Can I free transform a shape?

I'm trying to free transform a rectangle drawn within InDesign.
A pretty simple task, I thought. I want to be able to pull one corner point in a certain direction and distort it a bit. But selecting the shape with the direct selection tool doesn't allow me. Is it possible?

When you first selec the shape withthe direct select tool you are really selectin the entire path. Make sure you are selecting only a single point or group of points. I sometimes resort to selecting, then holding Shift and deselecting a single point, then release Shift and select the point I need.

Similar Messages

Can I Free Transform/Distort An Object Like Photoshop?

I need to distort an object much the way one would in Photoshop with Free Transform - Distort. That's the one where you can drag the corners wherever it suits your fancy.
The closest thing in Illustrator I can find is Effect - Distort & Transform - Free Distort. But this is a lot tougher because I just get a tiny picture of a grid; you distort the corners, and hope for the best.
Is there a way in Illustrator that will allow me to do this with the actual object?
Thanks.

There's the Free Transform Tool.
Click a corner then hold down Command/Ctrl, Option/Alt, and shift then move the mouse to allow free transformations. The click-modifier-move order is important.

Can I free transform individual buttons within the menu widget?

When using the menu widget,
1. Is it possible to break individual buttons from their row/column and free transform them?
2. Could I delete an individual button while keeping the other buttons intact and not having to delete the page it was linked to?

Hi
Answering the questions :
1) You can create different menu items for page elements and use as individual buttons with free transform option, you can try using tabbed panel to create menu items.
2) You can if you have created a manual menu. The individual menu item will be deleted without effecting the link.
Thanks,
Sanjit

Can't Free Transform Folder

Hi all:
I have a PShop CS3 file in which one of the folders does not allow the "Free Transform"tool to work. I can move w/the move tool, but Edit/Free Transform is grayed out when that folder is selected. Edit/Free Transform will work for all the subfolders inside of it.
Other folders in the same file work fine. Anyone know what could cause this and how to fix?
Thanks.

voxL wrote:
Hi all:
I have a PShop CS....
Seriously, what EXACTLY do you expect????
I mean Photoshop CS is so old school...what exactly do you expect, any sort of reasonable expectation of reality?
God...you really need to downscale your expectations....
:~)

Free transform a color matte...

Hi,
There's a very simple thing i'm trying to do that's puzzling me...
I'm working on a split screen. On the right, I have graphics. On the left, i have a talking head. THe talking head frame has 3 different sizes that i juggle with.
I'm just trying to create a thin Vertical line that will act as a border between the graphics and the talking head.
I can ofcourse do this by distancing the two frames, but i'd rather have a thin black line i can just copy paste over.
The obnly way i found to do this was to transform a color matte. But even by changing the aspect in the motion tab, i can't get it thin enough. There must be an easier way to free transform a shape, and to do this directly in the viewer no?
thanks for your help...

Thanks David,
Croping is what i'll end up doing. But isn't there a way to change the aspect directly via wireframe in the viewer. Using the wireframe, i can change the scale, and rotation, but how do i unlock the aspect proportions?
thanks

[CS4] Free Transform doesn't work in some situations

Hello,
I have found a limitation in Photoshop CS4:
Trying to use the free transform tool on an unselected "substracted" vector shape with the move tool will not work and will always display the alert "Could not transform because the initial bounding rectangle is empty".
There are some workarounds to this (using the Path selection tool, or activating the vector mask), however they won't apply if you are trying to transform several layers at once.
Steps to reproduce:
1) Create a new empty document
2) Select the rectangle tool (U) and create a vector mask layer with a single rectangle shape
3) Cmd-click the rectangle to select it
4) In the Options bar, click the 'substract' button to reverse the shape
5) Deselect the shape in the layers panel
6) Select the move tool (V)
7) Invoke the free transform tool (cmd-T)
(MBP 2.8, 10.5.5)

It's because you've got a reversed shape and nothing highlighted so your document edges are truncating the color fill rather than a clearly defined edge. Simply highlight the vector mask in the layers panel then you CAN use Free Transform.

