Warping objects

Warping distorts a picture unevenly by squeezing some parts together and stretching other parts farther apart. Expression Design can warp bitmapped image objects, vector paths, shapes, and text.

To warp one or more objects, you must apply a warp grid. To apply a warp grid to one or more vector objects (paths, shapes, and text), you have to create a warp group by selecting them, clicking Envelope Distort on the Object menu, and then clicking Make Warp Group. A warp group can contain a single object if you only want to warp that one path, however, you cannot include an image object in a warp group. You can warp a single bitmapped image object without a warp group. For more information, see "Warping bitmapped images," below.

You can deform the warp group by dragging the warp nodes on the warp grid with the Direct Selection tool . If you want to move more than one node at a time, select them first by pressing SHIFT and then clicking with the Direct Selection tool or drawing a selection around them with the Lasso Selection tool  . Note that when more than one warp node is selected at the same time with the Lasso Selection tool, Expression Design displays resize and rotation handles around those nodes for quick scaling, rotating, and skewing.

The original objects, before placing in a warp group

After dragging the warp group nodes with the Direct Selection tool

You should remember three things when deforming a warp group:

• When you deform a warp group by dragging the warp nodes, the appearance of the underlying paths and shapes changes, but the actual paths are not affected. That means you can always revert your objects back to their original form by clicking Envelope Distort on the Object menu, and then clicking Reset Grid.
• Warping vector objects changes their paths, but not the strokes or fills applied to those paths. The strokes and fills are applied to the warped paths, so they appear undeformed.
• You can edit the paths and shapes within a warp group, but you must open a separate window that contains those paths in their pre-warped state. To edit these paths in a new window, click Envelope Distort on the Object menu, and then click Edit Warp Group (or press CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+W). As you edit the paths in the warp group window, you can switch to the main document window to see the warped result. When you are finished editing the individual objects, close the warp group window.

Changing the warp grid

The warp nodes appear at regular intervals on the grid (also called the warp mesh). If you want more nodes (a finer mesh), click Envelope Distort on the Object menu, and then click Increase Resolution (or press CTRL+period). For fewer nodes, spaced farther apart, click Envelope Distort on the Objects menu, and then click Decrease Resolution (or press CTRL+comma).

Warping bitmapped images

You don't need to create a warp group in order to warp bitmapped image objects. Instead, you can simply increase a selected image object's warp mesh by clicking Envelope Distort on the Objects menu, and then clicking Increase Resolution (or press CTRL+period). If you want more nodes (a finer mesh), click this menu item again. For fewer nodes, spaced farther apart, click Envelope Distort on the Objects menu, and then click Decrease Resolution (or press CTRL+comma).

Unstructuring warp groups

Because deforming a warp group only affects the appearance of the paths, and not the paths themselves, there are no path nodes in the document window for you to select and edit. You can commit to the warped appearance of the paths by clicking Ungroup on the Arrange menu (or pressing CTRL+SHIFT+G). This deletes the original paths and replaces them with new paths. Any text objects in the warp group are automatically converted to outlines.

Ungrouping a warp group causes new curves to be fitted to the vector objects. Here, a single path is selected after ungrouping to show the effect.

To ungroup a warp group without applying the warping, click Envelope Distort on the Object menu, and then click Reset Grid before you click Ungroup on the Arrange menu.