- In the previous chapter, we saw the Transform effect.
In case you missed it Transform lets you scale, rotate,
and duplicate a selection, and you can do so
altogether dynamically, meaning that the path outline,
for example, isn't really scaled, rotated, or duplicated,
it just looks that way.
And so if you modify the path, all the scaling,
rotating, and duplicating updates automatically,
but that's not the only way to work.
Since its inception, Illustrator has offered
a collection of static transformation tools.
Now, by static, I mean that if you scale, rotate,
and duplicate a path it really happens,
the path is permanently altered.
Now it's easy to think of dynamic as good,
and static as bad, but there are plenty of reasons
why static transformations may sometimes be better.
First, Illustrator offers four static transformation tools,
Scale, Rotate, Reflect, and Shear.
That final tool, Shear, it skews things, slants them.
Which is not something you can do with the Transform effect.
Second, because these are tools, you can use them
by dragging directly in the document window.
That makes for satisfyingly tactile feedback
complete with snapping, which in turn reduces ambiguity,
and can lead to more technically accurate results.
Third, these tools allow you to define a specific
origin for the transformation.
So for example, you can rotate around literally
any point in your document.
Plus, you can transform partial path outlines
which is not something the Transform effect can do.
You have this weird tool called Reshape,
that you may occasionally find useful,
and you know that transformations actually happen
so you're not working with ghost objects.
Now, I'm the first to admit, I'm a huge fan of the
Transform effect, it might be my favorite feature in
all of Illustrator, and we'll be seeing lots more
of it in the future.
Which is why you can trust me when I say static
transformations still have a lot of practical applications.
Here, let me show you a few examples.