Impress Guide

5

ChapterManaging Graphic
Objects
Moving, rotating, distorting, and positioning
objects; animations; Fontwork
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separately.)CopyrightThis document is Copyright © 2005–2010 by its contributors as listed
in the section titled Authors. You may distribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of either the GNU General Public License, version 3 orlater, or the Creative Commons Attribution License, version 3.0 or
later.
All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

Authors
Nicole Cairns
Peter Hillier-Brook
Paul Miller
Hazel Russman
Jean Hollis Weber
Michele Zarri

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

Publication date and software version
Published 2 November 2010. Based on OpenOffice.org 3.2.1.

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

Contents
Copyright............................................................................................... 2
Introduction........................................................................................... 5
Creating lines and shapes......................................................................8Grouping shapes together......................................................................9
Moving graphic objects........................................................................ 10
Resizing graphic objects......................................................................11
Applying special effects.......................................................................12
Rotating graphic objects...................................................................12
Flip an object....................................................................................14
Mirror copies....................................................................................15
Distorting an image..........................................................................15
Distort an object............................................................................15
Set in circle (perspective)..............................................................16
Set to circle (slant)........................................................................16
Aligning shapes.................................................................................... 17
Snapping objects to grid or snap guides..............................................17
Using the grid................................................................................... 18
Using snap guides............................................................................. 18
Arranging shapes.................................................................................20
Working with connectors.....................................................................20
Managing glue points.......................................................................21
Working with 3D shapes......................................................................22
Converting an object to a different type..............................................24
Setting up interaction with a shape.....................................................25
Animating images................................................................................26
Creating an animation......................................................................26
Frame by frame animation.............................................................27
Animated image in one step...........................................................27
Other functions of the Animator.......................................................28
Using Fontwork.................................................................................... 28
Using the Fontwork toolbar..............................................................30
Managing Graphic Objects

3Modifying Fontwork text as a shape.................................................31

4

Managing Graphic Objects

Introduction
This chapter describes how to manage graphic objects and inparticular how to rotate, distort, arrange, and position them on theslide. Though this chapter focuses on the shapes that can be createdwith the available tools in Impress, some of the techniques describedin this chapter are also applicable to images imported into slides.
The Drawing toolbar contains the majority of the tools normally used tocreate 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 1. The second part of the toolbar,
shown in Figure 3 on page 7, contains more generic tools.

1 Select
2 Line3 Arrow

4 Rectangle
5 Ellipse
6 Text7 Vertical text
8 Curve
9 Connector

10 Basic shapes
11 Symbol shapes
12 Block arrows

13 Flowcharts
14 Callouts
15 Stars

Figure 1: First section of Drawing toolbar
The tools in the first part of the Drawing toolbar are:• Select: selects objects. To select a group of objects, click on the
top left object and, drag the mouse to the bottom right object of
the intended selection while keeping the mouse button pressed. A“marching ants” rectangle identifying the selection area isdisplayed. It is also possible to select several objects by pressing
the Shift button while selecting the individual objects.
• Line: draws a straight line from the point where you click themouse, to the point where you drag the mouse pointer andrelease the mouse button. Press the Shift key to restrict the angleof the line to multiples of 30°; use the Control key to detach theend point of the line from the grid (see “Snapping objects to gridor snap guides“ on page 17).
• 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 for the Line tool.

Introduction5• 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.
Ellipse: draws an ellipse. Press the Shift button to draw a circle.
Text: creates a text box with text aligned horizontally.
Vertical text: creates a text box with text aligned vertically. This
tool is available only when Asian language support has beenenabled in Tools > Options > Language Settings >Languages.
Curve: draws a curve. Click the black triangle formore options. Note that the title of the submenu
when undocked is Lines.

• Connectors: draws a connector line between two

figures. Click the black triangle for additional
connectors. Their use is described in “Working withconnectors“ on page 20.

• 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 2. Select the desired shape, then draw it bydragging the mouse to define an enclosing rectangle. Keep the
Shift key pressed to obtain a shape where the height and width
are equal.

