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Resize and rotation handles

Whenever you select one or more objects with the Selection  or Group Select tool , Expression Design displays eight resize and rotation handles around the object(s). These handles are placed around the bounding box (a rectangle that fits the entire object or objects). You can also see the resize and rotation handles when you select two or more nodes with the Lasso Selection tool  or by selecting the points with the Direct Selection tool and then switching to the Selection tool — even if the nodes are on multiple objects.

These handles are a convenient way to perform basic transformations to the selection object, objects, or nodes.

• Moving  To move a selected object, drag on or inside the path or shape.
• Scaling  To scale, drag one of the side or corner handles. Drag the handle toward the center of the selection to scale it down and away from the selection to scale it up. To scale proportionally, hold down the SHIFT key while dragging. For more on resizing objects, see Scaling.
• Rotating  To rotate, place the cursor immediately outside one of the corner handles so that the cursor changes to a Rotate  icon, and then drag. Hold down the SHIFT key to constrain the rotation to 45-degree increments. For more information, see Rotating. (You can control the angles you get when you hold down the SHIFT key and then adjust the Rotation steps setting in the Units and Grids panel of the  Options dialog box.)

• Skewing  To skew, position the cursor immediately outside one of the side handles so that the cursor changes to a Skew  icon, and then drag. For more information, see Skewing.

Transform reference point

You can change the reference point around which an object rotates, scales, or skews by dragging the center-point icon to a different location (even to a position elsewhere on the page). When you rotate an object, it rotates around this point. Also, when you hold down the ALT key, the reference point stays stationary when you skew or scale the object. For example, scaling by pressing ALT, and then dragging a corner handle, scales from the reference point. If you leave the reference point in the center, pressing ALT, and then dragging, scales the object from the center.

Line weights and patterns

When you scale, skew, or rotate a shape, the object's stroke or fill may not transform with it. You can control whether a stroke and pattern or image fill will be scaled, rotated, or skewed by selecting or clearing the Transform image fill check box in the General panel of the Options dialog box or the Scale stroke width check box in the Stroke panel of the Options dialog box.

Turning off handles

If you prefer not to see the resize and rotation handles when you select nodes or objects, you can clear the Show resize handles option in the Display page of the Options dialog box.