Can't warp pasted AI vector Smart Object using Free Transform in PS CS6

Hi
I pasted a vector object into PS CS6 (13.0.1 x32) today directly from Illustrator CS6 (16.0.1 x32), and selected "Paste as Smart Object" (Windows XP Pro SP3).
I then tried to warp the pasted object using the Free Transform tool by dragging one of the corner handles with CTRL held down (Windows).
This usually warps\distorts the object, but instead, this launched a skew operation.
If I paste as Shape Layer or as Pixels then apply Free Transform, <Ctrl + corner handle drag> performs a warp\distort operation.
Also, if I rasterise the pasted AI object, and then convert to a Smart Object I can warp\distort.
Is it not possible to paste an Illustrator vector in as a Smart Object, and then warp\distort it directly using this technique?
Thanks for your help.
Richard

Your right in that on a pasted vector smart one can't warp, distort or perform perspective transforms.
One workaround would be to right click on the vector smart object layer in the layers panel and
choose convert to smart object.
It depends on what your object is, but you'd probably get better quality from a pasted shape or path, but then you won't be able to open the object
back in illustrator from photoshop.

Can't use free transform automatically, why ?

Hello, I need your help with some information about Free Transform.
When I drawn a square for example (or any other shape), I need to press the button "E" (Free Transform Tool), to resize it, otherwise won`t work automatically, this is my problem.
I want the Free Transform to be automatically, in that way I work easily.
Please explain me how can I do that.
Many thanks!

Many thanks for information!
I solved the problem. I delete the preference folder. ( All Users/Appdata/Adobe/Adobe Illustrator cs6 Settings to delete), I reset the settings.
I acted in this way because I did not know the command to restore the problem.

I am using Illustrator CS6 (Mac). I am using free transform tool. Why can't I use Shift Option Command to distort in perspective?

I am using Illustrator CS6 (Mac). I am using free transform tool. Why can't I use Shift Option Command to distort in perspective?

hong,
You need to ClickDrag just a tiny bit, then apply the Shift Option Command.

Why can't I Step Backwards while in Free Transform Mode?

When I ue the Free Transform tool I can't use Step Backwards tough I can use Redo and Undo. I still can use Step Backwards outside of the Free Transform tool.

Hi there
When you're in Free Transform mode, you're not making any committed changes until you press the "Enter" key on your keyboard or click on the Commit icon (the checkmark) in the options bar. Once your change is committed, you can use the Step Backward or Step Forward functions.
To "step" backwards or forwards while in Free Transform mode, just use the Undo/Redo functions.
Cheers!
Kendall

When I click on the objects it no longer appears automatically free transform how can I fix it?

When I click on the objects it no longer appears automatically free transform how can I fix it?

Cmd(Ctrl)-Shift-B is the toggle for Show/Hide Bounding Box.

How can I disable making live shape rectangle in the first place but normal one instead in Illustrator CC?

How can I disable making live shape rectangle in the first place but normal one instead in Illustrator CC? When I create rectangle I can't transform it by dragging and it's only the problem with rectangle, not with circle, star etc. I try show/hide edges/bounding box reset preferences and reinstall whole illustrator CC and it's the same. I can only make this right by expand this rectangle, which is shape as is turn out to rectangle by clicking object>shape>expand rectangle. But this is so frustrating. Help!:) oh, and I use OSX. My friend has the same specs and it's works. I mean she can use live shape corner transformations and changing size by draging:(

I’ve created my own plugin (available for free for personal and commercial use) which imitates behavior of the ‘old’ Rectangle Tool. It doesn’t replace the Live Rectangle – it works completely independent!
My Plain Rectangle Tool correctly snaps to grids/objects/points and correctly aligns to grid/points on resize. Of course it supports the SHIFT and ALT/OPTION keys, Snap to Grid and Smart Guides options. In other words it works almost 100% the same as the Rectangle Tool we know from CC (17.1), CS6 and earlier.
The installation package (zxp) adds ‘Plain Rectangle Tool’ icon into the Ai panel (of curse you can assign your custom keyboard shortcut to it as well)
Note: The Plain Rectangle can be easily converted into the Live one using Object > Shape > Convert to Rectangle
Grab your copy at http://63mutants.com/subc/products/PlainRectangleTool_m01/PlainRectangleTool_m01.php Feel free to share with your friends. It’s completely free.
I’ve also created a separate discussion https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1587587 for the Plain Rectangle Tool. If you have any comments or request please post it there. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Pawel Kuc