6

Managing Graphic Objects

Figure 2: Available shapes for Impress

1 Edit Points
2 Glue Points
3 Fontwork

4 From File
5 Gallery
6 Rotate

7 Alignment
8 Arrange
9 Extrusion On/Off

10 Interaction
11 Visible buttons

Figure 3: The second section of the drawing toolbar with utility tools
The tools in the second part of the Drawing toolbar are:• Edit points: to edit the individual points that form the shape orline, select this tool, and then select a shape or a line.
• Glue points: to edit the glue points of a graphic object, selectthis tool. Glue points are the positions where connector lines
terminate or start. See “Managing glue points” on page 21 for
instructions.
• Fontwork: opens the Fontwork gallery. See “Using Fontwork” onpage 28 for further information.
• From file: equivalent to Insert > Picture > From file on themain menu. See Chapter 4 for details.
• Gallery: opens the gallery. Equivalent to Tools > Gallery on themain menu. See Chapter 4 for details.
• Rotate: select this tool to rotate an object. As rotation isconsidered a formatting attribute; this is discussed in chapter 6 ofthis book.
Introduction7• Align object: see “Aligning shapes“ on page 17.
• Arrange object: see “Arranging shapes“ on page 20.
• 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” on page 22 for details.
• Interaction: opens a dialog box where you can specify theinteraction between the user and the object. See “Setting up
interaction with a shape” on page 25.
• Visible buttons: use the black triangle on the far right of thetoolbar to open a menu from which you can add or subtract
buttons on the toolbar. See Chapter 1 (Introducing Impress) for
more information.

Creating lines and shapes
To create shapes and lines:
1) Select the desired line or shapetool.
2) Click and drag to create theobject on the slide.
When drawing a freehand polygon (thatis, when you create a shape segment bysegment), keep the Shift key pressed to
Figure 4: Creating a shape
restrict the angle between thesegments to multiples of 45 degrees. To finish drawing a polygon,
double-click on the last part of the segment. If a closed polygon was
selected, OOo draws the line connecting the last point to the startpoint and fills the inside area with the default color.
When drawing certain shapes, one or more yellow dots are displayed
along with the green resizing handles. These dots perform a different
function according to the shape they are applied to. With the basic
shapes the yellow dot (or dots) is used for the following purposes:• Rounded rectangle and Rounded square shapes: use the yellow
dot to change the size of the curve replacing the corners.
• Circle Pie: use the two yellow dots to change the size of the filled
sector.
• Isosceles triangle: move the yellow dot on one vertex to modify
the triangle type.
• Trapezoid, Parallelogram, or Octagon: move the yellow dot tochange the angle between the sides.
8Managing Graphic Objects

• Cross: use the yellow dot to change the thickness of the four
•
•
•
•
•

sides.
Ring: use the yellow dot to change the internal diameter.
Block arc: use the yellow dot to change both the internal diameterand the size of the filled area.
Cylinder and Cube: use the yellow dot to change the perspective.
Folded corner: use the yellow dot to change the size of the corner.
Frame: use the yellow dot to change the internal rectangle
diagonal.

Grouping shapes together
It is often convenient to group shapes together so that they are treatedas a single shape by Impress. A group of shapes can be formatted as if
it was a single shape, moved, rotated, deleted and so on. To groupshapes together, do as follows:
1) Select the shapes to be grouped. To do this, use the selection toolon the drawing toolbar and draw a rectangle around the shapes tobe grouped, or click on each shape to be added to the group whilepressing the Shift key.
2) When the green resizing handles show, select Format > Group >Group or press Control+Shift+G on the keyboard.
Once the group is defined, click on any of the shapes in the group to
select the group. To edit only the shapes in the group, press F3 when
the group is selected or select Format > Group > Enter group fromthe menu bar. Notice that any shapes not part of the group are grayedout and that only the shapes belonging to the group can be edited. Use
this function when you need to apply a particular format to a single
member of the group. To exit from group mode, press Control+F3 orselect Format > Group > Group from the menu bar.
For more about working with grouped objects, see Chapter 5(Combining Multiple Objects) in the Draw Guide.
To ungroup objects:
1) Select the group of shapes.
2) When the green resizing handles show, select Format > Group >Ungroup from the menu bar.

Grouping shapes together

9

Tip

If you use the group and ungroup commands often, why not add
them to one of the toolbars shown by default so that thecommands are readily available? To do so, you will need tocustomize the selected toolbar. See Chapter 12 of the Getting
Started guide.

