Sometimes the simple, predefined shapes are not sufficient, so Corda® Builder™ provides various tools and methods that allow you to create more complex shapes as part of the project. There are multiple ways to create complex shapes:
One way to create more complex shapes for the project is to group shapes together. Grouped shapes are treated as a unit for the purposes of positioning, sizing, and deleting. This makes it much easier to work with multiple related shapes as you create an Image Template file in Corda Builder.
However, grouped shapes can still be selected individually from the Object List in order to configure individual shape properties.
To group shapes
Add the shapes you want to group to the Project Canvas.
Position and size the individual shapes into the desired configuration.
Select the shapes you want to group together using one of the following methods:
Hold down the <Ctrl> key while selecting each shape.
In the Project Canvas, drag a frame around all the shapes.
Right-click the group of shapes and select Combine into New Group.
Combining shapes differs from grouping objects; instead of maintaining a separate object identity for each shape involved in the complex shape, a single, indivisible shape is created. From the perspective of shape formatting, a combined shape is treated as a single object.
Remember that when multiple objects, including shapes, are added to a project, they are layered, meaning that a more recently added shape overlaps a previously added shape. However, Corda Builder lets you change the layering of objects as needed. For more information, see Aligning Objects.
Note: Because combining shapes creates a new shape object, a combined shape can be subsequently grouped with other shapes if desired. See Grouping Shapes above for more information.
There are multiple ways to combine shapes, including the following:
Unite is the most straightforward of the tools for uniting shapes. It functions in the same way as grouping objects. But instead of maintaining each component shape as a separate object in the Object List, a single new shape object is formed.
To combine shapes with Unite
Add the shapes you want to group to the Project Canvas.
Position and size the individual shapes into the desired configuration.
Select the shapes you want to combine using one of the following methods:
Hold down the <Ctrl> key while selecting each shape.
In the Project Canvas, drag a frame around all the shapes.
Select Properties > Unite.
Type the name of the new shape.
If you want the inner border lines between the component shapes removed in the new shape, check Remove inner lines.
Click OK to create the combined shape.
Intersect creates a new shape in the form of the intersection, or overlapping portion, of two component shapes.
To combine shapes with Intersect
Add the shapes you want to group to the Project Canvas.
Position and size the individual shapes into the desired configuration.
Select the two shapes you want to combine using one of the following methods:
Hold down the <Ctrl> key while selecting each shape.
In the Project Canvas, drag a frame around both shapes.
Select Properties > Intersect.
Type the name of the new shape and click OK.
MinusFront creates new objects by "stamping out" the intersection between two or more component shapes. The back-most shape layer is used as the pattern shape. Any overlapping shapes in front of the pattern shape are removed from the pattern shape.
To combine shapes with MinusFront
Add the shapes you want to group to the Project Canvas.
Position and size the individual shapes into the desired configuration.
Select the shapes you want to combine using one of the following methods:
Hold down the <Ctrl> key while selecting each shape.
In the Project Canvas, drag a frame around all the shapes.
Select Properties > MinusFront.
Type the name of the new shape and click OK.
MinusBack creates new objects by "stamping out" the intersection between two or more component shapes. The front-most shape layer is used as the pattern shape. Any overlapped shapes behind the pattern shape are removed.
To combine shapes with MinusBack
Add the shapes you want to group to the Project Canvas.
Position and size the individual shapes into the desired configuration.
Select the shapes you want to combine using one of the following methods:
Hold down the <Ctrl> key while selecting each shape.
In the Project Canvas, drag a frame around all the shapes.
Select Properties > MinusBack.
Type the name of the new shape and click OK.
In addition to combining shape objects into new shapes, you can also divide a single shape along a border defined by another shape.
To divide a shape
Add the shape you want to divide to the Project Canvas.
Add the shape you want to act as the divider object to the Project Canvas.
Select the divider object, then select Properties > Convert to Divider Object.
Position the divider object over the shape to be divided.
Select both shapes, then select Properties > Divide shapes.
Following the shape division, there are two separate objects in the Object List, representing the two portions of the divided shape. These are now fully autonomous shapes that can be positioned, sized and formatted independently.