Line Grid Shapes

Line grid shapes are parametric shapes containing a line grid of horizontal lines and an optional clipping frame. Line grids can be used as object shapes, or building blocks for more complex shapes.

The properties of a line grid shape can be edited using the Node tool or the Shape panel.

Drawing Line Grids

Line grids can be drawn using the Line Grid tool from the application toolbox. To draw a line grid:

• Select the Line Grid tool from the toolbox.
• Press the mouse on a starting location on the canvas, this will be the center of the line grid.
• Drag the mouse to set the line grid size. The size is adjusted to be a multiple of the line grid spacing.
• Hold the Control key to draw the line grid centered at the starting point.
• Hold the Shift key to draw the line grid into a square box.
• Release the mouse to create the line grid with the selected size.

If the document view is rotated, the line grid shape will be drawn with the opposite rotation angle to the view.

The default line grid options can be set by double clicking on the Line Grid tool icon in the toolbox. For example: the spacing of the line grid can be set before drawing.

To create a line grid by setting the numeric properties of the shape, click at a point on the canvas. This will open the Line Grid view (described below) that contains all the line grid shape properties. Set the required values and press Ok to create a new object with a line grid shape.

Editing Line Grids

The Node tool can be used to interactively edit line grid shapes:

• Select the object with a line grid shape.
• Select the Node tool from the application toolbox.
• Three handles are shown to edit the line grid size and rotation.
• The handle at the bottom right corner can be used to resize the line grid in both horizontal and vertical direction.
• The handle at right center of the line grid is used to resize horizontally and to rotate the line grid.
• The handle at top center of the line grid is used to resize vertically and to rotate the line grid.
• Hold the Shift key to restrict the rotation to user specified increments.
• Hold the Control key to fix the line grid angle and change only the size.
• Hold the Command (Mac) or Alt (Windows) key while moving the handle, to fix the line grid size and change only the rotation.

Editing line grids with the node tool (instead of just resizing) has the advantage that the line grid can be resized without changing the space between the lines.

Line Grid Properties

The properties of a line grid shape can be edited in the Shape panel when the shape is selected, or in the Line Grid view, either from the shape panel, or when editing a shape style.

The following properties can be modified for a line grid shape:

• Size - Select the width and height of the line grid.
• Spacing - Select the amount of spacing between the lines.
• Angle - Select rotation of the line grid.
• Include Frame - Add a rectangular frame around the line grid.
• Clip to Frame - Enable or disable the clipping of the rotated line grid into a non-rotated frame.