Draw Guide

5Chapter
Combining Multiple
Objects

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AuthorsAgnes Belzunce
Daniel Carrera
Martin Fox
Wolfgang Uhlig
Jean Hollis Weber
Claire Wood
Linda Worthington

Feedback
Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to:authors@documentation.openoffice.org

Acknowledgments
This chapter is based on an original French document written for
OpenOffice.org 1.x by Michel Pinquier (translated to English by AlexThurgood) and previous content revised by Jim Taylor. The chapter
was revised for OpenOffice 2 by Linda, Daniel, Jean, and Agnes, andlater translated into German by Wolfgang Uhlig; the German revisions
were then translated into English and updated for OpenOffice 3.2 byMartin Fox.

Publication date and software version
Published 28 July 2010. Based on OpenOffice.org 3.2.

You can download
an editable version of this document fromhttp://oooauthors.org/english/userguide3/published/

Contents
Copyright.................................................................................................2
Introduction: grouping and combining objects.......................................4Grouping objects......................................................................................4Grouping by common selection............................................................4Maintaining groups and undoing groups.............................................4Editing individual objects in a group...................................................5
Nesting groups.....................................................................................6Combining objects...................................................................................6Merging, subtracting, or intersecting shapes.........................................7Merge....................................................................................................7Subtract................................................................................................7Intersect................................................................................................7
Practical example.................................................................................8
Aids for positioning objects.....................................................................9
Moving an object to the front or to the back.......................................9
Aligning objects..................................................................................11
Distributing the distance and space between objects.......................12

Combining Multiple Objects

3Introduction: grouping and combining
objects
Using Draw, you can combine drawing objects together in two distinct
ways: grouping and combining. These two methods allow you to treat
multiple objects as one unit, or to merge objects to form a new shape.
Grouping is like putting objects in a container. You can move them as agroup and apply global changes to them. A group can always be
undone and the objects that make up the group can always be
manipulated separately.
A combination is a permanent fusion of objects leading to a new object.
The original objects are no longer available as individual entities andthe operation is not reversible.
TipTo select multiple objects, click on each object while holding
down the Shift key or click the Select icon (on the Drawingtoolbar) and draw a rectangle around the objects.

Grouping objects
Grouping by common selection
When several objects are selected, any operations you carry out are
applied to all of the objects. For example, you can rotate a group ofobjects in its entirety. Groups obtained through common selection ofseveral objects are undone as soon as you click outside the group.
However, you can group objects and keep those selected objects
grouped together.

Maintaining groups and undoing groups
To group objects, first select the objects, then right-click and choose
Group from the pop-up menu. You can also use the keyboard shortcut
Control+Shift+G or choose Modify > Group from the menu bar.
When objects are grouped, any editing operations carried out on thatgroup are applied to all members of the group. If you click on one
member of the group, the whole group is selected.

4

Combining Multiple Objects

Figure 1: Grouping objects using the rightclick menu
The objects of a group retain their own individual properties. To undoa group, right-click and choose Ungroup from the pop-up menu, use
the keyboard shortcut Control+Alt+Shift+G or choose Modify >Ungroup from the menu bar.

Editing individual objects in a group
You can edit a member of a group individually without breaking thegroup. To do this, right-click and choose Enter group or double-clickon the group.

Figure 2: When you enter a group,objects outside the group can not be
selected and appear pale
Once inside the group, click on any object to edit it.

Figure 3: Editing an object inside a group
To leave this mode, right-click and choose Exit group or double-clickoutside the group.

Grouping objects5Nesting groups
You can create “nested” groups, or groups of groups. In this case,
Draw keeps the initial group hierarchy. If you ungroup a group madeof other groups, you are left with individual groups that you can thenungroup further, and so on until only single objects remain.

Combining objects
In contrast to grouping functions, combinations create a new object;subsequent “un-combining” in the same manner as ungrouping is notpossible. Select a collection of objects, then right-click and choose
Combine from the pop-up menu. The result of this operation is shownin Figure 4.

Figure 4: Combining objects
At first glance, this can seem rather surprising. Once you understandthe rules governing combination in Draw, however, it will becomeclearer.
• The attributes (for example, area fill) of the resulting object arethose of the object furthest back. In this example, it is the circle.
• Where the objects overlap, the overlapping zone is either filled orempty depending on the number of overlaps. When the number ofoverlaps is even, you get an empty space; when the number is odd,
you get a filled area.

Figure 5: Odd numbered overlaps are filled, evennumbered overlaps are empty

6Combining Multiple Objects

Tip

You can reorder objects so they are further back in thebackground or further forward in the foreground: right-click on
the object and select Arrangement from the pop-up menu. See
also “Aids for positioning objects” on page 9.

