Combining Objects into a Group


Combining Objects into a Group

InDesign lets you combine several objects into a group. A group of objects behaves like a single object, which means that you can cut, copy, move, or modify all the objects in a group in a single operation. Groups have many uses. For example, you might create a group to:

  • Combine several objects that make up an illustration so that you can move, modify, copy, or scale all objects in a single operation.

  • Keep a picture frame and its accompanying caption (text) frame together so that if you change your mind about their placement, you can reposition both objects at once.

  • Combine several vertical lines that are used to separate the columns of a table so that you can quickly change the stroke, color , length, and position of all lines.

    Tip ‚  

    If you want to manipulate a group, choose the Selection tool, then click on any object in the group. The group's bounding box is displayed. Any transformation you perform is applied to all objects in the group. If you want to manipulate an object that's part of a group, select it using the Direct Selection tool.

To create a group:

  1. Select the Selection or Direct Selection tool.

  2. Select all the objects you want to include in your group.

  3. Choose Object Group or press z +G or Ctrl+G.

    Cross-Reference ‚  

    See Chapter 11 for more information about selecting multiple objects.

That's all there is to it. When you create a group from objects that do not occupy successive levels in the stacking order, the objects are shuffled as necessary so that the grouped objects are stacked on adjacent layers directly below the topmost object. If you create a group from objects on different layers , all objects are moved to the top layer and stacked in succession beneath the topmost object. (See Chapter 6 for more about layers.)

Note ‚  

You cannot create a group if some of the selected objects are locked and some are not locked. All selected objects must be locked or unlocked before you can group them. (Locking and unlocking objects is covered later in this chapter.)

Groups within groups

One nifty thing about groups is that you can include a group within a group. For example, all the objects in Figure 12-3 ‚ five stars and two circles (a gray circle and a white circle form the moon) ‚ have been grouped, making it easy to manipulate the whole illustration. But that's not all. The stars within the group are also a group. So are the two circles that make up the crescent moon. That is, first the stars were grouped together, then the two circles were grouped together, and finally then the group of stars was grouped with the group of circles that form the moon to create a larger group. Grouping the stars makes it easy to change all of them at once, as shown in Figure 12-4. And grouping the two circles that make up the crescent moon make it easy to move the moon.


Figure 12-3: The bounding box indicates that all the objects within have been grouped. What you can't tell from this illustration is that the five stars are a group within the larger group, which lets you move or modify all of them in a single operation, as shown in Figure 12-4.

Figure 12-4: The group selection tool (explained in the next section) lets you select a nested group. In this example, the nested group of stars was selected, then a radial blend was applied to all of them.
Note ‚  

A group can contain as many levels of subgroups, or nested groups, as you want, but it's best to keep things as simple as you can. The more levels of nested groups you have within a group, the more work it is to ungroup the objects.

Selecting objects within groups

The main reason you create groups in the first place is so that you can delete, copy, move, or modify all the objects at once. But sometimes, you'll want to modify an object within a group. No problem. You don't have to ungroup objects to modify an individual object. InDesign offers several options for selecting objects ‚ and nested groups ‚ within groups. You can

  • Select an individual object by clicking on it with the Direct Selection tool.

  • Select the bounding box of an individual object by clicking on it with the Direct Selection tool, then switching to the Selection tool.

  • Select multiple objects within a group by Shift+clicking each object with the Direct Selection tool.

  • Select the bounding box of multiple objects within a group by Shift+clicking each object with the Direct Selection tool, then switching to the Selection tool.

  • Select a nested group by clicking on any object within the nested group with the Direct Selection tool, then holding down the Option or Alt key and clicking again on the object. Holding down the Option or Alt key in this situation temporarily accesses the Group Selection tool, indicated by a small plus sign (+) below and to the right of the arrow pointer.

Ungrouping

After creating a group, you may eventually decide that you want to return the objects to their original, ungrouped state. To do so, simply click on any object in the group with the Selection tool, then choose Object Ungroup or press Shift+ z +G or Ctrl+Shift+G. If you ungroup a group that contains a group, the contained group is not affected. To ungroup this subgroup , you must select it, then choose Ungroup again.




Adobe InDesign CS Bible
Adobe InDesign CS3 Bible
ISBN: 0470119381
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 344
Authors: Galen Gruman

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net