Color Thy Layers

For greater control and organization, try coloring your layers as you add and name them. Just drag a color swatch onto the default blue square to the left of the layer's name. Then when you select anything on that layer, the bounding boxes and selected paths and points will be that color. It's a very useful trick for selecting objects that are stacked on top of each other.

 

 

 

Keeping Objects in Their Place

A key to working efficiently in FreeHand is grouping objects so you can either move them, hide them, transform them, or just keep them together so they can be locked as a convenient unit. These objects will have been created or placed on various layers - again, for efficient workflow. Naturally, the group will only occupy one layer. Depending on your working style, or the needs of a particular job, you have two further ways to proceed. Go to the Preferences panel, choose General, and half-way down the right side of the window you'll see Remember Layer Info. If this is checked, the contents of a group will return to the layers they were on when the group was applied. Many times that's just what you have in mind. But what if you want all the objects to go to one layer?

It's not hard to simply do the Ungroup command, and then click on the layer you want all the objects to be placed on. But if you work on projects where you always want the grouped objects to go to a single layer, then unchecking the Remember Layer Info box will cause all the objects to move to the layer that the group had occupied as soon as you do the Ungroup command.

For the ultimate in obsessive-compulsive orderliness, you can keep things on the up and up by going back to the Preferences panel and choosing the Panels item. At the top of that window you have the option of choosing Clicking On Layer Name Moves Selected Objects. It's turned on by default. If you have an object or group of objects selected and click on a layer's name in the Layers panel, the entire selection will move to that layer. That's pretty convenient. But when you want to prevent elements from moving from one layer to another, uncheck this option. Now, you must select the layer you wish an object to reside on before you create the object. Later, you will not be able to move the object to another layer - unless you change the preferences again. I can see if you have a repetitive workflow, such as a label designer, where there's a place for everything and everything in its place, that this would be a good option to use. If you set up a co-worker's computer this way, it could also drive them nuts on April Fool's day! Tell 'em Ron told you to do it...







Every issue, we try to bring you some news about the new features, bugs, workarounds, and other information that can make your FreeHand life more comfortable.

Studio MX Interface.
FreeHand looks and acts a bit more like Flash, Dreamweaver, and Fireworks now. Personally, I find that odd since FreeHand has been around longer, but people coming from Flash and Fireworks won't be as disoriented as they were in previous versions. The panels have a new method of locking and it's very easy to remove a panel to float by itself or group it with other panels.

Properties Panel. This panel really shows the difference between FreeHand 10 (and previous versions) and FreeHand MX. It contains the Object and Document panels. Document is the same as in previous versions, but the Object panel has been completely redesigned for MX. In a nutshell, you can add a stroke, fill, or effect to an object all from the same window. The attributes are listed in a tree view that allows you to move attributes above or below each other to create the effect you want. When you select Add Stroke, every option for strokes will appear in the window; the same goes for the Add Fill window. Add Effects brings up your choice of Vector Effects or Raster Effects. Each of these effect has their own set of options and attributes. To delete an attribute, simply select it and click the one of the trashcan icons in the top right corner of the window. The Remove Branch of the tree will delete everything on the selected branch, and the Remove Item icon will delete a selected item.

Vector Effects. The Bend and Expand Path Xtras were molded into this feature along with Ragged, Sketch, and Duet. These selections create a clone of the path you've selected, and modify the clone as you wish. Ragged adds points to the path and adjusts the path between points in a smooth or ragged manner - all fully adjustable. Sketch breaks the path up into sketchy lines; Duet creates clones that are manipulated much the same the Reflect Xtra works. The beauty of this new feature set, however, is that the original path is unaffected. If you make changes to that path, all the vector effects are modified at the same time - saving a whole lot of time in the process. The Transform effect is pretty cool, too. It has all the controls of the Transform panel, except you can rotate, scale, skew, and move an item all in one step. That step is then repeatable, so unlike previous versions where you could only repeat the last modification, now you can repeat a number of transformations in a single step.

Raster Effects. If anything will cause confusion in the illustrative ranks, this will pull it off. The effects are great, but users can create havoc by adding too many, or disregarding document resolution. This will be described fully, but for now you can expect to be able to apply inner and outer glows, drop shadows, blurs, bevels and embossing, and transparency. Use with restraint. Control yourself and you'll have no problems.