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To get more complicated, Connect / Break connects similar points within two objects with a line. You can use Merge and Subtract in the Shape Menu to form a single object, or Intersect to subtract all but the places where they overlap, or Combine / Split to eliminate the areas in which objects overlap. Using the tools in the Modify menu, you can actually combine multiple objects into a single one - for instance, combining two rectangless to form a cross, an opeation that is much easier than trying to draw one freehand (although you could just select one from the Basic Shapes library of primitives in the toolbar). If you no longer need to treat the objects together, select UnGroup. However, the objects remain separate, and you can use Enter Group to edit a single object in a group without breaking the group, followed by Exit as you finish. Needless to say, the transparency of the objects will affect what is visible.Īnother familiar tool is Group, which allows multiple objects to be treated as one as you move them around. Similarly, when objects overlap, you can use Arrange to arrange objects in a stack, bringing them forward to make them more visible or back to make them less visible. Other items in the Modify menu might be familiar if you have used any other graphic format, such as Rotate, Flip, and Alignment - although Alignment is not much use unless you are using Draw as a basic desktop publisher. The title and description is not part of the document properties (although it probably should be), but you can read them again by choosing Description with the object selected. If a name is not enought to identify an object, consider choosing Description to add a title and description. This identification displays in the Navigator below the Slide or page's name, so that you can jump directly to it.

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With a complicated document full of objects, the first thing you should do after adding an object is to select Name to give it a unique identification. The second is by using the tools in Draw's Modify menu when an object is selected. The first way is by creating a graphic style.

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You will probably find rotating to get the exact results you want to be a matter of trial and error, so keep the Undo button in mind.Įven when you start manipulating objects in Draw, many matters remain more or less clear, but problems do start to creep in.īesides using the handles, you have two ways of manipulating objects. To rotate an object, click any handle to make it the center of the rotation. In addition, if an object is three dimensional, you can change the color by clicking any handle a second click returns the color to green. You can change the handles of any object to red by selecting Modify -> Rotate. When the handles are red, you can rotate the object. You can then use the handles in the same way as when they are cyan. If an object is older, the handles are green when you click anywhere in its middle. Using this keystroke, you can create a square or a circle (instead of a rectangle or ellipse) when you add a primitive. However, if you press the Shift key while dragging on a handle, the object changes size without changing dimensions. For instance, click on the top center handle of a square and drag it upwards, and the square becomes a rectangle. But if you drag on a handle, instead of moving, the object is reshaped in the direction that you are dragging.

If you click in the center of the object, the object moves without changing shape. When the handles are cyan, you can also manipulate the selected object. This color can be useful in picking out the new objects in a crowded document, so that you can immediately modify it by right-clicking or by changing its object style in the Styles and Formatting floating window. When the object is newly added, the handles are cyan. If you select a primitive from the Drawing toolbar and add it to the current document, or if you click an existing object, you will see the frame: a black line around the object with eight handles for moving or reshaping the object, three down each side and one in the middle of the top and bottom.

Learning more than the basics, however, can be next to impossible because of several ongoing problems.įortunately, the basics are straight forward enough:Īll objects are contained within a frame that allows you to edit and manipulate them. For this reason, knowing the basics of objects is essential for all work in Draw. Even text in Draw is an object, and behaves differently from ordinary text in Writer. In fact, whether you insert a picture from a file or create an object selected from the primitives (basic shapes) in the Drawing toolbar, everything in Draw is a frame. Draw is all about objects - items inserted into a document, each of which can be edited independently.

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