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This, I'm sure, is a daft question, but I need to change the width of a load of lines in a group of objects containing lines and text. If I select everything and change the width, it does something strange to the text.
Is there anyway of just changing the width of the lines and not the text as well? Or do I need to move all the lines (300+) into a different layer and do it that way?
Cheers,
You could use the Find and Replace Wizard, it is located on the File Menu. You should be able to find just your lines and make the line weights heavier. There is also a script for selecting the same kind of an item, which would allow you to select just the lines. It is possible that the reason the text is being also selected that there is a hairline outline on the text. In which case any method would make the text bolder too. The sellect same script came bundled with Foster Coburn, III ebook on X3. The DVD has a ton of useful stuff including some scripts. I cannot just post a script which is actually for sale elsewhere. Foster's books are available at unleash.com. I've gotten the one on 12 and X3, both are very good. Even the experienced user will stand to learn something.
You could use the eyedropper tool on the text to remove the lines. You'd just choose the properties you want to copy on the text, and then hold the shift key and click the mouse over the text to take the outline off. When using the eyedropper tool, the tools changes to a paint bucket to pour the attributes onto whatever you are changing.
Under the Edit menu (I think) is the "Select All Objects" option. This excludes Text, which has its own "Select All Text" option.
Sark
Well, I just learned something new. You have always a new trick, Sark. Way to go.
That's brilliant! Just what I was after.
However, this has led to another problem - I need to stretch my image (lines + text) vertically. I can select all the lines and uncheck the scale with image option, but I can't do this with the text, so when I stretch it, the text gets stretched too..
Is there anyway around this? (should I start a new thread?)
Thank you for you patience - this is my last 'simple' question I promise! :o)
ShepHeard
I'm confused by what you're trying to do. You say..Quote.. I need to stretch my image (lines + text) vertically.... This is straight forward.
Then you seem to suggest you don't want to stretch the text, just the image???
My only advice here would be, stretch everything. Remember the settings and use "Select All Text" so that you can then shrink the text by the same amount it was stretched.
The same will work for outline thickness of text if you've had to apply a change to everything. Because text doesn't have an outline by default, you just "Select All Text" and right click the No Colour swatch to remove the outline. It will then appear as it was typed.
Hope this answers the question. If not, if you can be a little more explicit with your problem, I'm sure it can be resolved.
Sark
Sorry - I've been looking at this whole thing for so long my mind's going soft.
I'll attach the image so you can see what I mean, (1 pic = 1000 words? very apt).
I want to stretch the image so that it takes up the whole page. It needs to get taller, without getting wider. Also, the text needs to remain in the same position relative to the lines, but not stretch in the same way. Unchecking the 'Scale with image' box stops the lines getting 'fatter' as I stretch the image, but I couldn't find a similar setting for the text..
I'll try what you suggested - that sounds like whet I need to do. I'll let you know.
Cheers!
PS - you got the cricket on?
hi,
I am not sure what you want to do..but I downloaded the zip file and opened in DrawX3 selected the drawing and ungrouped..then select a line and stretched same then selected text associated with said line and adjusted position to correspond to the end of the adjusted line. I don't know if that is the intention. Also if you ctrl_click within a group that selects the "object" clicked and you can adjust accordingly.
Hope this is helpful, but I am not that proficient yet with drawX3.
Jim
The quick and dirty is sometimes the most practical. I'd copy all text to the clipboard, since it is still selected, delete it and then stretch your graphics. Then paste the text back again. It is quick and painless.
You should give selection manager a try. It has a free download, that way you can make selections and save them and recall them much like recalling an alpha channel in a bitmap editor like Photoshop, PhotoPaint or PaintShopPro or PhotoImpact.
The glitch is that it is a free download, then you decide if you want to buy it or not. Available at oberonplace.com.
Since you are resellecting and such again and again, you'd find it useful. Then put the components that go together on their own layer, text on its own layer, then they are isolated and no more problem.
You also have some choice to make if you want to just keep one layer which is what I assume you are using, you can select all your text and lock it by right clicking and selecting "Lock". Then you can edit away and the text cannot be selected nor edited while it is locked. You can lock any item you have created such as symbols, bitmaps, text, objects, gradients, fills, you name it. Especially useful to stop selecting items below what you are editing if you do not want to use layers and click of the editability. However, locked elements may not show up when you print. If so, just unlock them. Another handy thing to use lock for is in making selections in which you really want to be sure you do not select something but everything else around it, just lock it, then you can select, select away and never select it.
It depends upon how often you are going to edit something the best way to lock an item or assign it to a layer, save its selection, etc. Once you know the various ways, you can choose what is the most practical.
Been a bit busy over the last few days, and only managed to look at your post and .cdr last night.
This is a really difficult one because what you’re trying to do is distribute rather than scale, and you need to distribute with the original spacing ratios. Unfortunately, the Distribute dialogue distributes with even spacing and will not do what you require. The best I could do was as follows.
1…First determine how much you’re going to be scaling up the lines. Let’s say this is 160%. What you then do is “reduce” the font size by an equivalent ratio, the maths are below, 62.5% in this case.
2…Next you need to temporarily add an object to the document, a small rectangle will do. Position the base of this rectangle on the same horizontal plane as the bottom most line in the document. This is used to ensure the base of both the text and lines bounding boxes begin on the same horizontal plane when scaling up.
3…Then, using the Transformation docker with the anchor point set to bottom middle, select the text, then shift select the rectangle, before scaling the font up vertically by 160%. Delete the rectangle and then with the same setting in the Transformation docker, scale the lines up vertically by 160%. You must scale the text and lines separately….
Note: After scaling the text, I just cut it (Ctrl X) to the clipboard before marquee selecting all the lines. Then just pasted it back after scaling the lines.
4…Next, you need to select a single line of text and change the Transformation docker settings to scale horizontally by 160%, with the anchor point set to middle left. You now need to scale each line of text separately with these settings.
Unfortunately there’s no way of selecting and scaling all the text horizontally at once whilst also retaining its relative position to the lines.
Sark
(100 divided by Lines scale up %) X 100 = Font scale down %
Example: If you’re scaling up the lines 160% then (100/160) X 100 = 62.5%. So the font is first reduced to 62.5% of its original size and later scaled up (first vertically, then horizontally) to 160%. As are the lines.
I came across something under the Edit menu in DRAW I didn't notice before which is quiete useful. It is "Select All" and then you can choose, "Objects", "Text", "Guidelines", "Nodes".
In the case of not wanting to outline the text, if you could select the text you could either cut and paste it to a new layer and turn off editability, or lock all of the text. Then you could edit line width all day long and it isn't going to effect the text whatsoever.
It is very easy to do.
Made a shortcut for myself to remember it. I guess I was zoning when Sark mentioned it. I tell myself that the painkilers aren't effecting me, but they are. This last week my back has been out.
Hi all,
I had a look at Sark's cdr file and am wondering why all the lines were drawn in that manner..I (personal unqualified) would have used 'connector' lines for the 'line map' and added the text at the end setting the anchor point at the middle node ..thus all those line can be edited as 'connectors'
Just my beginners choice.
Jim
Scotty....It wasn't my .cdr file but ShepHeard's (the topics original poster).
Yes, there were probably better ways of creating this diagram/map, but my guess is he did not create the original file/files, he just needed to rescale them. Scaling the lines, and thereby redistributing the text (without changing its font size), was the problem.
Sark
Sorry for misunderstanding...
Jim