Shape Effects Editor

The shape effect editor is a modal view used to edit the set of shape effects of the selected object, or to edit a shape effect preset or style from the corresponding panels. The shape effect editor can be used to reorganize the list of shape effects, by creating, modifying and removing effects, and apply the changes in a single step.

The modal shape effect editor can be used in various places:

• To edit the shape effects of the selected object, select the Edit Shape Effects command from the Effects menu.
• When a shape effect is added to the selected objects from the Effects menu, the Shape Effect editor is used to set the effect attributes, or to create composite effects.
• When creating or editing shape effects in the Layers panel and in the Appearance panel.
• When editing shape effect presets and styles in the preset manager, presets panel, styles panel or the document style editors.

The left side of the shape effect editor view contains the list of shape effects, and various commands used to manage this list. Selecting a shape effect in the list on the left side will show its attributes on the right side of the view.

The right side of the shape effect editor view contains the attributes of the selected shape effect. The content of the right side depends on the selected shape effect type, and are described with more detail in the sections of this chapter.

There are two shape effect style lists on the view. The Styles field on the left is used to save or replace the whole effect group edited in the view. The Style field on the right side is used to save or replace the selected shape effect type and its attributes. This allows the selection of previously saved shape effect presets or styles, to replace a single shape effect in the list.

The following shape effect editing options are accessible from the view:

• - Add a new shape effect to the list of shape effects. Clicking this button opens a menu with the available shape effect types. Select a shape effect from the menu to add it to the list.
• - Reset the attributes of the selected shape effects to their default state.
• - Delete the selected shape effects from the list.
• - Delete all shape effects from the list.
• - Create a group from the selected shape effects. Shape effects can be organized into a hierarchy of groups, and individual groups can be saved and reused as presets or styles.
• - Expand the selected shape effect group into separate shape effects.
• - Set the level of detail for the attributes of the selected shape effects. By default, only the most common attributes of the selected shape effects are shown on the right side. The button can be used to swap between detailed and common attributes.
• Group Objects - Enable or disable the grouping of the selected objects when the shape effect editing confirmed. When multiple objects are selected, applying a shape effect on the selection requires that the objects are grouped. Alternatively, disabling this option will result in applying the shape effects separately on each selected object, resulting in local distortions.
• Preview - Enable or disable the previewing of the current shape effect options on the selected objects.
• The options of a shape effect can be edited by clicking on the button, next to the shape effect names.
• Shape effects and groups of effects can be renamed for easy identification. The name of the group or effect can be used when saving it as a preset or style.
• The button in the shape effect title row is used to enable or disable the shape effect.