November 26 2009 • 12:53 PM
By:
Anne-Marie Concepcion and David Blatner
InDesignSecrets Podcast 114
Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player.
The transcript of this podcast will be posted soon.
- All about object transformations
- Scaling & rotating from the keyboard
- Using math in the X, Y, W, H, and % (Scale) fields to transform
- The too-subtle-for-their-own-good transformation buttons & context menu
- And many more!
- Blatner Tools free beta 3 now available
- Obscure InDesign Feature of the Week: Pattern Length
News and special offers from our sponsors:
>> In-Tools has a very cool plug-in called Column Flow which among other things let you create straddle heads on the fly!. As always, InDesignSecrets fans can get $20 off the price for either one of In-Tool’s InDesign plug-in bundles, InBook or InSefer, (both of which include Column Flow) if you purchase from this special page on their site. The full list of plug-ins bundled in the packages is here.
>> Rorohiko (“Slash the time it takes!”) has a number of cool plug-ins for InDesign users that slash the amount of time it takes to get something done! In this episode we take a close look at their new Mac/Windows utility called Soxy ($19 US) that helps you open files (InDesign, and others) in the correct version of the program when you have more than one version installed. Special for InDesignSecrets listeners: Use the coupon code INDESIGNSECRETS113 (that’s “one one three” at the end) in the Rorohiko.com store to get 25% off the Soxy utility.
>> Rorohiko (“Slash the time it takes!”) has a number of cool plug-ins for InDesign users that slash the amount of time it takes to get something done! In this episode we take a close look at their new Mac/Windows utility called Soxy ($19 US) that helps you open files (InDesign, and others) in the correct version of the program when you have more than one version installed. Special for InDesignSecrets listeners: Use the coupon code INDESIGNSECRETS113 (that’s “one one three” at the end) in the Rorohiko.com store to get 25% off the Soxy utility.
–
Links mentioned in this podcast:
> Blatner Tools free beta or demo on the DTP Tools web site
> David’s posts about Pattern Length for corners and brackets (thanks Rufus!)
> David’s posts about Pattern Length for corners and brackets (thanks Rufus!)
Wow! I never knew that trick with sheering with the Free Transform tool. Good podcast.
I can’t get the Shearing to work here? I can get the white arrow when pressing control, and then move line not the points. But I can do with quite a few tools?
What am I missing? I’ve tried combinations of Ctrl, Alt and Shift.
I was also writing frantically as I listened about using the Direct Select Tool to select an object before rotating, but Anne-Marie got in there before I could finishing typing
The pattern length is good, I have custom stroke set up for roundy ended Rule Above, for shading behind text in a heading.
It’s a kin to the Paragraph Rule Above and Below trick to marry up dotted rules with a straight rule to create the illusion of a rounded corner frame.
But I just set up a custom rule and use the Rule Above and set the point size and offset, and indents etc. It’s a lot quicker lol.
Anyway, create show, as always.
Eugene: To shear an object with the Free Transform tool:
1. Select reference point in Control panel
2. Select object
3. Press E or select Free Transform
4. Start dragging a corner handle
5. As you drag, press and hold the Command/Ctrl key to shear the object
… you can Option/Alt (keep the Comm/Ctrl key down) to shear symmetrically
does that help?