# help: | # Creating and Editing Objects
| Selecting Click on an object in the Edit function in order to select it for editing. Hold down the shift key and click to select more than one object, or to toggle the selection of a particular object. Sometimes you can't see the selection handles of large objects. If you zoom out a bit in the edit view you can see the selection handles on images or other objects that lie partly outside of the design. Click on one of the large or small disc images above or below the zoom slider to fit the design back into the editing area. If you can't select an object you're trying to select, it might be locked (see Locking), or other objects might be in front of it (see Arranging), or it might be in another layer (see Layers). You can try locking objects that get in the way and then selecting again. Moving Click on an object and drag the mouse to move it around. If multiple objects are selected (via shift-click) you can move them all around at once. Hold down the shift key while dragging to constrain the dragging to the closest axis (horizontal or vertical). Duplicating As well as using copy and then paste to duplicate the selection, you can also drag while holding down the option key. This duplicates the objects being dragged, leaving the selected objects in their original positions. Sizing To resize an object, first select it and then click and drag in one of its corner or side handles. Release the mouse button once it is the size you want. You can resize an object proportionally, or constrain dragging to a particular axis (whichever is closest) by holding down the shift key while you resize the object. (Note that for images, resizing is proportional by default (subject to the setting in the Edit tab of Preferences), but they can be resized to any proportion by holding down the option key or using a side handle.) You can resize an object about its center by holding down the command (Apple) key while you resize the object. Locking Using the Lock function from the Arrange menu can help with selection when multiple objects are getting in the way. Locking a troublesome object that you don't want to select allows you to select only the object you want. In DiscLabel's templates you will find the background image is usually locked. Generally doing this or making sure your background images are in the background layer is good design practice. Select the menu item Arrange-Unlock All to unlock all objects so they can be selected and manipulated once again. Layers You can place your objects in several layers. Layers are drawn in order, with the Background drawn first, behind everything else. Every design has at least two layers: Background, and layer 1. You will probably choose to place your text in a foreground layer, and your graphics in the background layer. You can only select objects in the layer you currently have chosen. This allows you to work in the foreground without accidentally selecting objects in another layer. You can also toggle the visibility of one layer by clicking the eye symbols. In some situations turning off one layer can make your work easier to see, or can speed up interactivity if one of the layers is very complex. Note also that when you choose any of the predefined text layouts to apply to a template or to a design that all objects in layer 1 are removed and replaced with the those from the foreground layer of the predefined text layout. This is another reason that you might want to place your graphics in the background layer. Various menu commands are available for layers in Arrange–Layers. One really convient command is Arrange–Layers–Copy all Layers, along with its companion Arrange–Layers–Paste Layers with Replace. These two commands let you copy all layers from one design element to another. Arranging All objects are drawn in order (back to front). They are also selected in order (front to back). You can change whether an object lies in front of another by using the Arrange menu. Your choices affect only the selected objects within the current layer. Objects in the background layer are always drawn before those in the foreground layer. Rotating You can rotate objects as well as drag them. To do this you use the following palette controls: Rotate around center of design With this palette control selected any object you drag rotates around the center of your design. This is great for working with discs, or moving text upside down on a design. Rotate around center of selection With this palette control selected any object you drag rotates around its own center. You can constrain rotation to discrete increments by holding down the shift key while rotating. By default the increment is 45 degrees, but this can be changed in the Editing Preferences. You can also make a rotated duplicate of the selection by holding down the option key while rotating. Don't forget to click the arrow palette control to drag and size objects normally once again. Importing an Image To import an image click:
Import Image | The palette that appears shows pictures from albums in iPhoto you can use, or you can choose a different image source or library via the pop-up menu at the top of the sheet.
A faster way to import a file is to drag and drop it from the Finder (or even a web browser) into the editing area. You can also copy and paste graphics into DiscLabel. Importing a Montage
| A montage is an image created from multiple images. You can select multiple images in the Import Image palette, and checkmark Montage to create a single image from the selected ones. Click Add after selecting another image or multiple images to add further images to the montage. You can change the format of images in the montage with the Format, Border, and Mask options. To make a grid of square images with no gaps make sure border is set to zero, and that the mask shape is set to a square. This option is great for making covers for CDs containing photographs.
