Rotating and Flipping Graphic Objects

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Rotating and Flipping Graphic Objects

Keynote allows you to rotate objects on the Slide Canvas. You can rotate objects by dragging the object's selection handles (this is called free rotation ), or by using the Metrics Inspector. You can also flip objects around their horizontal or vertical axes. Objects that have text inside them (see "Placing Text Within Shapes," later in this chapter) use a different technique to flip them.

To free-rotate objects

Select the object you want to rotate.

The object's selection handles appear.

Hold down the Command key, and click and drag one of the object's selection handles.

The cursor changes to a short curved line with arrows at both ends. As you rotate the object, an angle tag appears to show you the new angle for the object ( Figure 5.14 ).

Figure 5.14. The angle tag tells you at what angle you have rotated your graphic.

Release the mouse button.

To rotate using the Metrics Inspector

Select the object you want to rotate.

In the Rotate section of the Metrics Inspector ( Figure 5.15 ), click and drag the angle wheel.

Figure 5.15. You can also use the angle wheel in the Metrics Inspector to rotate objects.

or

Type a value into the angle field and press the Tab key.

The object rotates.

Tip

When you need to make small or precise changes, you can often get better results by typing a value into the angle field, rather than using the angle wheel.

To flip objects

Select the object you want to flip.

In the Flip section of the Metrics Inspector ( Figure 5.16 ), click the button with the right-pointing arrow to flip the object around its vertical axis.

Figure 5.16. Use the Flip buttons to flip images horizontally or vertically.

or

Click the button with the arrow pointing up to flip the object around its horizontal axis.

or

Choose Arrange > Flip Horizontally.

or

Choose Arrange > Flip Vertically.

The object flips as you command.

Tip

If you use the Flip buttons or menu commands on an object containing text, the text flips along with the object, making it unreadable. Since that's probably not what you want, see the next technique.

To flip objects containing text

Select the object that has text inside of it ( Figure 5.17 ).

Figure 5.17. This object has embedded text. You need to flip it using its selection handles, or the text will be flipped along with the object.

To flip the object around its vertical axis, click either of the two middle selection handles at the sides of the object, then drag it to the right or left until the object flips over ( Figure 5.18 ).

Figure 5.18. After the flip, the quote balloon points in a different direction, but the text is still readable.

or

To flip the object around its horizontal axis, click either of the two middle selection handles at the top or bottom of the object, then drag it up or down until the object flips over.

The object flips its direction, but the text stays in its usual orientation, remaining readable.

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Aligning and Distributing Objects

Keynote provides commands that make it easy to arrange multiple objects so that they all line up with their edges or centers along the same line. You can also distribute objects so that they are arranged, either horizontally or vertically, with equal space between them.

To align objects

Select the objects that you want to align.

Choose Arrange > Align Objects, then choose the kind of alignment you want from the hierarchical menu. Your choices are Left, Center, Right, Top, Middle, and Bottom.

See Table 5.1 to see how the different alignments work.

Table 5.1. Alignment Options

O PTION	R ESULT
Left
Center
Right
Top
Middle
Bottom

To distribute objects

Select the objects that you wish to distribute.

Choose Arrange > Distribute Objects, then choose the kind of distribution you want from the hierarchical menu. Your choices are Horizontally or Vertically.

See Table 5.2 to see how the different distributions work.