One of the benefits of creating images in Illustrator is that individual graphic elements are easy to select, move around, and modify. We can perform a variety of modifications to shapes with the Selection tool. Let's learn how to modify some of the pond shapes we've made with the Selection tool.
Quickly copying an object
If we want to make copies of a shape we've made, we can use a special feature of Illustrator that allows us to duplicate an object while dragging it. We can do this by activating the Selection tool and holding down the Alt key as we drag the shape. Let's practice this by copying one of the ovals in the pond.
To activate the Selection tool, in the Tools panel,
Click
To begin copying one of the ovals, on the artboard,
Click one of the blue ovals
To copy the selected shape, on the keyboard, press and hold:
Alt key, Press & Drag the shape to a new location on the artboard
NOTE for MacOS Users: To quickly copy a shape, press and hold the Option key while moving a shape instead of the Alt key.
Moving and rotating objects
When an object is selected, a number of lines, shapes, and points appear around the object. These lines and points make up the bounding box. A bounding box is a virtual box that surrounds everything we have selected, as seen in the following image:
No matter what type of shape we're working with, the bounding box will be rectangular in shape, as shown in the oval on the left side of the diagram above. The corners and midpoints of an object's bounding box contain handles that we can press and drag using the Selection tools in order to reshape, resize, and rotate an object. Additionally, depending on the shape, we may also see corner controls in each corner which allow us to round or straighten the corners of a shape if desired. (The corner controls are only displayed when selecting a shape that has corner points.)
As mentioned previously, we want to create a pond that has a somewhat irregular shape. We can accomplish this by using the Selection tool to manipulate the shapes using their bounding boxes.
Using the Selection tool, any shape on our artboard can be repositioned, resized, and rotated as needed. For our project today, we may want to move some of the ovals around to refine the shape of our pond. Moving a shape with the Selection tool is as simple as dragging the shape to a new location.
To rotate a shape, we'll start by pointing to one of the corners of its bounding box – when the cursor is in the right position, the cursor's appearance will change to show the rotate cursor:
When we see the rotate cursor, we can press and drag the corner of the bounding box in any direction to rotate a shape.
Let's practice moving and rotating the ovals that make up the pond shape.
To move one of the ovals, with the Selection tool active,
Press & Drag an oval in any direction
To select an oval to rotate, on the artboard,
Click one of the ovals
To start the process of rotating the oval,
Point the cursor near one of the corners of the bounding box until the cursor changes to
To rotate the object, with the rotate cursor visible,
Press & Drag the corner handle clockwise or counter-clockwise
Continue performing the actions outlined in Steps 1 and 2 until you are satisfied with the appearance of the pond.
To deselect all the objects on the artboard, in the Menu bar,
Click Select, Click Deselect
At this point, your pond should look somewhat similar to the following image:
Let's save our work before combining the ovals into one shape.
To save the file, on the keyboard, press:
Control key + S
NOTE for MacOS Users: To save the file, press Command key + S.
