Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Jones.

I'm really pleased you decided to join this lesson today.

In this lesson, we will look at multiple objects and how to work with these in different ways, from grouping objects, selecting multiple objects, and how to combine two objects in different ways with different outcomes and different effects.

So let's get started.

Welcome to today's lesson.

Today's lesson is called working with multiple objects from the unit, "Developing vector graphics." And by the end of this lesson, you'll be able to work with multiple objects to create a vector drawing.

There are four keywords to today's lesson.

Object.

Object is something that is uniquely identifiable and has attributes.

Group.

Group is a set of objects placed together.

Combine.

Combine is join two or more objects together as one entity.

Union.

Union is a way of combining multiple selected objects into a single, unified shape.

There are three sections to today's lesson.

The first is use tools to create consistency.

The second, use grouping to work with several objects at once.

And the third, combine two shapes.

So let's start with use tools to create consistency.

Inkscape is an open-source and cross-platform application for creating vector graphics.

In vector graphics, every shape like a square or a circle is called an object.

Sometimes you might want to make a number of objects consistent.

You can change the fill colour, stroke colour, or stroke width to make several objects look the same.

Resize several objects by the same amount.

Line up objects.

Spread out objects evenly.

So imagine that you have a number of objects that you wanted to make the same colour.

So we've got four squares here of different colours and we want them to be the same colour.

How could we do this? Izzy says you could select each object one by one and change the colour.

That takes time.

However, sometimes it can be useful to work with more than one shape at the same time.

To do this, you need to select the objects that you want to work with.

There are two ways to select multiple objects.

Option one is drag a box.

So you go to the select tool at the top left, the black arrow, and then you click and drag over the two or more shapes that you want to work on.

So now, by selecting both of those, you can see they were selected.

The second is hold down shift whilst clicking.

So holding shift on the keyboard, you click on the first and then the second objects, and now you can see they are both selected.

So those are the two options available to you.

Once you've selected multiple objects, you can use the skills you have learned already to change the fill colour, stroke colour, or stroke width to make the objects look the same.

Resize the objects by the same amount.

You can also use the align and distribute buttons.

And you can see here, you can align or distribute.

Now we've selected all of them.

And on the right here, we have a line and distribute, and we have left a line which will move all the shapes over to the left.

And then we have the same again.

Centre align.

We're just using the undo button to undo what's been done so we can see the effect on the different ones.

We have distribute vertically.

We'll move them so that there is an equal spacing between each of the shapes.

You can align these three shapes in different ways.

Look at the alignment buttons on the next slides.

Draw a quick sketch of what you think the shapes will look like once they have been aligned.

Remember that if you're aligning something, the position of them does not change.

They just move to that area, whether it's left, right, centre.

So the first one is align these left edges, what would that look like? Pause the video and have a go at drawing what would that look like if we hit the align left edges button for those three shapes? Let's have a look at what that would look like.

You can see here those three shapes.

Remember that they don't change their position, they just move directly over to the left-hand side.

Let's do another one.

Align right edges.

What would it look like if we move them all to the right? Pause the video and have a go at drawing out what you think that would look like.

Let's have a look at that one.

And here we go on the right.

Again, remember the position doesn't move, it's just moving them all over to that one side.

Let's have a look align top edges.

What do we think that would look like? Draw that one out.

Pause the video and then we'll look at that one.

And let's have a look.

So there, we've got 'em all at the top.

So not much change there 'cause it actually looks quite like it's top aligned anyway on that one.

Let's do another one.

Bottom edges.

What would this look like? Draw it out.

Pause the video and then we'll look at what it would look like.

Let's have a look at that one.

And there we go, down on the bottom.

So again, you can see they're just full to the bottom or full to the top so that you can see the actual position of where it is.

What about centre on vertical axis? What do you think this one would look like? Pause the video and have a go at drawing that one, and then we'll go through it.

Let's have a look at that.

So again, here we go.

They just move into the centre on that centre line.

What about centre on horizontal axis? What would this look like? Pause the video and have a go at drawing that one.

