Tell me how it was easier???

[Delores Highsmith]

Your steps:
1. Draw 5 filled squares.
2. Group the squares.
3. Double click the contents to change the color of the fills.
4. Duplicate the group twice more, you now have 15 objects.

How do you change the fill of the 15 objects without grouping again?
1. Select All, or drag to select the 3 groups
-----the Object Inspector shows--3 objects with contents.
2. Double-click the contents
3. Drop a color on the Fill well as you did when editing the color of the
objects in the original group.

You do not have to group anything more to change the colors of the objects
held in the original groups. You don't have to add a color to the group,
although the group fill is one way to do it.

--Delores


"twinpix" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:bc5e7j$6fu$1@forums.macromedia.com...

> I've read many of the posts on this subject and I still don't understand

the new group fill in MX.

>
> Try this, it only takes a second.
>
> Draw 5 squares in a row. Group them. Double-click the Contents in the

Object Palette. Select a fill color in the Swatch palette. Cool...they're
all the same fill now.

>
> Duplicate the group of 5 squares, move it down and duplicate again. You

now have 15 colored squares.

>
> Select them all. Now is there any way to change the fills WITHOUT grouping

them (as I did in FH10)?

>
> If you group them, and double-click the Contents in the Object Palette

(since you did that with your first row of squares), MX will not allow you
to change the fill color. You can click the +Fill button, which adds the new
fill BENEATH the contents, so now drag it up above the contents to see it.
Or you can ungroup twice to change the fill of all of them. Then, if you
want to move the second row to the left an inch, you have to shift-select
the first and third rows, group, move them, then still have to re-group the
first and third rows independently. ARRRRRRGH!

>
> Why? Why? Why?
>
> Please explain the reasoning behind this? It is EXTREMELY unintutive.
>
>

[Bill]

On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 16:31:49 -0500, Delores Highsmith
<dhighsmith@macromedia.com> wrote:

> Your steps:
> 1. Draw 5 filled squares.
> 2. Group the squares.
> 3. Double click the contents to change the color of the fills.
> 4. Duplicate the group twice more, you now have 15 objects.
>
> How do you change the fill of the 15 objects without grouping again?
> 1. Select All, or drag to select the 3 groups
> -----the Object Inspector shows--3 objects with contents.
> 2. Double-click the contents

I wish this was how it worked, but it doesn't. At least not for me.
Following each of the above steps to the letter, I Select the three groups
and the object inspector says:

3 objects
|
-Stroke:---
|
---Fill:---

There is no option to select the contents of the three groups and change
their attributes, even if they are all identical. The only way I have found
to alter the attributes of grouped objects is to subselect them. Double
clicking the 'contents' label in the objects panel only works on a single
group of identical attributed objects.

> 3. Drop a color on the Fill well as you did when editing the color of
> the
> objects in the original group.
>
> You do not have to group anything more to change the colors of the
> objects
> held in the original groups. You don't have to add a color to the group,
> although the group fill is one way to do it.

A group fill is only a way to do it if the group contains 25 or fewer
objects, otherwise you get a nasty, inaccurate auto-trace for your fill.

>
> --Delores
>

--
Bill
FHMX/Win98/Athlon2100+/512M

[Elliott-Fay webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

I discussed how to get the object panel work for us, but I found that it did not always work like it should.

Try this...
1. Create three object all different colors and group.
2. Double Click on "contents" select "basic" and change colors and everything works fine.
3. Now sub-select one object and apply a drop shadow.
4. Select the whole group again and double Click on "contents" select "basic" and try to change colors.

I have run across many times when you can sub-select to your hearts desire and cannot change a thing. I suspect it is some how related to this.


Mark
Sawtooth G4 400 MHz
384 MB RAM

[Pappy]

Thanks for making my point Elliot-Fay.

You went from..."Until just this morning I would have agree with you, but after figuring out the Superselect and Subselect keystrokes I have change my mind. When I first went to fill converted type and it would not I became frustrated and formed a bias that something was wrong. Ian has shown me a lot to help me overcome the paradigms I had about FH."

To..."I discussed how to get the object panel work for us, but I found that it did not always work like it should"

I appreciate the turn around in your view. Perhaps all of the writing we did explaining the falacies of the objects panel was not in vain. Welcome aboard! As I and numerous others said, the objects panel is a difficult way to do things that were very simple in previous versions of Freehand. No ifs ands or buts needed.

Pappy