Shaping Text Frames

Text frames typically start off as rectangles, but they don't need to stay that way. With your Direct Selection Tool, pull on the anchor points of a text frame to change its shape. You can also add or subtract points to the text frame using the Pen Tool.

Figure 18.22. Pen Tools.

Figure 18.23. An anchor point was added at the center point of the top edge of the frame. The top left and top right anchor points were then deleted, creating a triangle shape. The text is fully justified with line breaks adjusted to fix bad word spacing.

The Free Transform Tool

The Free Transform tool is your one-stop shop for moving, scaling, reflecting, rotating, and skewing. The tool behaves differently depending on what modifier keys you are holding.

To move: Click anywhere within the bounding box and drag.

To scale: Drag any bounding box handle (shift+drag to preserve the object's proportions). To scale from the center outward, hold the Option (Alt) key as you drag.

To rotate: Position the pointer anywhere outside the bounding box and drag.

To reflect: Drag a handle of the object's bounding box past the opposite edge or handle.

To shear: Start dragging a handle on the side of the bounding box (not a corner), and then hold down Cmd+Option (Ctrl+Alt) as you drag. Shift+drag to constrain the tool. To shear type you first have to convert it to outlines: Type > Create Outlines.

Sheared Type