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 October
17, 1999
Transforming a Group
as a Unit
The ability to transform a group as
a unit has been around since FreeHand v3 and recently has caused
much confusion among users to it's usability. Especially since the more
recent manuals barely even cover this feature anymore.
After some research back to past FreeHand
manuals, I was able to uncover a more detailed description to what it
does exactly, and how you can use it to create some very neat effects
or to troubleshoot some old art.
Version: 3 and above
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Above is one place you can find
the option Transform as Unit. You can also set this to be turned
on or off by default in the Preferences. It's usually a
good idea to turn it off by default, as it will cause you headaches
later.
First lets define what it means
to Transform as Unit. When you transform something (Scale, Skew,
Rotate) with this setting turned on, it will distort
everything in the group. This includes lines, fills, and text
regardless if you have turned these types of things off
in the Transform palette. It doesn't transform them as
you may think, which I'll cover more below.
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I'm going to use a simple object
for this example. Above is a constrained ellipse with a 10
pt line. The thicker the better for this example. The fill
is a radial fill containing two colors.
Next I group the ellipse
and turn on the setting Transform as Unit in the Object
info palette.
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without Transform
as Unit
with Transform
as Unit
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Now I transform the ellipse
to any scale. Now look carefully at the two different objects
above.
The one without this option
looks like you'd think it would. The line is still 10 pt. all
around and the radial fill's center is still set. Now look at
the one with this option turned on. Notice how the line is thinner
on the top and bottom? Also look at how it distorted that radial
fill. It's now taken on a very 3-Dimensional look to it.
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Special
Note
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One other thing, if
you scale something really big or small, Option
(Alt)+Click on an object with a stroke.
It will still read as the original stroke width.
If you Ungroup
a distorted shape with this option, it will revert
to undistorted Fills and Strokes, not good if someone
else is working on the file without warning. The lines
however, will retain their scaled values instead of
reverting back to the original thickness.
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Now what if you scale a shape and
like the 3D appearance of the lines? Well you can save
them by first selecting the object, then in the Modify menu
choose Alter Path -> Expand Stroke. Enter in the original
stroke width and you'll end up with two shapes that make up
the lines like shown above.
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Like I mentioned before, this is not an
extremely safe method for transforming groups of objects. The results
can be unpredictable and if someone else goes to edit the art later
without knowing you have set this option, it could be disastrous.
These days, I don't really use it and
in fact I think most people don't. With all the options in the Transform
palette to scale lines, fills etc. it doesn't seem very useful anymore.
Well I hope that you learned a little
more on this feature and how it helps or hinders your work experience.
Now maybe when you click on an object and it says 10 pt. for the line
but it is obviously less, you will know where to look first.
Note to Macromedia:
Please refine the explanation of this feature in the manual or get rid
of it altogether. 
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