rotate a line or oval

[rbrown]

How can I rotate an line or oval in designer? I have looked and looked and tried a bunch of different things. I can't access the flip and rotate button. from reading I'm assuming this is for patterns. I only have designer. Do I need something else to get it to do that? I'm trying to draw the carving I want by hand. I'm pretty good with Illustrator and Photoshop and was hoping I could just do this in designer without spending more money... It would seem to me that rotating an object would be a basic drawing function. It is in all the drawing programs I'm aware of.

[badbert]

I use photoshop for my editing as well. I do not know how to rotate an oval or a line. But if you draw what you want in photoshop or illustrator then ctrl-a>edit>copy merged.
Now in designer click file>import>import image file. When the window opens click "from clipboard" play with the settings and then finish. You will now have a pattern you can manipulate. Hope this helps!

[DickB]

You can rotate a line by dragging an endpoint or typing in the desired angle in the box at the top of your screen. You can't rotate a drawn oval, but there is a workaround that may or may not work for you, depending upon what you are trying to do: convert the drawn oval to a pattern, rotate the pattern, then outline the rotated pattern. To make the oval into a pattern, first make it a carve region, then Group it, select the Group, then click Make Pattern.

[bergerud]

One can always draw them using splines. For example:

• draw a line segment
• rotate to the desired angle
• convert to a spline
• connect the end points with another line segment
• convert it to a spline
• double click on the endpoints to connect the tangents
• adjust the handles to shape the oval
• add more points if desired

[mtylerfl]

DickB has the easiest/quick solution for most situations. Draw your elipse, Make Carve Region/Group/Make Pattern/Rotate it/re-outline if needed, then delete the pattern (leaving the now rotated outline.

However, there is another possibility for those who own the DXF Importer. You can draw your ovals/elipse/shapes in a drawing program (CorelDraw/InkScape...whatever) at the rotation you want, then save as DXF then import the vectors via the DXF Importer...OR draw the shapes vertically or horizontally (save as DXF, etc.), then rotate them directly in the CW DXF Import window itself before finalizing the import to the board. You can freely rotate, nest/move/scale vectors during the import process itself.

[bergerud]

The problem with those solutions is that they are a real pain to edit. You have to go back through the whole loop again to make a change. (The splines are really easy to make and edit and are much more versatile.)

[badbert]

I often wonder why the most powerful tool in windows, gets so little credit. The clipboard can import anything as an image. Anything that is able to be viewed or created in Corel Draw, Photoshop, or even paint, can be imported directly using clipboard. I can load an .AI (illustrator file) or an .eps in Photoshop. Highlight what I want to use and copy. Then import it through image import directly from the clipboard. If I need to change something I just minimize designer, make the change in photoshop, copy the changed file bring designer back up, and click back to the "from clipboard" button. The workflow is seamless. If coreldraw can open DXF files, then the clipboard should import them without dxf importer. Am I missing something?

[rbrown]

K got it... Thanks bergerd However I did two spline lines by going from the starting point then to the second point and back to the starting point. made the oval then copied and pasted it... How can I rotate it without it reshaping the oval or twisting the splines? I was trying holding control and shift and that didn't help. I need the ovals to be exactly the same only rotated by 15 degrees. It will kinda look like the electron orbits of an atom.

[bergerud]

That is exactly the problem! One cannot rotate anything more complicated than a line in Designer. You can flip stuff and that might help you. Maybe if you explain more about what you want to do, we can come up with the best way. The fact that you want to rotate more than one of these means that, as Michael said, the pattern method may be better.

[badbert]

OOHHH Bergerud! That's brilliant! We need a rasterize button! Draw the shape, rasterize it, and manipulate it!!