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The Copy Button: Copy Objects

This command is used to copy objects. In its simplest form, this command is redundant, as copies of an object can be made with basic button 1 operations. If objects are previously selected, the group will be copied to new locations. If no objects have been selected, the user is asked to select objects to copy.

Initially, the user is prompted for a replication count. This can be any positive integer. When the copy is performed, the replication specifies the number of copies made, with the translation incremented for each new copy. Thus, this facilitates creating many equally-spaced structures. If the replication count is greater than one, the command exits after the operation.

Responding to the prompts, the user first clicks on a reference point, then to a destination, using a hold and drag, or two clicks. If either the Shift or Ctrl key is held, the angle of translation is constrained to multiples of 45 degrees. The copy is produced such that the reference point falls on the destination point. The orientation of the copied object is altered according to the current transformation. If the replication count is one, multiple copies are made by simply clicking on additional destinations.

While in a copy operation in physical mode, while the objects are ghost-drawn and attached to the pointer, pressing Enter causes the reference point to shift to the lower left corner of the bounding box containing the objects being copied. Pressing Enter again shifts to the upper left corner, etc.

It is possible to change the layer of objects during a copy operation. During the time that objects are ghost drawn and attached to the mouse pointer, if the current layer is changed, the objects that are attached will be placed on the new layer. Subcells are not affected. If in layer-specific mode, only objects whose layer was the original current layer will be changed to the new layer. If not in layer-specific mode, all new objects will be placed on the new layer, no matter what their original layer. If the current layer is set back to the previous layer before clicking to locate the new objects, no layers will change. Note that layer change is only possible for ``click-click'' mode and not ``press-drag''.

Copy operations can be also performed through the command line interface with the !co command.


next up previous contents index
Next: The Stretch Button: Stretch Up: The Edit Menu: Modify Previous: The Move Button: Move   Contents   Index
Stephen R. Whiteley 2006-10-23