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Shear (skew) objects



Shearing an object slants or skews it along its horizontal or vertical axis, and can also rotate both of the object’s axes. Shearing is useful for:

  • Simulating some types of perspective, such as isometric projection.

  • Slanting a text frame.

  • Creating cast shadows when you shear a copy of an object.

Shear an object

  1. Select an object to shear. To shear both the frame and its content, use the Selection tool to select the frame. To shear the content without its frame, direct-select the object. To shear a frame without scaling the content, direct-select the frame, and select all the anchor points.
  2. If you want to use a different reference point for the shearing, click where you want the reference point to appear.
  3. Do one of the following:

    • To shear selected objects by dragging, select the Shear tool . Then position the Shear tool away from the reference point, and drag. Shift-drag to constrain shearing to a perpendicular vertical or horizontal axis. If you start to drag at a non-perpendicular angle and then hold down the Shift key, shearing is constrained to that angle.

      Object being sheared by dragging Shear tool with reference point placed in center

      You can also shear by using the Free Transform tool.

    • To shear using a preset value, in the Transform or Control panel, choose an angle from the Shear pop‑up  menu.

    • To shear using a specific value, in the Transform or Control panel, type a positive or negative angle in the Shear box, and press Enter or Return.

    • To create a copy of the object with the new shear applied to the copy, type a value in the width or height field on the Transform panel and then hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you press Enter.

When you shear a single object, the specified value remains displayed in the Transform or Control panel. When you shear multiple objects, the Shear Angle value is reset to 0 degrees, even though the objects are sheared.

Shear an object using the Shear command

You can shear an object by a specific amount by using the Shear command. This command also lets you shear a copy of the selected object, leaving the original in place.

  1. Select an object to shear. To shear both the frame and its content, use the Selection tool to select the frame. To shear the content without its frame, direct-select the object. To shear a frame without scaling the content, direct-select the frame, and select all the anchor points.
  2. Do one of the following to open the Shear dialog box:

    • Select Object > Transform > Shear.

    • Double-click the Shear tool .

    • Select the Shear tool and Alt‑click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) to select a new reference point.

  3. Type a new shear angle.

    The shear angle is the amount of slant to be applied to the object, relative to a line perpendicular to the shear axis. (Shear angle is calculated clockwise from the current axis.)

  4. Specify the axis along which the object is to be sheared. You can shear an object along a horizontal, vertical, or angled axis.
  5. Do any of the following:

    • To preview the effect before you apply it, select Preview.

    • To shear the object, click OK.

    • To shear a copy of the object, click Copy.