Moving, scaling and rotating with the Transform tool in Vectornation
The Transform tool in Vectornation by Zaweba moves, scales, skews and rotates about a pivot you drag, with an options bar for exact values and copies.
Precise changes to size, angle and position are the bread and butter of layout and illustration. The Transform tool in Vectornation by Zaweba, on Shift+A, brings them together in one place: it moves, scales, skews with Ctrl and rotates about a pivot you can drag, and its options bar holds the controls for doing all of this by number.
Where the Pointer is quick and casual, the Transform tool is deliberate.
The pivot
Every rotation, scale and skew happens around a point. By default that is often the centre, but many jobs need a different one. A clock hand turns around one end, a door swings on its hinge, a petal rotates around the centre of a flower. With the Transform tool you drag the pivot to wherever it should be, then rotate or scale around it.
The options bar also has a pivot grid, a quick way to put the pivot on a corner, an edge or the centre of the selection without dragging.
The options bar
The options bar carries X, Y, W and H boxes, plus scale, rotate and skew. There are turn and flip buttons for quarter turns and mirroring. A snap angle keeps rotation to steps you choose, so a turn lands on a tidy angle.
Several switches change how the transform behaves. Each object applies the change to every selected object around its own centre rather than treating the selection as one. Copy makes the transform on a copy and leaves the original in place. Scale strokes decides whether line weights grow and shrink with the artwork. Repeat and transform each let you apply the same change again or to each object separately.
Jobs it makes easy
Petals, spokes and clock numbers are classic cases. Draw one petal, put the pivot at the flower's centre, turn on Copy, rotate by your chosen angle, then repeat until the circle is complete.
Mirroring a half drawn shape is another. Draw the left half, flip a copy around the right hand edge, and join the two.
Resizing a set of icons, each around its own centre, uses Each object. Without it, the icons would scale as a group and drift apart or together.
Scale strokes, a common trip
Whether strokes scale is a frequent source of surprise. If Scale strokes is off and you shrink a drawing, its lines keep their weight and suddenly look heavy. If it is on and you enlarge a logo greatly, the outlines may become thicker than you intended. Decide which you want before scaling, especially for logos and line art.
How it fits with the other transform tools
The Transform panel shows the same kind of numbers for a selection and is handy for typing a size. The Free shape tool handles perspective and free distortion, which the Transform tool does not. Object, Transform holds Transform again and Transform each, and Step and repeat lays out grids of copies. The Transform tool is the one to reach for when a single change needs to be exact and around the right point.
Habits that help
Set the pivot before you start. Many mistakes come from rotating around the wrong point and then trying to move the result back into place.
Use Copy with Repeat to build radial designs quickly, and check the angle divides evenly into a full turn so the last copy meets the first.
Type numbers rather than dragging when the value matters. Dragging is fine for judging by eye; typing gives exactness.
The Transform tool rewards a little setup with very accurate results, which is why it becomes a favourite for careful work in Vectornation by Zaweba.
