Quick links to procedures on this page:
Grouping and combining objects
You can group objects so they behave as one unit. Grouped objects can be moved, deleted, or transformed as a single entity. You can add objects to an existing group, and ungroup the objects when you want to edit them individually.
Grouped objects can be moved or transformed together. In this example, the ball and the boxes are grouped and resized as a group.
Another way to group objects is to create a clipping group. Clipping groups let you combine the characteristics of objects by placing the image elements from one or more objects into the shape of another; the characteristics of child objects are inserted into the shape of the parent object. For example, if the parent object is a picture of a flower, and the child object is a picture of the sky, the result will be a flower shape with the color and texture of the sky. An object is the parent to objects above it in the stacking order; a child object cannot be below the parent object. If you want to create a clipping group using the background image, you must first turn the background into an object. You can undo a clipping group at any time.
Combining objects lets you group them permanently. You can combine multiple objects into one object, or combine objects with the background. When you combine objects, you lose the ability to edit the objects independently. You can also decrease the file size of an image by combining objects.
To group objects |  |
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In the image window, select the objects.
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To add an object to a group of objects | |
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In the image window, select an object in a group.
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To ungroup objects | |
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In the image window, click an object in a group.
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To create a clipping group | |
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In the Objects docker, click the column to the left of the object thumbnail to make it a child object. A Paper clip icon
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Only areas of the child object that fall within the boundaries of the parent object are visible. Otherwise, only the object marquee of the child object is visible.
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To undo a clipping group | |
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In the Objects docker, click the Paper clip icon
next to each child object. |
To combine objects | |
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When objects are combined with the background, they become part of the background layer and can no longer be edited as individual objects.
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You can specify a merge mode and transparency level before you combine objects by modifying the settings in the Merge mode list box and Opacity box in the Objects docker. If the Objects docker is not open, click Window
 Dockers Objects. |