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Chapter 6: Creating Drawings with Draw
Draw calculates the increments and displays the
results. This new object is a group which consists
of the specified number of individual objects. Enter
the group and then edit the individual objects. The
Modify menu in Draw contains all the necessary
commands for working with groups and these
functions can be also found in Impress under the
Format > Group menu command or in the context
menu. Further information can be found in Help.
Working With a Group of Objects
Several objects at one time can be selected, grouped, combined, merged, subtracted and
intersected.
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Selecting several objects at the same time has a temporary effect; i.e. whenever the
mouse is clicked elsewhere on the page or slide, the grouped area is deselected.
•
Grouping and combining are valid until the group or the combination is deselected
using the command from the context menu or the Modify menu.
These commands can also be used to group together several groups, add a combination
and combine the results as a group or combination.
Grouping Objects
Several objects can be combined into a group. To do this, select them together by
pressing Shift, right-click to bring up the context menu and choose Group, or go to the
main menu Modify > Group. Any and all changes made to a group have an effect on all
objects in the group. In particular, groups can be moved, rotated, etc. as a single object.
For example, in drawing a bicycle, first construct a wheel, composed of a tire, rim,
spokes, and hub, and then group these objects together. This makes it easy to rotate the
wheel, duplicate it, and move the second wheel to the appropriate position. Finally, draw
the frame and the rest of the bicycle, and form a new group.
To edit an object that is part of a group, there is no need to redefine the group. Use the
Enter Group command on the context menu, which allows editing any object in the
group. When edits are completed, exit group and re-save as Group.
Entering Groups
Enter a group by first selecting it, either by clicking it or by using the keyboard. Once
selected, you can decide whether to employ the context menu command or double-click
the group to enter it.
Exiting Groups
Exiting a group may be accomplished in these two ways: using a menu command, or
double-clicking outside all of the objects in the group. The group remains selected upon
exit; thus making it possible to quickly enter and exit a group using the keyboard.
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