Moving graphic objects
1) Click the graphic object, if necessary, to show the green resizing
handles.
2) Move the pointer over the graphic object until the pointerchanges shape. On most operating systems, the cursor associatedwith moving objects is a four-headed arrow, but it may also be ahand or some other symbol.
3) Click and drag the graphic object to the desired position (you canalso use the arrow keys).
4) Release the mouse button.

Tip

By default Impress makes the objects snap to the grid. If you
need to position the object between two points of the grid, holddown the Control key, then click on the object and move it to thedesired position.
Alternatively, you can modify the grid resolution from Tools >Options > OpenOffice.org Impress > Grid.

For a more accurate placement of the graphic object, use the Position
and Size dialog box shown in Figure 5. First select the graphic object
by clicking on it; when the resizing green handles are displayed, eitherpress F4 or select Format > Position and Size from the menu bar.
Use the Position section of the dialog box to specify the X (horizontal)
and Y (vertical) position of the graphic object. The values represent the
distance of the base point (selected on the right hand side of the
dialog box) relative to the top left corner of the slide.
To prevent accidental modification of the position of the graphic object,select the Position option in the Protect section (bottom left) of the
dialog box.
The unit of measurement for this and the other dialog boxes in thissection is set in Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Impress >General.

10

Managing Graphic Objects

Figure 5: Fine adjustment of position and size of thegraphic object

Resizing graphic objects
1) Click the graphic object to show the green resizing handles.
2) Position the pointer over one of the green resizing handles. The
pointer changes shape, giving a graphical representation of thedirection of the resizing.
3) Click and drag to resize the graphic object.
4) Release the mouse button to complete resizing.
The corner handles resize both the width and the height of the graphic
object simultaneously, while the other four handles only resize one
dimension at a time.
Tip

To retain the original proportions of the graphic, Shift+click oneof the corner handles, then drag. Be sure to release the mousebutton before releasing the Shift key.

For more accurate resizing of the graphic object, use the Position andSize dialog box (Figure 5). Select as the base point the part of thegraphic object that you would like to anchor to the page. The default
setting (top left corner) means that the when resizing, the position of
the top left corner of the object will not change. Now modify either the
Resizing graphic objects

11Width value or the Height value of the object. To maintain the
proportions between width and height, select the Keep ratio option
before modifying any value. When Keep ratio is selected, changes to
one of the dimension result in automatic changes to the other.
To prevent accidental modifications of the size, make sure that theSize option is selected in the Protect section in the bottom left part ofthe dialog box.

Applying special effects
Besides the basic actions of moving and resizing an object, a number of
special effects can also be applied to the objects in Impress. Several ofthese effects are readily available in the Mode toolbar. If the Mode
toolbar is not showing, select it from View > Toolbars > Mode.

1 Rotate

4 Set in Circle (perspective)

7 Transparency

2 Flip5 Set to Circle (slant)

8 Gradient

3 In 3D Rotation Object

6 Distort

Figure 6: Mode toolbar
This section describes how to rotate, flip, distort and two ways ofsetting an object in a circle. The transparency and gradient tools thatare more specific to formatting are discussed in Chapter 6.

Rotating graphic objects, Rotation of an object can be carried out manually or using a
dedicated dialog box, just like changing object position and size. To
rotate a graphic manually:
1) Select the graphic object if necessary so that the green handles
show around it.
2) Click the Rotate button
toolbar.
12

in the Drawing toolbar or in the ModeManaging Graphic Objects

Note

The icons representing the functions in the toolbars are different
depending on the operating system used and on whether OOo
has been customized for the Linux distribution in use or not.
When in doubt, hover the mouse over the icons and wait for thetooltip to appear showing the name of the button. The tooltip forthe sub-toolbar containing the Rotate function is Effects.

3) Eight red handles replace the green square handles, as shown in
Figure 7. Move the mouse over one of the corner handles and themouse cursor shape will change. Click the mouse and move in the
direction in which you want to rotate the graphic object.
4) When satisfied release the mouse button.

