Selecting Objects Working with Groups Working with Drawings Comparing Drawings with Groups

Everything on a page is an object, whether it is a text block, text frame, picture, EPS graphic or polygon. PageStream provides five tools to manipulate objects:

 Object tool
Use the Object tool to edit, move and scale objects. When this tool is selected, you can manipulate with Object menu commands.

 Reshape tool
Use the Reshape tool to add, delete and move points in paths. You can also split and join paths, change arc angles, distort grid objects and modify table contents.

 Crop tool
Use the Crop tool to crop and shift the contents of framed graphic objects (pictures, drawings, and EPS illustrations).

 Rotate tool
Use the Rotate tool to rotate, slant and twist objects visually and to set the rotation about point.

 Lasso tool
Use the Lasso tool to edit, move and scale objects like the Object tool only that the drag selection method is a freehand shape instead of a box. When this tool is selected, you can manipulate with Object menu commands.

Selecting Objects

The Object tool allows you to select objects to move, scale or change. An object is selected when size handles (small squares) are shown around its bounding box. You can also select objects with the Reshape, Crop and Rotate tools, but some Object menu commands are disabled when these tools are selected.

To select an object: Select the Object tool and click on the object with the mouse pointer. Hold down a modifier key to change how the object is selected. If the object is unfilled, you must click on the path (outline) of the object to select it. If the object is filled, you can click anywhere inside the object.

When held down at the same time as clicking on an object, the following modifier keys will have the effect described below:

• Shift: Adds to the selection if unselected; deselects if selected.
• Control: Selects the bottom object.
• Option (Alt): Selects all objects in the stack.
• Control Shift: Adds the bottom object to the selection if unselected, deselects if selected.
• Option Shift (Alt Shift): Adds objects at the point if unselected; deselects if selected.
• Control Option: (Control Alt) Add all objects in the stack.
• Control Option Shift: (Control Alt Shift) Removes all objects in the stack.

Once an object is selected, you can select the next one nearer the top of the stack by pressing the Tab key. Hold down a Shift key while pressing the Tab key to select the next object near the bottom of the stack. Note that this may select objects that are not visible in the display area.

To deselect an object: Click on a blank area of the page or press the Space Bar to deselect all selected objects, or Shift click a selected object to deselect it.

You can select objects by dragging the mouse around them. PageStream displays a dashed box called a marquee when you drag the mouse. Any object that is at least partially inside the marquee will be selected.

To select multiple objects: Select the Object tool and drag around the objects to select. Hold down a modifier key to change how the objects are selected. Hold down Alt when initiating the drag to force drag select, even if dragging would normally move or scale an object.

• Shift: Adds to the selection if unselected; deselects if selected.
• Control: Always adds objects, regardless of their selected state.
• Control Shift: Always removes objects, regardless of their selected state.

Choose Select All to select all objects on the page or spread.

Changing the stack order of objects

Objects are placed on the page in a stack. The first object drawn will be at the back of the stack. Subsequent objects will be in front of it in the order they are drawn, unless you change the stack order. When you click on a stack of objects, only the front-most one will be selected. You can also select through the stack to select the back-most object by holding down Control, or you can select the entire stack of objects by holding down Option (Alt). You can also select the next object in the stack by pressing Tab or the previous object in the stack by pressing Shift Tab.

You can move an object to the front or back of the stack, or move it forward or backward just one object at a time.

To change the stack order of objects: Select the object(s) to change, then choose the Bring to Front, Bring Forward, Send Backward, or Send to Back commands from the Object menu as applicable.

Working with Groups

PageStream can combine objects into groups to freeze their relative positions and to simplify manipulating them. A group of objects can be selected, moved, scaled and edited as one object. The appearance of the individual objects is unchanged when they are grouped; groups exist only to make editing easier.

Groups can be many levels deep. For example, you could group a number of groups together as one group, or group objects with another group.

To create a group: Select the objects to make into a group. Choose Group from the Object menu.

To select a group: Click on any of the objects within the group. Size handles will appear around the group's objects.

To add objects to an existing group: Select the group and the additional objects. Choose Group from the Object menu. The new group will be made up of the original group and the additional objects. You could also ungroup the original group and then group its objects with the new objects.

To edit individual objects from a group, you must first select the group and then ungroup it to reduce it to its component objects.

To dissolve a group: Select the group and choose Ungroup from the Object menu. Groups are ungrouped in the same order they were grouped. That is, subgroups are not ungrouped when a group containing subgroups is ungrouped.

Working with Drawings

PageStream can combine objects into drawings to simplify manipulating them. A drawing can be selected, moved, scaled and edited as one object. The appearance of the individual objects is unchanged when they are combined into a drawing. The differences between drawings and normal groups are:

• Drawings can be cropped and scaled in a frame.
• Drawings can be left or made external.
• The line weights of drawings are scaled with the drawing when printed.
• Drawings can be named and given a description.
• The display of drawings can be toggled off with the Show Drawings option in the Preferences dialog box.
• The text of text frames in a drawing is scaled when the drawing is resized.
• The contents of drawings may be editing by making the drawing the active layer using the Layer Palette.
• Drawings may be locked with the Layer Palette
• Individual drawings may be hidden using the Layer Palette.

Vector graphics imported from formats other than EPS are imported as drawings. EPS files created with Adobe Illustrator or Art Expression may also be imported as drawings.

Any type of object in PageStream can be added to a drawing, including another drawing, text frames, shapes, paths and border objects.

To select a drawing: Click on any of the objects within the drawing. Size handles and a grey line will appear around the the drawing's objects.

To dissolve a drawing to edit its component objects: Select the drawing and choose Dissolve Drawing from the Drawing submenu in the Drawing menu.

To create a new drawing: Select the objects to make into a drawing. Choose Make Drawing from the Drawing submenu in the Object menu.

To add objects to an existing drawing: Select the drawing and the additional objects. Choose Add to Drawing from the Drawing submenu in the Object menu.

Layers

Drawings in PageStream 4.0 now support layers. Each drawing is considered its own layer in the composition of the page, and by using the Layer Palette you may select drawings/layers as the active layer to edit, hide layers, and more.

Comparing Drawings with Groups

Do not confuse drawings with groups. While the concepts may seem similar, they produce different results, especially when you edit the combined objects.

Basically, grouping objects combines them together so that you can edit them as a single object, but the components retain their individual properties: e.g., the shapes' line weights remain the same as you scale the group, the text in text frames will reflow as it would if you had resized the text frames individually, and applying line and fill attributes to the group will not affect it.

Creating a drawing is similar to taking a "snapshot" of the combined objects: they become a single object with its own set of attributes: e.g., the line weights of shapes will be scaled as the drawing is resized, and the drawing itself can be given its own set of line and fill attributes (which will fill the unfilled parts of the drawing). Additionally, drawings may be cropped and given a name in the Information dialog box. Drawings are a very powerful feature of PageStream. They may also be made the active layer by using the Layer Palette, and the objects inside will behave as if the drawing itself is a page itself.

The examples below illustrate the basic differences between grouping objects and making them into a drawing.

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