Inspiring

Answered

"Reset Bounding Box" on rotated items?

Forum|Forum|16 years ago
March 18, 2009
9 replies
66136 views

Hi,

Is there an InDesign equivalent to "reset bounding box" (an Illustrator option) on rotated items? I'm working on a layout with a bunch of angled text boxes. It'd be helpful if I could change their bounding boxes to straight again, though I couldn't find an option for that. Thought I'd ask in case I've overlooked it.

Thanks, Phyllis

Correct answer Lhemz0527

Do the rotation while you are in Direct Selection Mode:

Select the object with Selection Tool
Click the Direct Selection Tool
Type in the angle in the Transform panel. Enter
Go back to Selection Tool

If the objects are already rotated:

Select the object with Selection Tool
Copy the angle of rotation from the Transform panel
Set the angle to zero. Enter
Click the Direct Selection Tool
Paste in the angle in the Transform panel. Enter
Go back to Selection Tool

You don't have to use pathfinder, compound path or convert frame type.

Scott Falkner

Community Expert

Draw a text frame on top of the existing frame and paste the text from the rotated frame into the new text frame. Make sure the attributes for the new frame match the existing frame (offsets, columns, first baseline offset, stroke, fill, etc.). Select both frames and go to Object Pathfinder > Add.

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

Interesting. When did Pathfinder add on to the Object menu in InDesign?

Mike Witherell

M

Mattias37130321wglh

Participant

Right-click object -> Transform -> Reset Transformations

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

That answer is neither InDesign nor Illustrator!

Mike Witherell

S

stefan25427713ed4d

Participant

How do you reset a bounding box?

H

heliya254262562tja

Participant

The reason why Reset Bounding Box is grayed out in Illustrator is because the feature does not work on certain shapes and lines. To fix this, click on the shape and navigate to Object > Shape > Expand Shape in the menu. You should now be able to reset the bounding box

L

Lhemz0527Correct answer

Participating Frequently

Do the rotation while you are in Direct Selection Mode:

Select the object with Selection Tool
Click the Direct Selection Tool
Type in the angle in the Transform panel. Enter
Go back to Selection Tool

If the objects are already rotated:

Select the object with Selection Tool
Copy the angle of rotation from the Transform panel
Set the angle to zero. Enter
Click the Direct Selection Tool
Paste in the angle in the Transform panel. Enter
Go back to Selection Tool

You don't have to use pathfinder, compound path or convert frame type.

N

nmanleync

Participant

Brilliant! That worked perfectly.

C

CWDesignCo

Participant

Object > Transform > Reset Bounding Box. Boom!

Peter Spier

Community Expert

You do know that command is not availble in InDesign, right? That was the whole point of this thread.

Peter Spier

Community Expert

Hi Peter & Manish!

See the left square vs. the right square (both are rotated).
Both screen shots are done in InDesign.

Btw. the scripting property "geometricBounds" a.k. "BoundingBox" has the same values (70,711 x 70,71 mm) for both objects.

I have "faked" the right rotated square: it is a group with only ONE single object, the square.
You cannot do that in the UI, but it's perfectly possible by scripting:

Just create a group with two objects (the rotated square with a second rectangle),
select only the second rectangle inside the group and run the following JavaScript (ExtendScript) code on the selection:

app.selection[0].remove();

What you get is a group object with only one object inside.

The group itself is not rotated, just its only member inside, so the size of the group is your "BoundingBox" (= the geometricBounds of your rotated square) ;-)

Illustrator manages to show the values for the right representation of the rotated square, if you reset the bounding box.

Uwe

Uwe, where weere you six months ago?

I bet Phyllis could really have used this.

phyllisj9Author

Inspiring

Hey thanks,

I'm working with text rather than graphics so unfortunately I can't rotate just the content (as far as I can tell -- not even if I convert to outlines). I tried the Pathfinder suggestion although that just turns everything into a single box (eliminates any content of the original) but did give me the idea that just grouping an empty frame with the angled one would work better. So thanks! I'd agree that it's helpful to keep a record of the rotation angle, but sometimes when there are a bunch of these, it's hard to work with angled bounding boxes. But I'll try the grouping technique -- I never thought of that!

Thanks, Phyllis

C

cgfix

Participant

You would have to convert the text to paths for the pathfinder to work. You may have to use a different option than Add. Possibly Intersect and refill the shapes. It worked for me.

_

_Cris_I_

Participant

Draw a small box (no fill, no stroke).
Place on top of the rotated object.
Select both.
Chose Pathfinder and press Add icon.

Cris.

F

Francesca Bass

Participant

LEGEND

Peter Spier

Community Expert

In my opinion, that's a good thing. Any rotation angle is recorded and can be used later by the smart guides feature.

Have you considered rotating graphic content inside the frame instead of rotating the frame? I doubt that's any better, but it would keep the bounding box oriented.

Peter

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

If there is, I've never found it. ID preserves the absolute (total) rotation of the original object unto the end of document life. :)

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