Distort Tool

This tool allows you to bend and flex a vector or component by manipulating a distortion envelope using Aspire's standard node editing tools. You can select one or more vectors or components and then use one of the three different tool modes to create your initial distortion envelope.

If you try to use this tool to modify multiple, grouped or distorted components you will first be prompted to 'bake' your selection components into a single object. For more information on what this means, please see the section Baking Components.

Note: You can distort several vectors or components at once but you cannot distort a mixture of vectors and components together in a single operation.

Once the distortion envelope has been created, you can use Aspire's node editing tools to add or edit its nodes and spans. As you alter the shape of the envelope the associated object will be distorted to reflect the changes.

Baking Distortion into an Object

Once an object has been distorted, node editing will always relate to the object's distortion envelope. If you wish to edit a distorted vector directly again, you will first need to permanently apply the distortion to the shape.

Note:

If you select an object that already has a distortion envelope while in the Distort Object tool, the Bake Distortion button will be available. Clicking this button will permanently apply your current distortion and you will then be able to either distort the object again (with new settings), or node edit the shape directly.

Bounding Box

This option is available if you have a selection of vectors or components (Note that you cannot mix vectors and components in this mode). It creates a distortion envelope based on the closest bounding box that can be drawn around your selection. Thus the resulting envelope is always initially a rectangle, comprising four line spans and a node at each corner. Using the normal node editing tools, however, you can modify this envelope as much as you like and the shape within it will be distorted accordingly.

Along a Single Curve

This option is only available if the last item in your selection is an open vector that Aspire can use to define a curve, above which the other selected objects will be distorted. The distorted object can comprise one or more vectors or one or more components, but not both.

Using this option, you will usually end up with your objects bent to match the curve in your original selection. The distortion curve itself is left unchanged by this operation.

Between Two Curves

This option will become available if the last two objects in the current selection are open vectors, between which the other objects can be distorted.

Distortion Example

The other objects in the selection can comprise one or more vectors , or one or more components, but not vectors and components together.

Therefore two examples of valid selections for this operation would be:

3 vector shapes and 2 open curves
3 components and 2 open curves

but not:

1 vector shape, 1 component and 2 open curves.

The selected objects will be stretched and squeezed between the two curves that were last in the selection. Neither of the contributing distortion curves in the selection will be altered by the operation.