3. Option to Show Individual Object Handles Within Group Selections

Option to Show Individual Object Handles Within Group Selections

  • J

    Request:
    Add a toggleable setting to display individual object handles (e.g., corner/side handles) for all selected objects, even when they are part of a group or multi-object selection.

    Motivation:
    Currently, selecting a group (or multiple objects) in VectorStyler only displays the bounding box handles for the entire selection. There is no non-destructive way to access or visualize the handles of individual objects within that selection. This makes precise alignment, positioning, or inspection difficult—especially in complex layouts like diagrams, UI mockups, or graphic overlays.

    Example Use Case:
    Suppose a circle is perfectly inscribed in a square. Selecting both objects only shows the bounding box of the square. There is no way to tell visually whether the circle is also selected, since its handles and bounding frame remain hidden. This creates ambiguity and slows down editing.

    Suggested Behavior:
    • Add an option under Preferences → Editing (or View menu) to “Show individual handles for multi-object selections.”
    • Or, as an alternative, allow a key modifier (e.g., holding Option or Cmd) to temporarily reveal internal handles within the selection bounding box.

    This would preserve existing simplicity while enabling power users to work more precisely with grouped elements.

    Thanks for considering!

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    M
     2 Replies
  • M

    I share the same concern in my editing work. I often can't be sure if I've selected the correct object.

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  • administrators

    @jpsimmons I added this to the backlog. Some questions:
    Would this be a feature when multiple objects are selected?
    (if a single group is selected, showing handles for member objects is a bit difficult).
    Also: would these handles look the same as the single handle looks currently?
    And if so, that means that each object can be scaled rotated individually? or would this be a Transform Each type of rotation.

    BTW: Transform Each mode is available as the 3rd icon in the transform options.

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    J
     1 Reply
  • J

    @VectorStyler

    1. I think it would be most useful when multiple objects are selected. For example, if you have a circle in the upper left and another in the lower right, if you just have the bounding box highlighted, you really just know that two objects in either upper left/lower right or upper right/lower left are selected. If you add 3 squares in the middle of the bounding box, there's no way of knowing if all three or, if any, have been selected.
    2. The handles of the objects, even within a group, are no less important than they would be if they weren't part of a group. I just tried it, snap to point will snap to them, even if they aren't highlighted. Illustrator highlights them all and that's how I know an object is part of the group. You may be able find some way of intuitively showing that these objects are also selected. I always guessed that you just iterated over the handles in an object and highlighted them. Highlighting the handles within a group would mean iterating over all objects in the group. But, I may be way off with that-never thought about how to do it.
    3. They behave the same way as the handles in a single object, so I would expect that highlighting them the same way would support that interpretation.
    4. If I select a group and do a scaling or some other transform, I usually expect that the same transformtion would be applied to every object in the group with the same center of transformation.
    5. I have never wanted to transform each of the objects in a group. Like having a set of stars that are in a group. To scale them all to 1/2 their original size is just not something I've ever needed. Unless I need to reset text to its original size-I select all the text and change the font size in that case.
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