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Arrow Keys |
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The keyboard arrow keys, left-right-up-down may be used to move selected graphics in the horizontal and vertical directions. The Shift, Apple - command, and Option keys may be used to increase or decrease the size of the movement. The Control key may be used to modify the grid snapping behavior.
These keys act upon the selected graphic or graphics. If no graphics are selected the drawing's view will be scrolled in the direction indicated by the arrow key.
The arrow keys will nudge selected graphics in the direction indicated by the corresponding arrow key, left, right, up, or down. The amount of the nudge is determined by the degree of zoom in use for the drawing. When a larger zoom percent is in use the nudge amount is smaller in absolute size, resulting in a finer nudge amount. The modifier keys, Shift, Command-Apple, and Option-Alt may be used to increase or decrease the nudge amount. To use these, hold down the modifier hitting an Arrow Key. The Shift modifier increase the nudge 5 fold. The Command-Apple modifier will decrease the nudge 5 fold, the Option key will decrease by a factor of 15 for the finest control. The Control key modifies the current grid snapping behavior. If grid snapping is ON, the control key will turn it off so the nudge may move the graphic off the grid. If grid snapping is Off the control key will cause the nudge to move the graphic onto the grid, subsequent Control-Nudge actions will move the graphic a grid spacing unit. The minor grid is used unless the Shift key is also down - which causes major grid to be used. The snap action is only applied to the direction of motion. If no graphics are selected the arrow keys will scroll the drawing view. The modifiers work as above to increase or decrease the standard amount which is 10 percent of the visible view. The Shift key will invoke a page scroll which is 95 percent of the view. |
Since the nudge amount depends on zoom, it is often desirable to quickly zoom in on a feature the nudge with the arrow keys. In this case, zoom with "i" and "o" keys provide a quick short cut for this action.
To use the arrow scroll keys, all graphics need to be deselected. Sometimes when working at a high zoom percent, deselecting all quickly can be a problem as the entire view may be occupied by graphics -- in other words, there is no where to click that does not select another graphic. In this case, use the contextual menu, Control click on the drawing and the top-most menu item is conveniently Deselect All.
If you are working without grid snapping, the control key provides a convenient way to align objects. If you Control-nudge first one object then the other they will both be placed on the grid intervals. Subsequent nudges - with control down will bring the two into prefect alignment.
Note that Control-Nudge without grid snapping causes snapping only to the direction of movement. When grids are on a nudge will cause a move to bring the object into registration on both axes. In the later case the Control modifier may be used to momentarily lift this action to move the object along one of the snap axes.
It is not necessary to Show grids to use the Control behavior. As a familiarization exercise is advisable to show grids and experiment with this capability. Then it may be used conveniently - without opening and adjusting grid settings.