Figure 7: Shape showing the red rotating handles. Only thecorner ones are active. The black crosshair indicates therotation pivot.
At step 2) a black crosshair with a circle appears in the middle of thepicture: this represents the pivot point for the rotation. Normally thecenter of the picture will be just fine, but on some occasions you may
wish to rotate around a corner or even around a point outside thepicture; to do that, click on the crosshair and drag it to the desired
position.
To restrict the rotation angles to multiples of 15 degrees, press the
Shift key while rotating the graphic. This is very handy for rotating
pictures through a right angle, for example from portrait to landscapeor back.
Instead of rotating a graphic object manually, you can use the
Rotation dialog box shown in Figure 8. To display this dialog box,
select the graphic object so that the green resizing handles are shown,then press F4 or select Format > Position and Size and select the
Rotation page.
Applying special effects

13

Figure 8: The Rotation page of the Position and Sizedialog box
In the upper part of the dialog box, select the position of the pivot
point relative to the top left corner of the page. The default position of
the pivot point is the center of the figure.
In the lower part of the dialog box select the angle by which to rotate
the graphic object. To the right of the Angle text box, 8 default rotation
values can be easily selected.

Flip an object
Select an object and click on the Flip icon
. You will
see a dashed line through the middle of the object.
This dashed line is the axis of symmetry. The object
will be reflected about this line. Move one or both endsof the line with your mouse to set the orientation of theaxis.
Then, grab any one of the eight green handles and moveit across to the other side of the dashed line. The newposition of the figure is shown faintly until the mouse isreleased.

14

Managing Graphic Objects

Note

If you press the Shift key while moving the line, the line will
rotate in 45-degree increments.

Mirror copies
This useful command does not exist in Draw or Impress. It can,however, be easily emulated.
Move the axis of symmetry to the desired location of the mirror axis.
Copy the object to the clipboard. Flip the object, then click on an
empty area of the page in order to deselect the object. Paste from the
clipboard to put a copy of the object in its original location and now
you have a mirror copy.

Figure 9: Making a mirror copy of an object

Distorting an image
Three tools on the Mode toolbar let you drag the corners and edges ofan object to distort the image.
The Distort tool distorts an object in perspective, the Set to Circle(slant) and Set in Circle (perspective) tools both create a pseudo
three-dimensional effect. In all three cases you are initially asked if you
want to transform the object to a curve. This is a necessary first step,
so click Yes. Then you can move the object handles to produce thedesired effect.
The results of using these tools are shown in the following figures.

Distort an object
Select an object and click on the Distort icon . After converting to a
curve as requested, move the handles to stretch the object.
The corner handles distort, as shown in Figure 10. The vertical
midpoint handles distort the figure horizontally and the horizontal ones
distort it vertically.
Applying special effects

15

Figure 10: Distort an image

Set in circle (perspective)
Select an object and click on the Set in Circle (perspective)
icon.
After converting to a curve , move the object handles to give a pseudo
three-dimensional perspective).

Figure 11: Set an image in a circle with perspective

Set to circle (slant)
Select an object and click on the Set to Circle (slant)
icon. After
converting to a curve, move the object handles to give a pseudo threedimensional slant perspective.

16

Managing Graphic Objects

Figure 12: Set an image to a circle with slant perspective
NoteTransforming an object into a curve is a safe operation, but it
cannot be reversed other than by clicking the Undo button.

Aligning shapes
Use the alignment tools to adjust the relative position ofa graphic object compared to another object. Clicking
on the arrow beside the Alignment icon in the Drawing
toolbar opens the extended toolbar. The same alignment
options are available from the right-click menu.
The toolbar has six icons. The first three determine thehorizontal alignment of the selected objects (Left,
Center, Right); the other three determine the vertical alignment of theselected objects (Top, Middle, Bottom). If only one object is selected, it
is aligned to the page; however when several objects are selected
together, single objects are aligned to the group selection border.

Snapping objects to grid or snap guides
Sometimes it is important to align objects to specific points of the pageor to make sure that objects that appear on multiple slides are placedin exactly the same position. For this purpose Impress provides two
mechanisms: the Grid and the Snap Guides (also called Snap Lines).

Snapping objects to grid or snap guides

17

Using the grid
Options for the grid are available in the menu that opens by rightclicking on an empty part of the page in Normal view and choosing
Grid or by selecting View > Grid from the menu bar. In both cases a
submenu with three options opens:• Visible Grid: displays the grid.
• Snap to Grid: the anchor points of an object will always beplaced on a grid when the object is moved or resized.
• Grid to Front: displays the grid in the foreground.
To set up the grid spacing and snapping options, choose Tools >Options > OpenOffice.org Impress > Grid from the menu bar.

