Drawing > Drawing rectangles, ellipses, and lines > Constraining a basic shape as you draw

 

Constraining a basic shape as you draw

You can constrain how a tool draws a basic shape. When constrained, the Rectangle tool draws a square, the Ellipse tool draws a circle, and the Line tool draws at increments of 45° .

You can change the constrain angle. When the constrain angle is 0° , holding down the Shift key constrains objects to 0° , 45° , 90° , and so on. Changing the constrain angle shifts these angles by the specified amount. A constrain angle of 10° , for example, changes the angles to 10° , 55° , 100° , and so on. If you change the constrain angle, when you draw a rectangle, line, or ellipse it will be tilted to the value you specified.

To constrain a shape as you draw, do one of the following:

To constrain a shape, hold down Shift as you drag the pointer.

To constrain a shape as you draw from the center, hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Macintosh) and Shift-drag the pointer.

To set the constrain angle:

1

Choose Modify > Constrain.

2

Enter a value in the Angle text box, or use the wheel to set the angle.

3

Click OK.