Help with multiple resize and multiple rotate in Xara Designer Pro

[kestar1]

Dear Forum,

Apologies if this query has been dealt with previously but can anyone help?

How do I rotate or resize multiple objects, but retain the position of each object? In other words, each object gets adjusted on its spot.
There doesn't seem an obvious way to do this but perhaps I'm missing something.... It seems like it would be a very useful feature - other vector graphics packages I have used include this option.

Thanks for any help with this.

[steve.ledger]

Greetings,

You need to upgrade to Designer Pro X to get 'live copies'. Version 6 does not have this feature.

[Ampa]

Sledger's answer only applies if the objects that you want to modify are all clones / instances of the same base object.

I interpret your query as wanting a method of selecting a number of unique objects and transforming each of them within their own local space.

Example: Select 3 separate objects (each of which is in a different position on the page) and rotate each by 45 degrees about its center, or shrinking each to 50% size towards its top-left corner.

So far as I know there is no simple way to achieve this in Xara (any version). Transforms are performed on the entire group, not the individual elements within a selection.

Paste attributes will not work since it ignores scaling and rotation.

Unfortunately there isn't even a 'repeat the last action' command that would partially automate the procedure.

Don't know if anyone else has a smart work around for this scenario?

[kestar1]

Thanks for the answers. Yes, Ampa - you are spot on - that's exactly what I meant.
I am a research scientist and xara is great for the preparation of figures.
However, I struggle with this one thing - I often generate scatter plots from other packages and want to resize the individual points in xara. The only 'en masse' way I can do it at present is to thicken the lines. It works OK but is a bit clumsy. Equally, rotation of a group of squares to diamonds is impossible without individually changing the attributes for each - clearly not viable for a complex plot....

Perhaps it's an unusual application, but I have seen it on other packages - I use to use ArtWorks on an Acorn computer and that feature was included - I think it works on Inkscape as well. If anyone has any suggestions I would be very grateful.

[tonylondon]

Greetings,

You need to upgrade to Designer Pro X to get 'live copies'. Version 6 does not have this feature.

Presumably you need to know in advance that you may be rescaling. i.e. you can't retrospectively create live copies. i.e. I must get used to thinking in advance.

[kestar1]

Presumably you need to know in advance that you may be rescaling. i.e. you can't retrospectively create live copies. i.e. I must get used to thinking in advance.

Yes - not sure how useful the live copy feature would be for this.

[tonylondon]

In your case, given the points are already generated, it wouldn't. In my case, for example, I produced a map and identified a lot of places with a number inside a circle. I should have created a live object at that point. I decided the circles were too big, but the only way I could do that was individually. I guess I could have shrunk one circle and then drag-clicked to each of the others but then I would still have needed to delete the originals.

[kestar1]

In your case, given the points are already generated, it wouldn't. In my case, for example, I produced a map and identified a lot of places with a number inside a circle. I should have created a live object at that point. I decided the circles were too big, but the only way I could do that was individually. I guess I could have shrunk one circle and then drag-clicked to each of the others but then I would still have needed to delete the originals.

Yes - I see what you mean. It would sort of work - but only with newly-generated points - not pre-existing ones. It's a shame (for me) it's not possible, because it would be a major asset for my stuff. Would the ability to transform (rotate, resize) multiple objects but retain their positions be of any interest to others? (or is it just me....?)

[GerryI]

The rotation of multiple squares into diamonds can be done using the rectangle tool. Select all the squares and then go into the rectangle tool and select Rotation from the dropdown menu. Enter a new value for the rotation (e.g. 45 for diamonds) and hit enter.

A similar thing can be done with ellipses and other quickshapes but this sets all the selected objects to the same rotation angle so wont have the desired effect if the objects have already been rotated by different amounts.

Gerry

[tonylondon]

Would the ability to transform (rotate, resize) multiple objects but retain their positions be of any interest to others? (or is it just me....?)

Certainly for me. Maybe you should add a request to "Dear Xara" forum