Using snap guides
Options for the guides are available in the menu that opens by clicking
on an empty part of the page in Normal view and choosing Snap Linesor by selecting View > Guides from the menu bar. A submenu withthree options opens:• Display Guides (Snap Lines Visible): the guides are shown on
the slide.
• Snap to Guides (Snap to Snap Lines): the anchor points of theobjects snap to the guides when the object is moved or resized.
• Guides to Front (Snap Lines to Front): the guides are brought
to the foreground and cover the objects.
Note

The main menu uses the term Guides, but the pop-up menu
refers to Snap Lines.

To create a new guide:
1) Right-click on an empty part of the work area and select Insert
Snap Point/Line from the pop-up menu.
2) In the dialog box that appears, specify the type (Point, Verticalline, or Horizontal line).
3) Depending on the choice made, the two edit fields X and Y
become active; enter the position of the guide.
4) Click OK to close the dialog box.
Tip

18

When positioning the Snap Guides, it is useful to display therulers. To do so, select View > Rulers.

Managing Graphic Objects

Tip

Drag a Snap Guide directly onto the slide by clicking on the ruler
and then dragging onto the slide.

To edit a guide:
1) Right-click next to or on the guide to be edited.
2) Select Edit Snap line from the pop-up menu.
3) Enter the new value (or values) and click OK.
To delete a guide:
1) Right-click next or on the guide to be deleted.
2) Choose Delete Snap line from the pop-up menu.
Figure 13 show the three types of guides, the grid on a slide, and the
dialog box to create a new guide.

Figure 13: Gridline, snap lines, and snap point on a slide

Snapping objects to grid or snap guides

19

Arranging shapes
Arrange determines the stacking order of theselected object. Draw and Impress organize objects
in a stack so that the objects on a high level of thestack cover the objects on lower levels if overlapping
occurs. To modify the position of an object in thestack, click the small triangle on the side of the
Arrange icon to open the extended toolbar. The samearrange options described below are available fromthe right-click menu.
The first four tools determine the position of the selected object:• Bring to front: the selected object is moved on top of any otherobject.
• Bring forward: the selected object is moved one level up in thestack.
• Send backwards: the selected object is moved one level down inthe stack.
• Send to back: the selected object is given the lowest position in
the stack.
The other three tools determine the relative positions of the selected
object and of a second selected object:• In front of object: brings the first selected object in front of thesecond selected object.
• Behind object: brings the first selected object behind the second
selected object.
• Reverse: swaps the stacking order of two selected objects.
To use the In front of object and Behind object tools:
1) Select the first object by clicking on it.
2) When the green handles show, select the desired arrange action.
3) The mouse pointer changes to a pointing hand. Click on thesecond object.

Working with connectors
Connectors are lines that can be anchored to particular places, called
glue points, on the graphic object. The advantage of connectors is thatwhen the graphic object to which the connector is attached is moved or
resized, the connector automatically adjusts to the change. When
20

Managing Graphic Objects

creating a flowchart, org chart, schematics or diagrams, it is highly
recommended to use connectors instead of simple lines.
Impress offers a wide variety of predefined connectors, which differ inthe termination shape (none, arrow, custom) and in the way theconnector is drawn (straight, line, curved).
When a connector is drawn or selected Impress displays red handles
which are not shown for normal lines; in particular, the termination
points are identified by red circles, while square handles are used tomodify the routing of a connector (where applicable).
Draw a connector in a similar way to drawing any object. First selectthe connector style from the Connector toolbar, then move the mouse
cursor over one of the objects to be connected. When the cursor is over
the object, small black crosses appear around it; these represent theglue points to which the connector can be attached. Click on therequired glue point to attach one end of the connector, then hold themouse button down and drag the connector to the second object. Whenthe cursor is over the glue point of the target object release the mousebutton.
For instructions on how to format a connector, refer to thecorresponding section in Chapter 6 (Formatting Graphic Objects).

Managing glue points
As described above, a glue point is the point of attachment for aconnector to a shape or graphic object. Each shape has a number ofpredefined glue points, but it is possible to define new ones as well as
edit them, using the Gluepoints toolbar.

