TRANSFORMING AND COPYING AT THE SAME TIME

Generally, when you apply a transformation to an object (scaling, rotating, distorting, perspective), you apply that transformation to the object itself. However, here's a cool tip if you want to apply a transformation (using Free Transform) on a duplicate of your object, rather than on the original: Press Option-Command-T (PC: Alt-Control-T), then use the Free Transform tool as you usually would. You'll notice that as you begin to transform, the original object remains untouched, and a copy is transformed instead.