1) First we need to create a new Envelope to work with. Draw a constrained square by holding the Shift key as you drag.

While it's still selected, Copy it.

2) Now make the Envelope Toolbar visible. While the square is still selected, click the Paste As Envelope button.

This will apply the same square you copied as a new Envelope.

3) While the square and Envelope are still selected, press the Save as Preset button. This will give you a dialog to name the new Envelope as shown above.

Once you've done this, you will always have this Envelope to use whenever you need it. It is now safe to delete the shapes you've created.

We did this because FreeHand's default Rectangle Envelope has extra points that we won't be using. You can see the extra points in the sample above.

While this could be useful, it's not really what we want to be working with at this point.

Now it's time to apply the Transforms. Above I've already invoked the Transform handles on this art. Some people may have the preference to activate these by double-clicking on the art. I prefer to assign custom keyboard shortcuts for this.

For my own purposes and to make it easier on yourself, I recommend you doing this as well. Below are the shortcuts you could assign to make these next steps much faster. First go under the File menu -> Customize -> Shortcuts.

• Under the Modify -> Transform section I assigned Command+T to activate the Transform handles.

• Under the Modify -> Envelope section I assigned Option+T to Create an Envelope.

I chose these because they are very similar to other applications such as Photoshop. I also chose to overwrite the default shortcuts. Windows users could similar shortcuts using the Control and Alt keys.

The cool thing about the Envelope Toolbar, is that it will remember the last used Envelope and keep it selected in the list. This is especially nice for using that shortcut applied previously. So first make sure that the Square Envelope is selected in the list.

While the art is still selected and Transform handles active, either hit the Create button on the Envelope Toolbar or use the new shortcut you added.

The Square Envelope will now be applied to the art like shown above.

Now watch the animation above to see the Transformation in action (it is a large GIF so be patient as it loads).

See how I'm using both Transform handles and the Envelope to transform the art?

To access the Envelope points at any time, hold the Command (Control on Windows) key and you can click and drag the Envelope points around. To use the Transform handles again, release that key and press the ~ (tilde) key to deselect the Envelope point.

You can also pull out curve handles from the Envelope by holding the Command+Option (Control+Alt) keys down first, then click-drag out the handles like shown above.

This is probably the most powerful and flexible way to Transform objects I've ever seen in an application to date.

Are you unhappy with the transforms you just did? Just hit the Remove button on the Envelope Toolbar and the art will be reverted right back to where you started.

Why does this work so well? Because when you were making changes with the Transform handles, it was actually happening to the Envelope, not to the art itself.

As soon as you removed the Envelope, all the other transforms were removed too. Isn't that great!