1
1 Insert point
2 Exit left
3 Exit top

2 3 4 5
4 Exit right
5 Exit bottom
6 Relative

6

7 8 9 10 11 12

7 Horizontal left
8 Horizontal center
9 Horizontal right

10 Vertical left
11 Vertical top
12 Vertical right

Figure 14: The Gluepoints toolbar
Use the first tool to insert a new glue point. The next four tools
determine the exit direction of the connector terminating at the glue
point. To maintain the relative position of the glue point when resizing
the object, make sure that the Glue point relative icon (highlighted in
Working with connectors

21

Figure 14) is selected. Deselecting the Glue point relative icon
activates the remaining six icons on the toolbar; use these to fix theposition of the glue point during the resizing of the object. Hover themouse over the buttons to obtain a tooltip giving a short description of
its function.
To delete a custom glue point, select it with the mouse and press theDelete key.
Setting custom glue points is particularly useful where multiple
connectors terminate on the same side of a shape or where the default
glue point position is not satisfactory.
To move a predefined or newly inserted glue point:
1) Select the glue point tool from the drawing toolbar (see Figure 3).
2) Click on the glue point you want to move. The glue point should
now be highlighted.
3) Keep the mouse button pressed and drag the glue point to thedesired position. Release the mouse button.

Tip

Glue points are placed by default on the grid (see “Snapping
objects to grid or snap guides“ on page 17 for information),
however it is sometimes necessary to fine tune the position of
the glue point depending on the shape. To do this, keep theControl key pressed while dragging the glue point to the newposition.

Working with 3D shapes
3D graphic objects can be created in different ways in Impress:• From the 3D-Objects toolbar. The 3D-Objects tool
is not included in the default Drawing toolbar. To
include it, click on the small triangle at the end of
the toolbar, select Visible Buttons, and select
3D-Objects from the list. On the Drawing
toolbar, click on the triangle by the 3D-Objects
icon to display the extended 3D Objects toolbar.
• From the Convert sub-menu. Select a shape, right-click on it andin the Convert sub menu choose either To 3D to add thickness tothe object or To 3D Rotation Object to create a 3D shaperesulting from the rotation of the object around an axis.

22

Managing Graphic Objects

• From the Extrusion on/off icon on the drawing toolbar. Selectthe shape to which apply a 3D effect, then click thethe Drawing toolbar (see Figure 15).

Cautionbutton on

You can not apply extrusion to rectangular and oval shapes
created by using the rectangle or oval tools. Instead, select thedesired shape from the basic shapes menu to create a rectangle
or oval with 3D effects. Alternatively, right-click on the object,then select Convert > To 3D. Note that in this case theExtrusion on/off menu will not be enabled.

Although Impress offers advanced functions to manipulate 3D objects,
this book describes only the 3D settings applicable to an object with
Extrusion enabled. For additional information on how to use advanced
3D effects such as geometry and shading, refer to the Draw Guide.
Click onto activate the extrusion. The shape changes and a default
thickness is added to it. At the same time the 3D-Settings toolbar
should become visible. If the toolbar does not appear, select View >Toolbars > 3D-Settings.

Figure 15: The 3D-Settings toolbar
Use the tools to change the appearance of the 3D object.
Extrusion On/Off: adds thickness to an object and activates the
3D properties.
Tilt Down: tilts the object downwards around an horizontal axis.
Tilt Up: tilts the object up around an horizontal axis.
Tilt Left: tilts the object left around a vertical axis.
Tilt Right: tilts the object right around a vertical axis.
Depth: determines the thickness of the shape. An extended
toolbar opens where some default values are given. If none ofthem is satisfactory, select Custom and then enter the desired
thickness.
Direction: opens an extended toolbar that lets you pick thedirection of the perspective as well as the type (parallel orperspective)..

Working with 3D shapes

23

Lighting: opens an extended toolbar that lets you specify the
direction and intensity of light.
Surface: choose between Wire frame (useful when manipulating
the object), Matt, Plastic or Metal.
3D Color: select the color of the object thickness.
Most of the Fontwork shapes (see “Using
Fontwork” on page 28) have 3D properties
and can be manipulated with the 3D-Settings
toolbar.
Note that when rotating a 3D object, in
addition to the corner red handles, four
handles on the sides of the frame become
available.
Figure 16 is an example of a customized 3D
object.