You can import an image of any size and scale it in DiscLabel to effectively get any resolution you want. So, for example, a 1500 x 1500 image at 72dpi, when scaled across a 5" disc will yield 300 dpi, and a 750 x 750 image at 72dpi will yield 150 dpi, etc. If you import PDF line art into DiscLabel you can still scale and crop it. The picture will scale to maximize use of the resolution of the output device. Drag the selection handles of a selected image to change its size. Images resize proportionally if you resize them using the corner handles (subject to the setting in the Edit tab of Preferences). Use the side handles to resize them to other proportions, or hold down the option key while using the corner handles. Scale or crop your image by double-clicking on the image or by first selecting the image and clicking Crop:
Crop | The image scaling & cropping sheet will appear. Note that this button won't highlight unless there is a single image selected. From this sheet you can reduce the image by dragging the slider. Click Fit original size to reduce only the resolution of the image (and how much disc space it requires) as you drag the slider. Drag a rectangle over the image to choose a region for cropping.
Effects | Click Effects to apply an effect to the selected image. You can combine several filters to get a single creative result. You can use the Mask filter within the Effects dialog to apply masks and soften image edges as with prior versions of DiscLabel that used the Mask feature. You can also apply effects to the current layer. When no object is selected the Effects button is enabled, and clicking it will let you choose an effect for the current layer. See Layer Effects for further details.
Transparency | Choose Edit–Make Transparent Image if you want to make a portion of your image show through to the background behind. In the make transparent image dialog, click in the background color you want to make transparent from the image in the dialog. Adjust the slider to have greater or lesser tolerance of this color when figuring out what parts of the image to make transparent. Note that PDF images cannot be made transparent and this menu option will be grayed out when a PDF image is selected.
Drawing Lines, Scribbles, Polygons, Rectangles, and Ovals
| Click one of these palette controls to add a line, scribble, polygon, oval, or rectangle to your design. An oval or rectangle is automatically placed, and then can be positioned and resized. For a line, you will need to click and drag to create the start and endpoint. For a scribble click and hold and scribbles appear where you drag the mouse. For a polygon, each click makes a new point in the polygon. Double-click to end the polygon.
Fill Color, Stroke Outline and Shadow To change the color, stroke, or shadow attributes of an object, first select the object by clicking it. The color control updates to show the present color.
Fill |  | Click the top color control to show the color palette and choose a new fill color. Note that you can also change the opacity of a color so objects behind show through. You cannot change the color of an image, but you can change its opacity with the fill color. The fill color affects the color of ovals, rectangles, and text.
|  | Update the fill type with the Fill pop-up menu: None, Solid Color, and Gradient are the options. Choosing Gradient lets you fill an object smoothly with a color gradient. To change the colors for the gradient, click in the color triangles below the gradient and then change the color. Drag a triangle to change color positions on the gradient ramp. Click below the ramp to add a new color to the gradient. Drag a triangle off the ramp to remove a color. A gradient can have as many colors as you can reasonably fit. You can alter the angle of the gradient with the controls on the right. You can also choose between an axial or radial gradient.
Stroke |  | Click the stroke outline control to show the color palette and change the stroke color of a line or scribble, or outline color for polygons, ovals, rectangles and text.
|  | The attributes of a stroke can also be changed - outline type and width. Note that text can only have an outline of solid or none. The stroke width does apply to text, but only loosely as ultimately the stroke width is stored as a percentage relating to point size. What you see is what you get, but the numeric width is only a loose approximation in this case.
Shadow |  | Click the shadow control to show the color palette and change the shadow color of a line or scribble, text, or image.
|  | The attributes of a shadow can also be changed - shadow blur radius, distance, and angle.
|  | You can get quite creative with DiscLabel's gradient and scribble features. This heart was created with a simple scribble shape, and then filled with a radial red gradient, and a thick dark blue stroke outline.
Adding and Editing Text
| Click one of these palette controls to add horizontal, vertical or circular text to your design. You can change the circular text control to make text that is automatically centered on the top or the bottom of your design. Click and hold the palette control, and choose which type of circular text you'd like from the menu that appears.
