Adding and manipulating shapes

You can add many different types of objects to your flipchart. These range from simple shapes you create with the Shape Tool, and annotations you create with the Pen or Highlighter , to such objects as:

You can manipulate most of these object types in the same way.

Here we show you how to create and manipulate simple shapes with the Shape Tool:

Finally, we also give you a taste of a power tool for creating shapes at the board.

Create a shape

To add a shape to your flipchart:

  1. Click on Shape The Shapes Menu opens. Depending on your preference, it is aligned along the side or bottom of the ActivInspire window.

  2. Select the shape you want to draw, for example Triangle. The cursor changes to an arrow and a small version of the shape you have selected.

  3. Move the cursor to the place on the page where you want to draw your shape, then click or press.

  4. Continue to press and draw gently until the shape has the desired size.

Select a shape

To make changes to the shape you have just created:

  1. Click on Select .

  2. Move the cursor over the shape. The cursor changes to a small arrow head with a cross. Click or tap on the shape. In the example below, we have selected the black triangle. A box appears around the object.

Things to note

For details of all the handles, see Reference > Menus and Popup Menus > Marquee and Sizing Handles.

The pictures below show the Marquee Handles for ActivInspire Studio and Primary. The table describes the handles we are going to use in this section:

ActivInspire Studio

ActivInspire Primary

Freely move the object anywhere on the flipchart page. Overrides all object restrictions and blockers.

Rotate the object around its centre or around the X/Y origin point, if set.

Group and ungroup objects, so that you can change or move them as one, or individually.

Increase or decrease an object's size in small increments.

Change the shape of an object by moving and dragging its corners.

 

 

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Fill a shape

To fill a shape with colour:

  1. In the Main Toolbox, click on Fill

  2. From the Colour Palette, select a fill colour.

  3. Click on the shape.

Move or rotate a shape

Move a shape

Here are two ways to move a shape.

  1. Select the shape.

  2. Keep the mouse button or ActivPen pressed and drag and drop the shape where you want it on the current page.

Or

  1. Select the shape.

  2. Click on Freely Move Object

  3. Keep the mouse button or ActivPen pressed on the icon and drag and drop the shape where you want it on the current page.

Rotate a shape

  1. Select the shape.

  2. Click on Rotate Object  

  3. Keep the mouse button or ActivPen pressed and drag the cursor around to change the shape's rotational angle

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Increase or decrease its size

Here are two ways to increase and decrease the size of a shape or other object without distorting it.

Make a small change

  1. Select the shape.

  2. Click on Increase Object Size or Decrease Object Size  to change the size in small increments.

  3. Repeat until the shape has the correct size.

Make a big change

  1. Select the shape.

  2. Click on Size Object (maintain aspect ratio)

  3. Keep the mouse button or ActivPen pressed and drag the handle until the shape has the desired size.

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Change its shape

Here are two ways to change the shape of  an object.

Lengthen or shorten an object

  1. Select the shape.

  2. Click on one of the Size Object handles.

  3. Keep the mouse button or ActivPen pressed and drag the handle until the object has the desired length or height.

Edit Shape Points

To make more complex or subtle changes to a shape, use Edit Shape Points

  1. Select the shape.

  2. Click on Edit Shape Points The object outline changes to a series of squares. Each one of these is a shape point. The example on the right shows the eight shape points of a square.

  3. Click and drag any of the shape points to alter the shape of the square.

  

   

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Group and ungroup shapes

To move several objects at the same time, you can select all the objects and group them together with the Grouped Marquee Handle.

  1. Click on Select

  2. Click and drag the cursor diagonally across all the objects to select them.

  3. Click on Grouped . The Grouped Marquee Handle changes colour to indicate that the objects have been grouped together.

  1. Click on the grouped objects and drag them to their new position.

To ungroup objects, so that you can manipulate each one individually:

  1. Click on any part of the group to select it.

  2. Click on the Grouped Marquee Handle. The handle changes colour again to indicate that the objects are no longer grouped.

 

For details of all the Marquee Handles, see Reference > Menus and Popup Menus > Marquee and Sizing Handles.

 

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Power tool

ActivInspire also offers the Shape Recognition Tool for creating shapes at the board. You draw a shape by hand and let ActivInspire turn it into a shape object. For details, see Using Shape Recognition.