Figure 16: Example of
3D object

Converting an object to a different type
You can convert an object into a different type. Right-click on theobject and select Convert to display a menu containing the following
options:• To Curve: converts the selected object to a Bézier curve. Choose
Edit Points to edit the Bézier curve.
• To Polygon: converts the selected object to a polygon. After theconversion choose Edit Points to edit the shape. A polygon always
consists of straight segments.
• To Contour: for basic shapes, this is equivalent to converting topolygon. For more complex shapes (or for text objects) thisconversion creates a group of polygons that you can thenmanipulate by pressing F3 to enter the group.
• Convert to 3D: converts the selected object to a threedimensional (3D) object.
• Convert to 3D Rotation Object: creates a three-dimensional
shape by rotating the selected object around its vertical axis.
• To Bitmap: converts the selected object to a bitmap.
• To metafile: converts the selected object to Windows Metafile
Format (WMF), containing both bitmap and vector graphic data.

24

Managing Graphic Objects

Note

In most cases the conversion to a different type does notproduce immediately visible results.

Setting up interaction with a shape
You can associate a shape or an image with some action to be
performed when the user clicks on it. To create an interaction:
1) Select the graphic object for which an interaction will be created.
2) When the green handles show, select from the Drawing toolbar(Figure 3) the Interaction button
or right-click on the object
and select Interaction from the pop-up menu.
3) The dialog box shown in Figure 17 is displayed. Select theinteraction type and the parameters (if applicable). Click OK toclose the dialog box.
To remove an interaction from a graphic object follow the steps 1–5,
above taking care to select No action as the interaction type at step 4.
The possible actions and their parameters are described in Table 1.

Figure 17: dialog box to set the interaction with a graphic object
Table 1: Interactions and their parameters
Interaction type

Parameters

Go to Previous slide

No parameters.

Go to Next slide

No parameters.

Go to First slide

No parameters.

Go to Last slide

No parameters.

Setting up interaction with a shape25

Interaction type

Parameters

Go to Page or Object

Specify the target from the list in the Target box.
You can search for a specific target in theDocument box at the bottom of the screen.

Go to Document

Select the document in the Document box. Use
the Browse button to open a file picker dialog
box. If the document to be opened is in OpenDocument Presentation format, the target list will
be populated allowing the selection of the specifictarget in the document.

Play soundSelect the file containing the sound to be played.
Use the Browse button to open a file picker dialogbox.

Run program

Select the program to execute. Use the Browse
button to locate it.

Run Macro

Select a macro that will run during thepresentation. Use the Browse button to open themacro browser dialog box.

Exit presentation

When the mouse is clicked over the graphic
object, the presentation will terminate.

Animating images
An animated image consists of asequence of images (frames)that are displayed in succession.
Each frame may contain one or
multiple drawing objects. To
start creating a custom
animated image, open the
Animation dialog box from
Insert > Animated Image.

Creating an animation
Several mechanisms can be used
to create an animated image.
This chapter describes only twoof them, which should be
sufficient to understand thefunctions offered.

26

Figure 18: The Animation dialog box
Managing Graphic Objects

Frame by frame animation
1) Create the image you intend to animate using the drawing tools.
2) Select the image and click the Apply Object
button. This
copies the object (or objects) into the upper part of the Animation
dialog box.
3) Apply some desired transformation to the object: for example,
rotate it or change the color; if you are animating text, add or
subtract a letter and so on.
4) When you are ready, create the second frame of the animationand click the Apply Object button again.
5) Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you have created all the desired framesof the animation.
6) Select Bitmap object in the Animation group section of theAnimator dialog box. This allows you to customize the timing ofeach of the frames and the number of repetitions for the
animation (set the value to Max to obtain an infinite loop).
7) Click Create to place the animated image on the slide.

Note

If the image to be copied in the Animator consists of several
objects, you can choose to treat each object as a separate frame.
In this case click the Apply objects individually button.
Remember that each object will be centered in the animation.