An object which is a combination can be broken up into its constituent
parts by selecting Modify > Break. This is not the equivalent ofungrouping as the objects were converted to Bézier curves when they
were combined. The resulting object is a set of base level objects (forexample, a rectangle will be broken into 4 separate lines). The originalformatting—line thickness, colors, and area properties—is notretained.

Merging, subtracting, or intersecting
shapesAfter you have selected more than one object, the Merge, Subtract,and Intersect functions can be reached in the Modify > Shapes menu
or though the group’s right-click menu under the heading Shapes.

Merge
When you merge objects, the new object
covers the entire surface of the original objects(it is the union of the objects). In the same way
as combining, the fill of the merged object isdetermined by the fill of the object furthest in
the background. Other properties are nottaken over into the new object.

Subtract
When you subtract, the upper object is
subtracted from the lower object.

Intersect
When you intersect two objects, you get thearea covered by both objects.

Merging, subtracting, or intersecting shapes

7

Tip

How do I move an object so it is further back or closer to thefront? See page 9.

Practical example
The following example shows how you can use the merge functions tocreate a complex shape, namely a knife with a wooden handle.
1) Draw an ellipse and then a rectangle
overlapping half of its width.
2) Select both shapes, right-click, and choose Shapes > Subtractfrom the pop-up menu. The result should resemble the shape atright:

3) Draw another rectangle and put it over the top half of the ellipse.
Then subtract again.

4) Draw a small ellipse covering just the lower right corner andsubtract again.

5) The knife blade is now complete. To make the handle, draw arectangle and an ellipse as shown.
6) Merge the shapes together.

7) Group this image with the previous one.

8Combining Multiple Objects

Aids for positioning objects
Draw has various tools to help you arrange the objects with respect toeach other. Here we explore some of the more important ones.

Moving an object to the front or to the back
When you combine or merge objects, the end result varies drasticallydepending on which object is “in front” and which one is “in the back”.
In Figure 6 you can see the difference.

Figure 6: Subtracting objects: the result varies depending on whichobject is in front.
If you imagine several objects stacked one on top of the other, the one
referred to as “Front” is the one on top of the stack. The one referred
to as “Back” is the one on the very bottom of the stack.
First select an object, then on the Drawing toolbar, long-click on theArrange icon
to open the Position toolbar. This toolbar can betorn off and made to float.

1 Bring to Front
2 Bring Forward
3 Send Backward
4 Send to Back

5 In Front of Object
6 Behind Object
7 Reverse

Figure 7: The floating Position toolbar

Aids for positioning objects

9brings the selected object to the front of the group.

brings the selected object one step upwards.

sends the selected object one step backwards.

sends the selected object to the back of the group.

moves the selected object in front of another chosen object.
moves the selected object behind another chosen object.
Click first on the object you want to change in position. Next
click on the icon and then move the mouse over the otherobject. The mouse cursor changes into a hand and the outlineof the second object becomes a dashed line (see below).
Clicking on this object completes the rearrangement ofposition.

10

Combining Multiple Objects

reverses the order of the selected objects.

Aligning objects
Select two objects and long-click onon the Drawing toolbar toopen the Align toolbar. This toolbar can be torn off and made to float.
The tools help you position objects with respect to each other.

1 Align left
2 Center horizontally
3 Align right

4 Align top
5 Center vertically
6 Align bottom

Figure 8: The floating Align toolbar
Align left.

Center horizontally.

Align right.

Aids for positioning objects

11

Align top.

Center vertically.

Align bottom.

If you have selected only one object, clicking the various buttons on theAlign toolbar positions the object in relation to the drawing page.

Distributing the distance and space between objects
Select at least three objects. Now you are able to select the option
Distribution on the Modify menu or from the right-click menu. The
Distribution dialog contains a number of options, described below.

Figure 9: Distribution of spacing between objects
Horizontal distribution
None. Does not distribute the objects horizontally.
Left. The left edges of the objects are evenly spaced from one another.
Center. The horizontal centers of the objects are evenly spaced fromone another.
12Combining Multiple Objects

Spacing. The horizontal spacing between the objects is evenly
distributed.
Right. The right edges of the objects are evenly spaced from one
another.
Vertical distribution
None. Does not distribute the objects vertically.
Top. The top edges of the objects are evenly spaced from one another.
Center. The vertical centers of the objects are evenly spaced from one
another.
Spacing. The vertical spacing between the objects is evenly
distributed.
Bottom. The bottom edges of the objects are evenly spaced from one
another.
Figure 10 shows four objects before distribution of horizontal spacing.

Figure 10: Before distribution
The result of the selections made in Figure 9 (change to equalhorizontal spacing, no vertical change) is shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11: After distribution – change to equal horizontal spacing, novertical change

Aids for positioning objects

13