shift/Ctrl-shift to resize the frame and its content without distorting either.

Scale Tool

Found in the same part of the Tools panel as the Rotate tool, the Scale tool shares something important with its cousin: an axis around which the transformation takes place. You click on the object to set the axis, move the cursor a distance away from that axis, and prepare to drag. To make this a little more intuitive, I suggest that after setting the axis, you position the cursor at about a 45º angle from the axis before dragging. Then, as you drag toward the axis, the object (and any content within it) will scale roughly proportionally. The shift key will make it exactly proportional. Phrased differently, dragging at a 45º angle scales both the width and the height, whereas dragging up and down with the Scale tool scales only the height, and dragging left and right scales only the width. Tricky. Practice is recommended (remember you have unlimited undo).

Warning: If you drag too far, you may flip the image. If you scale an image, I suggest clicking on the Content Grabber (the donut at the center of the image), then consulting the Scale X Percentage and Scale Y Percentage fields to see if they are the same. If not, you’ve distorted the image. If one or both are negative, you have flipped the image in that dimension. The Flip indicator will also show this: the “P” will be flipped. Correct the issue, if needed, then tap the esc key to select the frame again.

Width & Height Fields

In either the Control panel or the Transform panel, you can directly enter a width and/or height. If they’re linked (the chain to their right is active), both values will change to keep the object the same shape (also called its aspect ratio). If you resize an image frame this way, you may have to follow up with fitting commands; see “Frame Fitting Options” (page 210).

Regardless of the units showing in those fields, you may use others (and arithmetic) as long as you include an abbreviation with the value(s). For example, two inches can be entered “2i”, “2in”, “.5i + 6p6”, etc.

Scale X Percentage & Scale Y Percentage Fields

Depending on your When Scaling preferences, these fields will likely show “100%” almost always. If you choose, say, 75% from the small menus to the right of either of these fields, the frame and its content will shrink to three-quarters of their former size. The Scale fields will then immediately read 100% again—your new starting point.

If you are curious about the scaling of an image inside its frame, you will have to select it (double-click on it or click the Content Grabber).

Reflection

With the Selection Tool & Bounding Box

If you drag the edge of a frame past the opposite edge (via one of the handles on its bounding box), the image will be flipped. An interesting method, but the Flip buttons are faster and more reliable.

Flip Buttons

When either (or both) of these are deployed, an object flips around its reference point. The Scale Percentage fields, Rotation Angle field, and Flip indicator will all remind you if an object has been flipped.

Shearing

Shear Tool

This is similar to the Scale tool in that it can transform an object either vertically or horizontally if you drag in that direction.

Shear X Angle Field

The Shear angle tells you how “out of plumb” the vertical lines are in the object you sheared. In this image, that’s about 20º.

Direct Selection Tool

Instead of selecting an entire object with the Selection tool, you can use the Direct Selection tool to select one the object’s anchor points, the very tiny dots along the perimeter of any shape or frame in InDesign. Even Text Wrap paths can be edited with this tool. It’s easiest if the shape is not selected at all as you approach one of its anchor points with this tool; otherwise you’re editing the entire shape rather than a single point.

You can drag a point to create a wholly custom shape. You might also drag a path segment (the line between points) to move an entire edge. Anchor points on curved shapes have handles that control the trajectory of a path from one point to the next. You can edit these with the Direct Selection tool as well.

Both selection tools are derived from very similar ones in Adobe Illustrator, where they have been refined to make this kind of editing much easier. The other tools borrowed from Illustrator include the Pen tool, the Pencil tool, and the ones lurking behind them in the Tools panel (right-click either the Pen or Pencil tool to see). If you need rather custom shapes (to use as frames or just as decorative elements), and you have access to Illustrator, I’d strongly recommend using Illustrator to create them.

However, with the ability to sculpt basic shapes with the Direct Selection tool, you may not need to run to Illustrator often.

Free Transform Tool

The greatest advantage of the Free Transform tool over the Selection tool is that it will scale both frame and content by default. You still need the shift key to prevent distortion to content if you free transform an image or text frame.

After starting to drag a corner of a frame with this tool, you may shear the shape by holding down ⌘/Ctrl.

Pathfinder

To assemble a shape or frame from multiple pieces, the first four commands in the menu Object > Pathfinder are just the thing you need. To fuse two or more shapes together, choose Add from that menu. Subtract punches holes: the top object becomes a hole in what’s behind. To move an object fore or aft of another, select it and right-click, then choose Arrange > Send to Back or Bring to Front (don’t bother with Backward or Forward, as you may have to do that too many times).

Compound Path

A fly’s eye is actually composed of many very tiny eyes. Thus, we say it has compound eyes—one made from many. If you want what looks like, say, 35 circles to act as a single frame, you can have that.

You’d select all of those circles, and then choose Object > Paths > Make Compound Path. With that path selected (I so want to say “those paths,” but it’s now a single entity), you can place an image in it and see the scene as though you’re looking through 35 windowpanes.