Edit the text by clicking in it. If the text object is not already selected, the first click selects it so it can be moved or resized, and the second click starts editing. A double-click selects a single word. A triple-click selects the entire text so that typing will replace it completely. Choose format options (including Font) from the Format menu. All format options work on the selected text and require text or a text object to be selected in order to operate. Change the justification of the selected text by choosing Format–Text and your desired justification from the menu. Alternatively display the ruler via Format–Text–Show Ruler and choose justification via the buttons displayed in the Ruler window. To center circular text around the bottom or top of a design you must first have your circular text selected. Now choose Format–Text–Center. To get your centered text at the top, rotate it around the center of the design with the shift key held down (see Rotating above). Linking Text If you create two text objects, then it is possible to link them together and allow text to flow from one into the other. To do this, select the text object you wish to add to. Click the + button that appears on the bottom right of the text border. Move the mouse over the text object you wish to link to. Valid text objects are highlighted as you move the mouse. Click to make your choice. Click elsewhere if you decide not to link text objects. To unlink text objects, select the one you want to unlink from a subsequent text object. Click the - button that appears on the bottom right of the text border. Text Controls
| The Font button gives you quick access to the font palette.
You can convert text containing tags that shows imported tracks to plain text for easier editing by choosing Convert to Text from the Text part of the Format menu. Convert to text is automatic if you edit text containing tags directly. The Text Palette automatically appears when you are editing text. The Text Palette is used to edit tags for including imported data in your design. Inserting Tags and the Text Palette Tags are used to specify where to place imported data, and are accessed from the Text Palette.
| Insert any of the tags by choosing from the Insert Tag control in the Text Palette. Tags that are not valid for a particular set of imported data are displayed as empty strings. You can use non-breaking space between tags if you don't want a line break to come between them when formatted. To do this, instead of typing a space into your text, hold down the option key and type a space. Option-tab and Option-return insert tab and return characters into tagged text.
Formatting Text Tags
| Make sure that you have a text object selected, and choose a format from the Text Format drop-down menu. The text will be replaced with the format chosen, with imported data inserted.
| The options menu allows you to set options for the selected text object Shrink to Fit - automatically reduces the size of text that overruns a text object to fit into the text object. Oppose Text Alignment - useful for a linked text object. When set it makes the linked text be aligned opposite to the original text. This way you can format tracks in two linked regions across a CD, with the left side justified to the left, and the right side justified to the right. Constrain to Design Edge - when unchecked, text will flow over the boundary of a design, rather than being bound by it. Override Text Color - normally the text color of a text object is used for drawing. Checking this option, and choosing a color, will use that alternate color for the text in the selected text object rather than the default color defined in the text. It is useful to have two linked regions of text be readable on very different backgrounds by making the text in the two regions a different color.
You can put any text between tags you insert in text, and it will appear verbatim. You can remove tags by double-clicking the tag you wish to remove and pressing the delete key. You can add tags via the Insert menu. Place the text cursor where you want to insert your tag, and choose the tag you want from the menu. The tracks displayed automatically update. To add and remove tracks read the section Editing Tracks in the importing and editing tracks part of the help. You can change the font or color of any of the text displayed for each track by selecting the tags and or/text you wish to change, and choosing Format–Font-Show Fonts to change the font or by clicking the color button to show the color palette and change the color. Alignment Controls
| View–Align Palette gives you access to the alignment controls.
Aligns a single object to the top of the design, or multiple objects to the topmost edge of the objects Aligns a single object to the left of the design, or multiple objects to the leftmost edge of the objects Aligns a single object to the bottom of the design, or multiple objects to the bottommost edge of the objects Aligns a single object to the right of the design, or multiple objects to the rightmost edge of the objects Centers a single object horizontally in the design, or multiple objects center horizontally on one another. Centers a single object vertically in the design, or multiple objects center vertically on one another. With three or more objects selected, distributes those objects to be horizontally equally spaced. With three or more objects selected, distributes those objects to be vertically equally spaced. Distributes objects around the center of the design by rotating them. Hold down the option key to position them around the center but not rotate them. Equally spaces objects from the center of the design. Layer Effects Layer Effects are the same as image effects but they apply to an entire layer. Using layer effects allows effects to be applied to any object, including text. To add layer effects to the current layer, make sure no objects are selected and click the Effects button. Alternatively, control click or press the mouse menu button on the layer tab area and choose Layer Effect... from the popup menu. The option is available from Arrange–Layer–Layer Effect... . Once a layer effect is applied to a layer, the layer icon, an eye will change into color to indicate the layer has an effect applied to it.
| Note that while editing, you see the current layer with effects not applied. This is because effects can change the displayed location of objects, and so editing the current later with effects on is not practical. To see effects on the current layer click the eye symbol next to the layer name and the effects will be previewed. As soon as you try to edit the layer, or click the eye symbol again, the effects preview is turned off. Shown is an example of what you can achieve with layer effects applied to a layer containing text.
| © 2003-2008 SmileOnMyMac, LLC. All rights reserved. |