Advanced Presentations – Handling Graphical Objects

Display, hide grid and guides.

Grid and guide lines are a couple of Impress tools which help in determining the exact position of an object in a slide. Grid displays a set of small dotted squares all over the slide, which give us the exact position of an object relative to another object.


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The guide helplines, when selected, display a set of lines around an object, whenever we try to move that object. These lines help in moving the object to exactly the location where it needs to be moved to by showing the relative position of the moving object with respect to the other objects in the slide.

Now, to display or hide the grid or the guide helplines, we can simply select or unselect the ‘Display Grid’ and the ‘Helplines While Moving’ options from the ‘Line and Filling Toolbar’ situated right above the main slide area.
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Position a graphical object (picture, image, drawn object) on a slide using specified horizontal and vertical co-ordinates.

In Impress, we can position a graphical object in a slide by using the specific horizontal and vertical coordinates. To position a graphical object on a slide using specified horizontal and vertical co-ordinates, right-click on the graphical object and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Position and Size’. This will open the ‘Position and Size’ dialog box. In this dialog box, under the ‘Position and Size’ tab, we have the ‘Position’ area where we can specify the specific horizontal and vertical coordinates for the object.

After providing the values, click on ‘OK’. This will reposition the graphical object accordingly.
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Distribute selected graphical objects horizontally, vertically relative to a slide.

In Impress, it is possible to distribute a number of objects in a slide horizontally or vertically in relation to the slide. This feature helps in making sure that all the objects in a slide are at a proper distance from each other and thus the slide looks cleaner and more professional.

To distribute the graphical objects horizontally or vertically relative to a slide, first of all select all the objects which need to be distributed. After this, click on the ‘Distribution’ icon from the ‘Line and Filling’ toolbar situated right above the main slide area. This opens the ‘Distribution’ dialog box.

In this dialog box, we have different options for the horizontal and vertical distribution of the selected objects. Select the appropriate values here and then click on ‘OK’. This will distribute the selected graphical objects accordingly.10-position

Crop a graphical object.

In order to crop a graphical object, first of all select the object. Now right-click on the object, and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Crop Image’. This will insert eight red colored crop markers around the image. Use these markers to crop the image to the required size and then click anywhere on the slide. This will crop the image to the selected size.11-crop

Proportionately, disproportionately rescale a graphical object.

To rescale a graphical object proportionately or disproportionately, right-click on the graphical object and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Position and Size’. This will open the ‘Position and Size’ dialog box. In this dialog box, under the ‘Position and Size’ tab, we have the ‘Size’ area where we can specify the specific width and height for the object. If we need to rescale the object proportionately, then check the ‘Keep ratio’ dialog box. This will make all the size changes proportional to the original size. Similarly, if this checkbox is unchecked, then disproportionate changes can be made to the size of the object. After providing the values, click on ‘OK’. This will rescale the graphical object accordingly.12-rescale

Save a graphical object as a file format like: bmp, gif, jpeg, png.

In Impress, we can save a graphical object as a separate file in itself. To save a graphical object as a separate file, right-click on the object and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Save Image’. This will open the ‘Image Export’ dialog box. In this dialog box, we can select among the different file formats under which we can save the object. Select the appropriate file format here. The location where this image needs to be saved and the name under which the image is going to be saved can be also be selected here. After selecting all the values, click on ‘Save’. This will save the graphical object as the selected file format.