Let's have a look at that one.

So there we see, they're just in the centre there onto that centre line on the horizontal axis.

Well done if you've got those right.

You can apply multiple alignments if they do not conflict.

These objects are centred on vertical axis and centred on horizontal axis.

Let's do a quick check.

True or false? To make these shapes look like a tree, you could use the centre on vertical axis button.

Pause the video, look at those two shapes there, and consider whether it is true or false that we could use the centre on vertical axis button to make it look like a tree.

And then we'll go through those answer.

Let's have a look at the answer.

The answer was true.

And there we go, we can see it there as the final solution.

Why was that true? Consider your answer and then we'll go through it.

Let's have a look.

Using the centre on vertical axis button will align the shape centrally, creating a tree image.

And can see now that red vertical line and see how it is now positioned.

Well done if you've got that correct.

You can also distribute the shapes in different ways.

Distribute means to spread out evenly.

Distribute horizontally.

You can see there that the shapes now have an equal space between them, represented by that pink arrow.

Distribute vertically would now have the equal spacing between them vertically.

Again, you can see by that pink arrow.

Let's have a quick check.

True or false? This is the align and distribute button used to align and distribute objects.

Pause the video, look at that icon, and consider if that is true or false, and then we'll go through the answer.

Let's have a look at the answer.

The answer is false.

Why is that false? Pause the video to consider your answer and then we'll check it.

Let's check your answer.

This button moves an object to the bottom of the z-order.

The align and distribute button looks like this.

Well done if you got that correct.

You can use the skills you have learned to help you to create images.

What would you create? John says, "I created a pine tree.

I selected the objects and then used the centre on vertical axis button." So here's the shapes the objects used first and then centre on vertical axis.

Let's do an activity.

Think about one or more images that you could create effectively using the align and distribute tools.

Add several objects.

Select them.

Align and/or distribute them.

Explain the tools you use to create your images.

Pause the video, use your software, follow those steps, and create your own image.

And then we'll have a look at a solution created by someone else.

Let's have a look.

So, Sofia says, "I created a flag.

I used the centre on vertical axis and centre on horizontal axis tools to get the red stripes in the right place." So you can see here, we have the two red rectangles and the white rectangle.

And now we have the centre on vertical, centre on horizontal.

It's a really good solution and I hope you've created something too.

Jacob has created a caterpillar, and says, "I made a caterpillar.

I created a circle, copied and pasted it, and selected all of the circles and made them green.

I used the align top edges button, then I used distribute horizontally with even spacing between left edges.

I added some details to the caterpillar's head to finish it off." So there we have the original green circles on centre on the horizontal line distributed, and then the extra detail, the caterpillar's eyes.

Well done to those two.

They're showing some possible solutions, and well done for your solution created.

Let's move to the second part of today's lesson.

Use grouping to work with several objects at once.

Selecting multiple objects allows you to apply actions to all of the objects simultaneously, but they remain independent.

To make it easier to work with multiple objects, you can group them together.

Once you've created a group, a grouped set of objects acts as one object.

So you can see they're moving around.

You can create then moving it from one place to another.

You can also ungroup objects and group set of objects.

So here you've got selecting the whole area.

All of them.

And then we can reshape, but we can still click and move independent shapes out.

Here, again, selecting all of them.

And on the right, down the bottom, you can see that group button.

And now they're grouped together, we can resize all of the shapes together.

Grouping allows you to make changes to all objects within the group simultaneously, such as resizing, moving, or rotating.

Here's an example, the original, resize the whole thing.

Resizing.

Rotating.

Being able to make adjustments simultaneously can save you time.

Once objects are grouped, you can ungroup them and edit those individual objects as needed, as we saw with that arm being removed, and we can make edits to that and then regroup things back together.

Let's do a quick check.

Which of these definitions means to group objects? A, join two or more objects together to act as one entity, B, something that is uniquely identifiable and has attributes, C, to place a set of objects together? Pause the video to consider your answer and then we'll go through it.

