Introduction

Apache OpenOffice 4.1 Impress Guide

Chapter 5: Managing Graphic Objects

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• Introduction
• Creating Lines and Shapes
• Grouping Shapes Together
• Moving Graphic Objects
• Resizing Graphic Objects
• Applying Special Effects
  • Rotating Graphic Objects
  • Flip an Object
  • Mirror Copies
  • Distorting an Image
    • Distort an Object
    • Set in Circle (Perspective)
    • Set in Circle (Slant)
• Aligning Shapes
• Snapping Objects to Grid or Snap Guides
  • Using the Grid
  • Using Snap Guides
• Arranging Shapes
• Working with Connectors
  • Managing Glue Points
• Working with 3D Shapes
• Converting an Object to a Different Type
• Setting up Interaction with a Shape
• Animating Images
  • Creating an Animation
    • Frame-by-Frame Animation
    • Animated Image in One Step
  • Other functions of the Animator
• Using Fontwork
  • Using the Fontwork Toolbar
  • Modifying Fontwork Text as a Shape

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Introduction

This chapter describes how to manage graphic objects, specifically how to rotate, distort, arrange, and position them on a slide. Though this chapter focuses on the shapes that can be created with the available tools in Impress, some of the techniques described here are also applicable to images imported into Impress.

The Drawing toolbar contains most of the tools normally used to create graphic objects. If this toolbar is not showing, select View → Toolbars → Drawing from the main menu bar.

The toolbar can be divided into two parts. The first part contains drawing objects, as shown in Figure 66. The second part of the toolbar, shown in Figure 68, contains more generic tools.

Figure 66: First section of Drawing toolbar

The tools in the first part of the Drawing toolbar are:

1. Select: selects objects. To select a group of objects, click and drag with the mouse to define a rectangle that contains all of the objects. It is also possible to select several objects by pressing the  ⇧ Shift  key while selecting individual objects.
2. Line: draws a straight line from the point where you click the mouse to the point where you release the mouse button after having dragged the mouse pointer. Press the  ⇧ Shift  key to restrict the angle of the line to multiples of 30°; use the  Control  key to detach the end point of the line from the grid (see “Snapping Objects to Grid or Snap Guides“).
3. Arrow: draws a straight line ending with an arrowhead. The arrowhead is placed where you release the mouse button. The  ⇧ Shift  and  Control  keys have the same effect as they had for the Line tool.
4. Rectangle: draws a rectangle when you drag the mouse from the top left to the bottom right corner. Press the  ⇧ Shift  button to draw a square.
5. Ellipse: draws an ellipse. Press the  ⇧ Shift  button to draw a circle.
6. Text: creates a text box with text aligned horizontally.
7. Vertical text: creates a text box with text aligned vertically. This tool is available only when Asian language support has been enabled in Tools → Options → Language Settings → Languages.
   
   
8. Curve: draws a curve. Click the black triangle for more options (shown at right), including polygons. Note that the title of the submenu, when undocked, is Lines.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. Connector: draws a connector line between two figures. Click the black triangle for additional connectors. Their use is described in “Working with Connectors“.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

10. Lines and Arrows: draws a line ending in an arrow. Click the black triangle for additional choices. When torn off, this toolbar is titled Arrows.
    







11. Basic Shapes, Symbol Shapes, Block Arrows, Flowcharts, Callouts, Stars: click the black triangle to open a toolbar showing the available shapes in that category. The default shapes are shown in Figure 67. Select the desired shape, then draw it by dragging the mouse to define an enclosing rectangle. Keep the  ⇧ Shift  key pressed to obtain a shape where the height and width are equal.

Figure 67: Available shapes for Impress

Figure 68: The second section of the drawing toolbar with utility tools

The tools in the second part of the Drawing toolbar are:

1. Edit points: To edit the individual points that form the shape or line, select this tool, and then select a shape or a line.
2. Glue points: To edit the glue points of a graphic object, select this tool. Glue points are the positions where connector lines terminate or start. See “Managing Glue Points” for instructions.
3. Fontwork: opens the Fontwork gallery. See “Using Fontwork” for further information.
4. From file: Equivalent to Insert → Picture → From file on the main menu. See Chapter 4 for details.
5. Gallery: opens the gallery. Equivalent to Tools → Gallery on the main menu. See Chapter 4 for details.
6. Rotate: Select this tool to rotate an object. As rotation is considered a formatting attribute. This is discussed in Chapter 6 of this book.
7. Align object: See “Aligning Shapes“.
8. Arrange object: See “Arranging Shapes“.
9. Extrusion On/Off: switches 3D effects on or off for the selected object. Clicking this button also opens the 3D settings toolbar. See “Working with 3D Shapes” for details.
10. Interaction: opens a dialog where you can specify the interaction between the user and the object. See “[[Documentation/Impress Guide/Managing Graphic Objects/Setting up Interaction with a Shape|Setting up Interaction with a Shape”.
11. Visible buttons: Use the black triangle on the far right of the toolbar to open a menu from which you can add or subtract buttons on the toolbar. See Chapter 1 (Introducing Impress) for more information.