Animated image in one step
For some simple animations it is possible to create all the animation
frames in advance, and place them on the slide. This method works
well for a rotating line, a shape gradually changing color, shapes
increasing or decreasing size. In most of these occasions it isconvenient to use the Edit > Duplicate command.
When all the frames are already prepared, use the Apply objects
individuallyto create one frame for each of the objects.
It is easy to obtain for example a rotating line segment:
1) Draw a fairly thick horizontal segment (use Format > Line or
the Line and Filling toolbar to add thickness).
2) Open the Duplicate dialog box by selecting Edit > Duplicate andset the number of copies to 5, the X and Y axis to 0.1, the angle to30, the enlargement width and height to 0, and press the OK
button.

Animating images273) Select the 6 segments created by Impress and open the Animator(Insert > Animated image from the main menu bar).
4) On the Animator dialog box, click Apply objects individually.
5) Select Bitmap object in the lower part of the dialog box,
6) Create a new empty slide to contain your animation, then click
the Create button.

Other functions of the Animator
You can review the animation at any time by clicking the Play button
as well as navigate the various frames using the other controls
available.
If you are not satisfied with a particular frame, you can remove it. To
do so:
1) Navigate to the frame by using the Image Number box with thespin buttons (just to the right of the play controls).
2) Click the Delete current image button.

You can also delete the whole animation by clicking the Delete all
images button.
Tip

If you want to work on the animation frames a bit more, you cancopy them into the Impress work area by selecting Groupobject and then clicking Create.

Tip

Since all the objects are centered in the animation window, toanimate an object off the center of the image, create a blankrectangle of the same size of the final image and select it alongwith the object to be animated. Make sure that Group object isselected before clicking the Apply object button.

Using Fontwork
Use Fontwork to obtain special text effects. For more about this topic,
see Chapter 11 (Graphics, the Gallery, and Fontwork) in the Getting
Started guide.
To start using Fontwork:
1) Open the Fontwork Gallery by clicking theicon on the
Drawing toolbar (see Figure 3) or on the Fontwork toolbar (seeFigure 21). If the Drawing toolbar is not showing, you can go
28

Managing Graphic Objects

directly to the Fontwork toolbar by selecting View > Toolbars >Fontwork from the main menu bar.
2) Select from the Fontwork Gallery (Figure 19) the preferred styleand click OK. You can modify it later, so pick one providing aneffect similar to the desired one. The text Fontwork in theselected style appears on the slide (Figure 20).

Figure 19: The Fontwork gallery3) Double-click the object to edit the Fontwork text. Type your own
text in place of the black Fontwork that appears over the object(Figure 20).
4) Press the Esc key or click outside the area with the green resizing
handles to exit.

Using Fontwork

29

Figure 20. Editing Fontwork text
Now that the Fontwork object is created, you can edit some of its
attributes. To do this, you can use the Fontwork toolbar or otheroptions as described in the next section.

Using the Fontwork toolbar
Make sure that the Fontwork toolbar, shown in Figure 21, is visible on
the workspace. If not, select View > Toolbars > Fontwork from themain menu bar.

Figure 21: The Fontwork toolbar
In addition to the Fontwork Gallery icon, this toolbar contains thefollowing icons:
Fontwork shape: to change the shape of the selected object,choose a shape from the extended toolbar.

30

Managing Graphic Objects

Fontwork Same Letter Heights: Changes the height ofcharacters in the object. Toggles between normal height (somecharacters taller than others, for example capital letters, d, h, l andothers) and all letters the same height.

Figure 22. Left: normal letters; right:
same letter heights
Fontwork Alignment: specify the alignment of
the text within the frame from the choices available.
The effects of the text alignment can only beappreciated if the text spans over two or more lines.
In the Stretch Justify mode all the lines are filled
completely.

Fontwork Character Spacing: select thedesired spacing and whether kerning pairs should
be used. For custom spacing, input a percentage
value: 100% is normal spacing; less than 100% istight spacing; more than 100% is expanded
spacing.

Modifying Fontwork text as a shape
It is possible to treat Fontwork text as a shape and therefore to apply
to it all the formatting that has been described in this chapter. Assign
line properties only to Fontwork which does not have a 3D effect,otherwise the changes will not be visible.
Tip

Change the Fontwork color quickly using the Area fill color
swatch on the Line and Filling toolbar.

Using Fontwork31

In the same way as it is possible to modify the angles of Trapezoids andParallelogram basic shape by moving the yellow dot that is displayed
along with the green resizing handles, it is possible to modify some of
the Fontwork shapes.

32

Managing Graphic Objects