Make a Quick Bar Chart (or an amazing geometric shape) with Transform Sequence

I love it when InDesign does stuff for me? not necessarily when it tries to think for me, but when it reduces a series of tedious tasks down to a single click or keystroke. One of the great under sung heroes of InDesign is the “repeat a bunch of stuff I just did” feature, otherwise known as Transform Sequence Again. This awesome little feature lives inside the Object > Transform Again submenu.

The key to understanding all the features in that menu is to remember that “transform” means: move, scale, rotate, or shear. InDesign doesn’t have a real “repeat whatever I just did” feature like some programs (though third-party developers are getting closer to being able to offer that). But if you’re trying to repeat a transformation, or several transformations, then these Transform Again features are just the ticket.

Transform Again has many uses, but here are two that I find kind of cool.

Make a Quick Bar Chart

Here’s a quick bar chart with ascending or descending values. (These are multiplicative or logarithmic steps, but who’s counting?)

Draw a rectangle.
Duplicate it, and scale it. (Remember there is a difference between scaling and resizing. Dragging a corner or side handle just resizes it; that won’t help here. To scale an object, you need to use the Scale tool, the Free Transform tool, or the scale fields in the Control panel. The Free Transform tool is easiest because you can move, rotate, scale, and shear with a single tool; but the Control panel is more precise when you want to do it by the numbers.)
Choose Object > Transform Again > Transform Sequence Again (or press Command-Option-4/Ctrl+Alt-4). And again? and again? and again, for each additional frame you want to create.

For example, here’s the first one (which I filled with a tint of red afterward, just to distinguish it), followed by some duplicates:

Transformagain1

Building Geometric Shapes

But of course, why stop at scaling the frames? Why not rotate and shear them?

Here are some objects that I’ve transformed again and again. In each case I’ve colored the first object red (after the transformations), just to point out what I was starting with.

Transformagain2

If you want to duplicate objects and keep them concentric, check out Mike Rankin’s post on that.

What other interesting effects might you achieve this this Transform Again trick? Explore and play!

Frans van der Geest says:

July 7, 2013 at 3:44 am

Spirograph! Ah… The early seventees…

B. Nelson says:

July 12, 2013 at 7:11 am

This did not work for me. I selected my object, duplicated it and it placed the duplicated object off the page. I free transformed that object and then did the Transform Sequence Again. It just moved/transformed my initial duplicated object and did not create a series. I’m using CS6. Would that make a difference.

David Blatner says:

July 12, 2013 at 8:05 am

@B Nelson: Transform Sequence Again works on whatever you have selected. Moving is a transformation, so you need to take that into account in your sequence. If you move it and then want to start the sequence, you’ll need to deselect the object after moving it, then select it again and start the transformation. It’s extremely precise.

No, this technique should be the same in CS2 and later.

Greg says:

July 15, 2013 at 10:33 am

I’m not sure what I’m missing but this did not work for me either. I think the instructor may have missed a step (I experienced the same result as B. Nelson).

I didn’t move my object at all and yet when I Transform Sequence Again, it repeats the step buy my original shape vanishes.

- David Blatner says:
  
  July 15, 2013 at 10:36 am
  
  @Greg: You need to duplicate the object first. For example: draw a rectangle, option/alt-drag the rectangle with the selection tool just a little bit to duplicate it, use the scale tool to scale the duplicate, then select Transform Sequence Again.
- Greg says:
  
  July 15, 2013 at 10:43 am
  
  Thanks David.
  
  This worked…, but only if I duplicate the rectangle manually (alt/drag). If I duplicate the object with a keyboard shortcut or use the menu options bar, it does not work. I’m using CS4.

rao says:

July 12, 2013 at 10:38 pm

how to make a 19×19 matrix, can anybody throw some light

David Blatner says:

July 15, 2013 at 8:01 am

@rao: If you mean a 19×19 grid of frames, then the Edit > Step and Repeat feature is good. Or you could use the gridify feature.

July 15, 2013 at 10:48 am

Greg – thanks for following up on this. I assumed I must be doing something wrong. It is the same for me in CS6, I need to duplicate using (alt/drag) in order for it all to work. And now it does and I love it.