Let's check your answer.

The answer was C.

To place a set of objects together.

Well done if you got that correct.

Are there disadvantages of grouping? If you want to edit a single object within the group, you will need to take an extra step of ungrouping it first, which is this icon here, this button when you see it on the toolbar.

Let's do a quick check.

True or false? You can use the ungroup button to make multiple objects act as a single object.

The group button reverses this.

Pause the video to consider if that is true or false, and then we'll go through it.

Let's check your answer.

The answer was false.

Pause the video to consider why that is false and then we'll go through the answer.

Let's check your answer.

The group and ungroup buttons should be the other way around.

Well done if you got that correct.

Sofia says, "In complex designs, it can be difficult to remember which objects are grouped together." Jun says, "This might lead to confusion and errors when you edit." Let's do an activity.

One, create a simple picture.

Two, group it.

Three, make two copies.

You can use copy and paste or duplicate to make copies.

Four, make some changes to the grouped image, example, rotate or resize.

Five, ungroup the copied image and make some more changes.

Pause the video, use your software to create your image, your picture, using those steps there, and then we'll look at this possible solution.

Let's have a look at an example solution.

Jacob's original picture here and his copy.

Well done for completing that activity.

Let's move to the last part of today's lesson.

Combine two shapes.

Inkscape allows you to combine objects in different ways.

Once you've combined the objects, they become one single object.

This is different to grouping because you can't uncombine the shapes later, except by using undo.

In Inkscape, there are three different options you can choose to combine shapes.

Union.

Intersection.

Difference.

Look at this image.

It is made up of two shapes, A and B.

So we can see there, we have A as a square and B as a circle.

These two objects can be combined in different ways.

Union.

You can see here when we've done that, we now have one shape, one object now, which is combining those two together.

Combine the set of elements that belong to either A or B, or possibly both.

Let's do a quick check.

Select the shape that would be produced if these two shapes were combined with union.

Is it A, B, or C? Pause the video to consider your answer and then we'll check it.

Let's check your answer.

The answer was B.

Well done if you've got that correct.

Let's look at the second, which is difference.

We've got the same two shapes, and this time if we use difference, we get this.

Combine the objects by subtracting the shape of B from A.

A minus B, we now have that shape, the original square with the cutout of the overlapping shape of B.

An example of how to combine shapes using difference.

So you can see here, we have the original.

We've got a rounded edge square, the star, and a circle.

We move the star on top of the shape of the other object and highlight using the select tool to select both of those.

Then we go to path.

You can see here, we've got union difference and intersection.

Select difference.

And now we have one object.

That has now cut out that shape and you can see straight through it now, with that star in the middle.

Let's look at intersection.

It's the same two shapes.

We still have A and B.

And this time, it will come out looking like this because it's combined the set of elements that belong to both A and B.

So will only return the overlapped element and that is the object that is created.

Let's have a quick check.

Select the shape that would be produced if these two shapes are combined with intersection.

Is it A, B, or C? Pause the video to consider your answer and then we'll check it.

Let's check your answer.

The answer was A.

Well done if you got that correct.

Let's do an activity.

Create at least one of the shapes below using the combine options and then explain how you created your shape or shapes.

Pause the video, use your software, have a look at using those combine options.

Go back through the slides and watch those video examples, and then we'll go through a possible solution.

Let's have a look at a possible example solution.

And here, we have Izzy.

"I created one circle and then duplicated it.

I changed the colour of the overlapping circle so that I could see the moon shape more clearly.

I selected the two circles, then used the difference tool to combine the two shapes." So here is the original, the second.

So we now have two circles overlapping.

Use the difference tool to create the moon shape.

Well done for completing that activity and creating one of those shapes.

In summary, in vector graphics, every shape like a square or circle is called an object.

You can use tools to line up objects neatly or spread them out evenly, distribute.

Grouping lets you move or change several objects at once, as if they were one shape.

You can use tools to combine shapes, cut them apart, or create new outlines.

Well done for completing this lesson, "Working with multiple objects.".