Rotate Tool

The "Rotate Tool" is for rotating existing graphics. It may be applied to any graphic that accepts rotation. The graphic does not need to be selected, but selected graphics are preferred over others in case of overlap.

Visual feedback is provided so that you may be certain how the action will effect your drawing. Undo works, in case the resulting rotation turns out different than desired. Rotating many of the charting graphics requires that they are converted to Bezier paths.

The "Rotate Tool" is used to rotate a graphic. You start the operation with a mouse down click. The point of the mouse down becomes the pivot point for the rotation. A circle appears when the line overlaps a target graphic. The circled intercept point will is the point that will be rotated about the pivot point. Lift the mouse and rotate the target graphic as desired. A faint copy is shown interactively rotated with your mouse motion. The final mouse click applies the rotation.

Selected graphics will have an extra handle appear at their centers when the rotate tool is selected. If the first mouse down click is near one of these marked centers, the exact center will become the pivot point for the rotation. This technique allows convenient rotation of graphics about the center.

If the shift key is pressed, during the rotation phase, the rotation angle is quantized to 15 degree increments.

Frequently the graphic will need to be changed to allow rotation. This is done automatically. For example rotating a rectangle will convert the graphic to a Rotated Rectangle.