V2 Tutorials

The V2 Work Window is an active surface upon which you can add, position and transform the elements that comprise your page. The window provides numerous aids to assist you.

If you are not able to see these instructions while performing the operations, select this Text Object, click on the lock on the left tool bar to 'un-lock' it, and then move this Text Object with your mouse to keep the relevant instructions in view.

Guide Options

On the toolbar above, underneath the Publish, SpecialFX and View are several guide toggle icons. These can be used to turn the edit aides and guides on and off. These are:

The target display guide will display a dashed blue line at the resolution you are designing for.
The grid guide will display guide lines at 10 pixel increments.
The snap grid will cause the mouse to jump at 10 pixel increments to help in alignment operations.
The ruler toggle will turn the rulers on and off.
The ruler tab guides will cause a dashed green line to be displayed in the work window at the current tab positions. Use the align toolbar to snap the current object to the closest horizontal or vertical tab position.

Tool Options

At the top left corner where the rulers intersect is a button to open the Tool Options Dialog. This dialog provides the same operations as the guide buttons and can also adjust the resolution of the snap grid and guide and change the freehand drawing resolution for the polygon tool.

Open the tools options dialog now and use the Help button to get more information on these features. When you are finished exit the dialog.

Rulers

Along the top and left edges of the work-window are rulers that display the current pixel position of your mouse. The exact position is also displayed numerically on the status bar at the bottom of the work window. In addition to being used as visual aids, the rulers can be used to create tab stops to align objects along their left, right, top or bottom edges.
To create a tab stop click on the ruler at the location you wish a tab stop to appear. Use your mouse to select and move a tab stop. Up to 10 tab positions per ruler can be created. Tab stops will be saved with the current project.

Align Toolbar

Along the bottom of the work-window is the Align toolbar. This toolbar is used to snap the current object to the closest tab position, to change the objects Z order, to set the object to relative or absolute positioning or sizing, and to group or merge two or more objects.

Selecting an Object

The simplest way to select an object is to click it with your mouse. Sometimes objects may be positioned on top of each other so that multiple objects are hit when you try to select one. The work-window uses a last selected object preference. That is, if multiple objects are hit when the mouse is clicked in the work window, the current object will be re-selected if it is one of the objects hit. This has the following advantages.

The current object can continue to be manipulated with the mouse in the work window even if it is moved behind another object.
Modifications to a selected object will not be applied the first time it is hit. This prevents accidental changes to an object whenever it is clicked.
Selecting a new object when multiple objects are on top of each other can be precisely controlled.

Click on the logo and arrow at the top left of the work window. The Logo will probably be selected.
While holding the shift key down, select again. The arrow should now be selected. If it is not, repeat the process holding the shift key down while selecting until the arrow is selected.
Use your mouse to move the arrow behind this text. Release and select it again. The arrow will continue to be selected even though it is behind this object.
Hold the ctrl key down and select again. This text object should now be selected. The ctrll key will force the topmost object to be selected.
Hold the shift key down and select the arrow again. Move it back so that it points at the top left corner button.

If you know the object's name you can also select it from the Quick Editor, page toolbar and object toolbar drop boxes.

Rotating, Scaling, Skewing and Moving Objects

Most Objects can be rotated, skewed, scaled and moved either directly in the work-window or in the Quick and Object dialogs. Editing an object in the work-window is fast and usually very accurate. The dialogs provide the ability to enter a precise numerical value when it is desired. At the top of the component toolbar (left-top) are two select buttons. The left black arrow button is used to select an Object for rotation, skew and scaling. The right blue arrow is used to select an object for moving and scaling.

Make sure the quick editor is visible by pressing the Quick Editor icon or Ctrl/Q
Select the black arrow on the components toolbar.
Select the green shaded rectangle to the left with your mouse. Rotation and scaling handles should appear.
Move the mouse cursor over one of the rotation handles until it turns into a rotation handle then rotate it by pressing the left mouse button and turning the object with the mouse until the shading is almost horizontal.
Select the blue arrow on the component toolbar and move the cursor over the top-left scale handles and drag the corners to approximately x=10 and y=1500. Select the bottom right corner of the box and drag it to approximately x=1300 and y=1600.
Use the Quick Editor to set the precise rotation to zero degrees and the scaling to x scale=5 and y scale=0.08. You can either use the up/down arrows on the Quick Editor or enter the values directly into the edit boxes.
Use the keyboard arrow keys to nudge the shaded bar so that the left edge is at x=40 and the top edge is at y=160.

Tab Stops

Create a tab position at x=40 in the horizontal toolbar by clicking on the ruler. If the Tab stop is not at x=40 use your mouse to move it.
Create a tab position in the vertical ruler at y=200.
Click on this text Object to select it and move it so that it is to the right and below the two tab stops.
Snap it to the horizontal tab position by clicking on the align left edge button on the align toolbar. It has a picture of a blue arrow pointing to the left.
Snap the text to the vertical tab position by selecting the align top edge button on the align toolbar.
Select the green shaded bar and select the align left and align down buttons on the align toolbar.
Select the align left and align up buttons. The horizontal green bar should now be aligned to the right and below the tab positions.

Snap To Grid

The snap-to grid can be used to help align objects and vertices by restricting the current position to specified incremental values. The default value is 10 so that a current location in the work window will be restricted to pixel positions 10, 20, 30... etc.

Press Ctrl-M or the snap-grid button on the File toolbar to enable the snap-to grid.
Select this text object and move it with your mouse. Its horizontal and Vertical positions should move in increments of 10 pixels.
Open the set tools options dialog with the button at the intersect of the two rulers (red arrow) or from the options menu.
Check the four boxes in the guide options section at the top.
Adjust the snap-to resolution to 50.
Exit the dialog and move this text object again. It should now move in increments of 50 pixels with the left-top edges being aligned to the grid guide.
Enter the set tools options dialog and set the guide options to your preference. The initial default has the target resolution, snap grid guide and snap grid disabled and the tab guides enabled.

Z Order

Objects are displayed in a back to front order so that objects at the front will appear over the top of objects behind. When a new object is created it will be assigned a Z position in front of all other object.

Select the arrow and green bar and move them so that they overlap each other and this text.
Hold the Ctrl key and selected a location where all three object overlap. The topmost should now be selected.
Press the to-back button on the align toolbar. It has a picture of four boxes with the white one at the back. The selected object should now be behind the other two objects.
Press the forward button (the second box is white). The current object should move between the two other objects. Press it again so that it is at the front again.
Select and change the Z order of the 3 objects so that the arrow is at the back, this text is in the middle and the green bar is at the front. Move them back to their original locations.

Locking an Object

The work-window provides a simple and convenient method to layout your page. Once your object is positioned and set up correctly you may wish to prevent it from being accidentally changed. This can be done by Locking it.

Select this text object with your mouse and move it to a new location.
Select the key button on the component toolbar at the left. You can also select the Key in the Quick Editor, the lock/unlock command in the Object Editor or you can press Ctrl-L on the keyboard. The key symbol should now have changed to a Lock.
Attempt to move this object again. It should refuse to change location.
Press any lock button again to unlock this object and return it to its current position.

All objects on the page can be locked or unlocked by going to the Edit Menu and selecting lock all or unlock all.

If an Object refuses to move check its Lock state.