Scale Picture Frame + Contents with Any Handle

[prophet]

I've tried to come to terms with APub's Picture Frame scale and anchor properties, but I guess I'm an old dog who can't learn the new tricks. I prefer to manipulate the frame and contents independently, so I've set my default frame properties to scale:none and anchor:none. I can then position/resize/scale the content and frame to get just what I'd like, often cropping out part of the content. Then if I need whole thing to be a bit bigger or smaller to fit the layout, I can use the detached "scaling handle" to get the scale right. But it is so very irritating that I can only scale from the bottom right!! It can be quite tedious if one would like to use that corner (or upper right or lower left) as the point of alignment and scaling anchor.

I found a heretofore undiscovered tip in this old thread…one can hold down Ctrl (I'm on a Mac) while pulling any of the regular corner handles and "resize and rotate" the frame along with its content. This is so close to what I want that I tried every possible key combo to remove the scaling component of the transformation with no success. In my workflow, scaling WHILE rotating has very little use, but the fact that this exists at all makes me want to request the key command be modified/expanded to allow for just scaling frame and content. (A side benefit could be to eventually remove that very confusing and troublesome detached "scaling handle" that seems to trip a lot of users up.)

 

 

[dominik]

10 hours ago, prophet said:

I found a heretofore undiscovered tip in this old thread…one can hold down Ctrl (I'm on a Mac) while pulling any of the regular corner handles and "resize and rotate" the frame along with its content.

This indeed is new to me, too. Not bad 🙂

On Windows one has to hold left and right mouse buttons simultanious. This is due to the fact that Windows computers have one modifier key less.

I think the logical solution would be to add the SHIFT key to constrain the rotation to certain angles. Just like regular rotation works with other objects.

d.

[Joachim_L]

6 minutes ago, dominik said:

On Windows one has to hold left and right mouse buttons simultanious.

This was new to me or I simply forgot it, because it "feels" not very comfortable and with this action you also rotate the frame.

[dominik]

9 minutes ago, Joachim_L said:

and with this action you also rotate the frame.

Yes, this is what @prophet's post is about. To prevent the rotation somehow 🙂

d.

[prophet]

An alternative is to forgo Picture Frames all together and just use vector masks. I can make a curve, "nest" the content inside, and then use any handle I want, with Shift held down, to scale everything. I can even click with Command held down to select the content inside, (like one would do with the direct select arrow in InDesign). Tricky bit with vector masks is having to click "lock children" if I want to alter the "frame" shape.

To me, InDesign does it right. While they still have the concept of Frame vs Shape, those element function almost the same way for moving, scaling, and especially fitting content. I sure do miss those Fitting key commands.

[dominik]

7 minutes ago, prophet said:

An alternative is to forgo Picture Frames all together and just use vector masks. I can make a curve, "nest" the content inside, and then use any handle I want, with Shift held down, to scale everything.

This is true but - as you found out by yourself - lacks some of the special features of a picture frame. I'd rather see the picture frames being adapted to vector masks where SHIFT constrains rotation angles.

d.

[prophet]

Well, this old dog doesn't see the "special features" as so special. Must just be my workflow preference, but having content within a frame in a perpetual state of "centered" or "stretched to fit" feels very awkward. I'd much rather have the key commands at the ready to make those constraints happen at my convenience.

As for that odd rotation and scale thing using "Ctrl", the more I use it, the more I think it's some leftover or bad coding. We've already got the rotation ability at the corners when the cursor is nearby. And we even have the "Ctrl" modifier to rotate from the opposite corner. So why is rotation included when selecting the corner directly? Direct corner selection should only give frame resizing and scaling options. Ditch the floating scale handle and just have direct corner selection have a scaling action available with a modifier.

[Fdfd]

Agreed. Upvote for adding shift to scale frame + contents without rotating.

 

Best,

[flyleaf]

On 7/27/2021 at 12:48 PM, Fdfd said:

Agreed. Upvote for adding shift to scale frame + contents without rotating.

Yes, we need this. I am currently going crazy just trying to scale up a photo (from the lower left) without altering how it sits within its picture frame. Only CTRL key scales the photo and frame in tandem, but then the free rotation makes it maddening to deal with.

[prophet]

@flyleaf If you haven't found the silly workaround yet, group your picture frame by itself (group of one). You can then scale from any corner.