Free transform tween not working

This is another common problem that's driving me up the wall:
- At 0 frames, I draw a blue square with no border.
- I insert a keyframe on the 10th frame, then I move the
square a short distance and stretch it with the free transform
tool.
- I create a motion tween between the two frames.
Now by all rights, I should see the square gradually move and
stretch. But all Flash does is animate the motion of the square and
show the end result of the stretch. There's no transformation in
between. How can I fix this?

or - convert it to a symbol forst - then create 2nd keyframe,
use free transform tool and aply
Motion tween. You are making the mistake of using the wrong
tween for the wrong object or the right
tween for the wrong shape.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--> Adobe Certified Expert
--> www.mudbubble.com
--> www.keyframer.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Glitcher2000 wrote:
> This is another common problem that's driving me up the
wall:
>
> - At 0 frames, I draw a blue square with no border.
> - I insert a keyframe on the 10th frame, then I move the
square a short
> distance and stretch it with the free transform tool.
> - I create a motion tween between the two frames.
>
> Now by all rights, I should see the square gradually
move and stretch. But all
> Flash does is animate the motion of the square and show
the end result of the
> stretch. There's no transformation in between. How can I
fix this?
>

CS6 Free Transform ctrl drag not working properly

Anybody on this ...
When I use the free transform tool crtr-T and use the ctrl drag button, the corners do not extend properly. It extends universally as aposed to a distorted corner-pull. I uninstalled CS6 and reinstalled still getting the same result. Any help would be greatly appreciated...
Thanks

What conroy wrote convert a smart object layer to a smart object layer may seem a bit strange but he is correct. All smart object layers are not created equal they may contain many types of smart objects. An illustrator vector file placed in can most likely be reopened in illustrator by double clicking on the layers smart icon in the layers palette and transform the vector object in illustrator and when saved in illustrator the embedded smart object will be updated to reflect the changes made in illustrator. If you encapsulate a VSO into a Smart Object when you transform the resulting smart object layer it will be transformed like a raster layer using interpolation like all Smart Object layers are transformed. If you want to transform a layer that contain vector graphics using vector graphics you need to correct tools. Transform I would think would only transform Vector Shape Layer using vectors and change Text layer by changing font size all other layer types would be interpolated. An embedded smart object the contains many Photoshop layers some which are text and vector layers like a places PSD file may be transform better using Photoshop Image Size and then transforming the resulting updated smart object layer if your increasing the layers size.

Applying identical free transform to second object?

Please excuse my lack of techinical knowledge, I am trying to learn my way through AI via trial & error since I don't have time to read a book or so.
I think I understand what paths/anchors are used for and how basic perspective transform works (holding cmd/control and perhaps option and/or shift). I have an object that has already been distorted via Free Transform so that the perspective is changed. I have a logo I would like to add onto the surface of the object.
My assumption is to use Free Distort again, but how to mimick the same distortions to the correct angles? I have experimented with grabbing corners of the bounding box and trying to snap them to corresponding anchor points of the background perspective shape...but it's not really working out.
What am I missing?
I've tried searching for perspective and free transform tool tutorials, but they mostly just show how to distort into a new perspective but not how to 'mimick' or align to an existing perspective.
Thanks!

You did that the wrong way you would first position that which you wish to map to the relative position of the object it is being mapped to then group
the two and then use the free transform.
The other way is to use the #D Effect's Rotate command and rotate and give it some perspective within the dialog. Then you can turn your art that you wish to map into a symbol which then can be mapped by going back to the effect by accessing it in the appearance panel which will allow you to bring up the 3D Rotate Effect dialog.
You then click on Map Art button and then select the surface you need to map the art to and then select from the drop down the symbol you made of your art and you can see liv the preview on your art.
You would actually make the art into a symbol before apply the 3d effect but I wanted you to see that you can keep the effect live and even after you save a close the art you can still remove or remap different art.
Now most important is that this is Illustrator and you are not going to learn it by trial and error and so it is important for you to get a book like Mordy Golding's Real World Illustrator. For certain Mordy writes much better than probably any of us when it comes to methods, techniques and the workings and fundamentals of Illustrator and the other Adobe programs. Otherwise you are going to be very limited in what you ca do and the amount of time you spend trying to figure it out is going to be a lot more than you will spend reading Mordy's book.
The really good thing about the book is that is written in a way so that it is one fast reading and easy to retain.
Do yourself a big favor and read the book.
After all this is Illustrator and not an easy program to learn.

Can I free transform a shape?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for