CHAPTER
16
WORKING WITH OBJECTS
This chapter explains how to work with objects in Canvas. It tells you
how to select objects with selection tools or the Find command. It
describes common actions, including how to copy, group, lock,
move, arrange, flip, and align objects, plus effects you can apply to
all objects, including scaling, rotation, and skew. It also tells you how
to use the object position data in the Object Specs palette.
Types of objects
An object is a distinct item such as a circle, an image, or a paragraph
of text. There are different types of objects with unique properties,
and some commands apply only to some types of objects. But objects
in Canvas also share many properties. You can perform common
operations, including selecting, moving, rotating, copying, and delet-
ing, using the same methods for all types of objects.
The following object categories are used in Canvas:
Vector objects
Geometric shapes such as lines, circles, rectangles,
polygons, and smooth curves. Canvas defines them internally by for-
mulas, and they print smoothly on all printers.
Paint objects
Rectangular containers for pixel-based images, such
as photos, screen captures, and scanned artwork. Each pixel that
makes up an image has a color (or grayscale) value.
Text objects
Containers for text that can be formatted at the char-
acter and paragraph levels. Text objects can be empty or contain up
to a page of text, and they can be linked together.
Group objects
Collections of objects that have been united with
the Group command. A group object can be made from more than
one type of original object.