Rulers
Rulers help users to accurately measure and place objects on the canvas. Showing or hiding the rulers is done by toggling the button in the View control. Alternatively, you can press on your keyboard to hide or show rulers.
Guides
Guides are non-exporting lines that lie above the canvas and help you position graphic objects. Guides can be either horizontal or vertical and are created by clicking and dragging on the rulers using the Selection tool .
Moving a guideline is done by dragging it with the help of the Selection tool . To delete a guide, drag it back over the ruler.
Guides can be locked to avoid moving them accidentally. Locking and unlocking guides is done by pressing on your keyboard or from the View control.
You can also show or hide the guides by pressing on your keyboard.
Grids
Grids are non-exporting visual aids placed above or below the graphic layers on the canvas that help users to better align and place objects. To show or hide grids, press on your keyboard or use the View control.
Switching between a front-displayed grid and a backward-displayed grid is done by pressing on your keyboard or by modifying this setting in the View control.
Expressive Animator also provide a transparency grid that is helpful when working with transparent areas. The transparency grid can be enabled or disabled from the View control.
Grid settings
To change grid settings click on the button to open the Settings panel and refer to the Grid section. Here you can change the color of the grid lines as well as the grid type.
Grid types
Expressive Animator supports the following grid types:
Automatic
This is the default grid type and it is an extreamly versatile grid. As the name suggests, this grid automatically adjust itself, based on the current zoom level. This grid type provides the following options:
- Divisions - The number of divisions on X and Y axis
Fixed
This is a fixed-sized grid and provides the following options:
- Size - The width and height of each grid cell
- Divisions - The number of divisions on X and Y axis
Pixel
This is a grid type with grid cells having the width and height set to one pixel. No options are provided for this grid type.
Isometric
Display an isometric grid with the following options:
- Size - The width and height of each grid cell
- Angle - The tilting angle
- Lines - Show or hide the connecting lines