Non proportional sizing of objects

[Catalpa99]

Draw a rectangle say 36 inches long by 1.5 inches wide. Rotate to 45 degrees. Then I want to stretch the length from 36 inches to say 48 inches without affecting the width of 1.5 inches (could be any length and would like to do it with the handles if possible, because I don't always know how long I would like it until I see it). Can't figure out how to do it. As soon as I turn the rectangle on an angle the property boxes show identical measurements for the rectangle. Any help is appreciated. I and very new to CorelDraw 9. I work in the landscape design field and would like to use this product for plan view layouts.

 

[attrofy]

The only way I know of that will let you stretch only one of the dimensions after it is rotated is to select the Node Edit tool (just below the Pick Tool) select the end 2 nodes (draw a box around them or click the end line with the Node tool), then drag both nodes in the direction you want to stretch it. The only other way I can think to do this is to unrotate the object back to 0°, stretch the object in the normal way with the Pick Tool, then rotate back to 45°

 

[Catalpa99]

Thanks for this trick. For newcomers to Draw you have to convert the rotated rectangle to curves before you try to stretch it. Then it works fine.

But now how do you constrain its angle to 45 degrees?

After you convert to curves the angle changes to 0. Even if you convert to curves before you rotate it, then rotate it to 45 degrees, if you stretch the rectangle and accidentally change the angle it still reads 45 degrees, even when it is not.

Any ideas are much appreciated.

 

[attrofy]

Once it is converted to curves - it no longer has a relative reference to 0° - it is at 0° once the object is created as a curved object - any changs from there become relative to what it sets as 0°. The easiest way to accomplish this is to make a Guideline (click on the ruler edge (top or bottom) and drag to the middle of the workspace). Then adjust the guideline to a 45° angle. I can't remember the specifics in v9. I think you may have to right-click on the guideline or click it twice. Then you can move your 45° guideline anywhere on the layout. Turn on Snap to Guidelines and you should be able to keep your angle.

One thing that occured to me while typing this, once you have a pretty specific certainty to your layout, you may want to replace your newly created rectangle with a new one that has not been converted to curves. Depending on the application, and what else is going to happen with it, it may be more convenient to have the square back in "square tool mode" - it may not - jsut depends on what you plan to do with it later.

 

[Catalpa99]

Thanks attrofy. Very good suggestions and these will work just fine for me.

I very much appreciate your help.

 

[harry99]

But now how do you constrain its angle to 45 degrees?

One answer might be to create a 45 degree guideline -- they don't have to be horizontal or vertical.

Another answer might be to select *everything* on your page, including your 45 degree object, and temporarily rotate it through 45 degrees so your special object is now either horizontal or vertical. This gives you back the ability to stretch your object independently in either of its dimensions, but with the possible disadvantage that you also have to rotate your mind through 45 degrees (a process I'll christen as "semi-lateral thinking") until you get to the point where you can rotate everything back to normal again.