January 16, 2000

Transformation Handles Techniques

Transformation Handles are very useful when you want to do many transforms at once without using the Transformation palette. They can be turned on or off in the Preferences. To invoke them, you just double-click on the objects or assign a Key command to them and they show up.

Below are a few great techniques to use them that aren't covered in the manual.

Version: 8 and above

 
 


Above is some simple shapes. I want to rotate the triangles around the edges in different positions. Normally I could use the Transform palette or the Rotate tool, but these techniques will show some tricks using the Transform handles.

As shown above, I've invoked the Transform handles on the middle sphere shape by double-clicking on it. From here I can rotate or scale the object.

 

The first trick, is that you can add objects to your original Transform handles. To do this, hold the Command (Control) + Shift keys and click on another object.

Above I've added the top triangle piece. Notice that the center of the Transform handles is still located in the middle of the sphere.

 

By keeping the original center of the Transform handles, you can now rotate both shapes to the center of the sphere like shown in the animation above.

 

Now what if you don't want the sphere to rotate? Well that's easy too. First activate the Transform handles on the shape you want the center point of the rotation to be. Above I'll use the Sphere again.

 

While holding the Command (Control) key down, click on the shape you want to transform. By doing this, it deselects the first shape, but applies the Transform handles to the second shape, keeping the center point in the original location.

 

If you hold both the Command (Control) + Shift keys, you can add other shapes and still keep the center point location. Above I've added the right triangle to the Transform handles.

 

Now I can rotate both triangles based on the sphere shapes original center point like shown in the animation above.

 

FreeHand 9 Addendum

New in FreeHand 9's Transform handles, you can do your transformations from the center of the selection by using certain modifiers.

With the Transform Handles activated, Right-click and drag (Windows) or hold down the Control key when dragging (Macintosh) to resize the object from its true center like shown above.

You can even use the Shift+modifier combo after you've done one transformation, to scale proportionately like shown above.

These are some great undocumented techniques to use the Transform handles. You could almost say that it's easier to work with than the original Transform tools. Now all we need is the ability to scale from the Transform handles' custom center point and they would be extremely powerful.