What does the Smart Transform option do?

[mktgeek]

Hi, I was trying to figure out how to stretch text vertically and came on a thread that got me past that. But, it talked about the right click on the Aspect Lock and now I'm wondering what does that Smart Transform option do? When would it be helpful?

Thanks!

[Chris M]

Oh no, we're opening old wounds again

The Smart transform essentially only alters the size of the 'frame'. The contents remain the same so it has the effect of zooming in and out within the frame. The contents can also be moved around within the frame. As an example, if you wanted to just have a face, but the photo has several people in it, you could just resize using Smart Transform and zoom into one face, shuffle it around and bingo. Without ST you would just crop it.

My very personal opinion is that it has it's uses and the main reason it's such a hot topic is that it's too damn hard to turn off.

[mktgeek]

Chris - Thanks for the reply. Sorry to bring pain to the forum :-) I searched for the term Smart Transform and found nothing that helped.

I played with it given the information you provided. Looks to me like it's just like cropping, but maybe I'm missing something? I'm not an expert graphic designer.

Anyway, I don't think I'll spend a lot of time trying to figure it out. But, thanks again for helping me make that decision!

[gwpriester]

Smart Transform also works differently with Lock Aspect Ratio enabled or disabled.

With Lock Aspect Ratio disabled, if you select the left or right middle control handles on text, it moves the text horizontally. All scaling functions are disabled.

With Lock Aspect Ratio enabled, dragging any of the middle control handles scales the text. Dragging the top center or bottom center control handles scales the text from the center.

With photos, and Lock Aspect Ratio enabled, dragging the left or right center control handle scales the text in the angle dragged while the opposite side is more or less fixed.

With Smart Transform enabled, objects stretch in the direction dragged when you drag on the center control handles.

IMHO, it is too nitsy a feature and probably made a ton of sense to the developer(s) who came up with the idea. And if you invest the time to figure it out, I am sure there are some good uses.

But there is a way that Xara has worked historically and this feature is counter to those actions. This is very frustrating to old users and confusing to new users.

I leave the feature disabled. (Right click on the tiny lock icon and un-check Smart Transform). Perhaps as my mother used to say, Too smart for his own good.