Layout Options

There are various alignment and sizing options that can help to create more organised and clearer layouts. All of these operations can be undone with the Undo feature from the Edit Menu.

Select a group of objects (two or more) then use the Edit Menu commands, the right click menu or the Group Toolbar buttons on the selected objects.

 

Align

To align multiple objects use the following options:

Align > Top, Bottom, Right or Left edges

Objects will be moved in line with with the top, bottom, right or left-most object.

Remove Gaps

To remove gaps between objects use the following options:

Remove Gaps > Horizontally or Vertically

Objects will be positioned next to each other with no gap.

Space Equally

To space objects equally across the design page use the following options:

Space Equally > Horizontally or Vertically

Objects will have equal spacing between them.

Z Order

The order in which overlapping objects are displayed can be changed to prevent objects getting lost in the layout by being hidden by other objects. This is also a useful feature when placing a background image or coloured frame behind objects. Select the object whose Z order you wish to change and use one of the following options:

Z Order > Bring to front, Bring forward one, Send to back, or Send back one

Centre

Single or multiple objects can be centred to the design window using the following options:

Centre > Horizontally or Vertically

Depending upon the selection, objects will be centred either horizontally or vertically in the design window.

Size

To change the dimensions of one or more objects to be the same size as another object, select all of the objects to be sized including the object that you wish to use as the template for the operation then use the following options:

Size > Make same Width, Height or Size.

After selecting the option, the cursor changes to reflect a scale operation. Click the cursor on the object whose dimensions are to be copied. The other selected objects will be sized accordingly. This operation does not work with audio input / output blocks or CobraNet bundles.

 
For example, 2 sliders are selected, the leftmost being wider than the right and Make Same Width is chosen from the right click menu. The cursor then changes to reflect a scale operation and if the right hand slider is now selected the left slider will change width to match it.

 
NB: BLU series devices e.g. BLU-80, BLU-32 and BLU-16 can be sized horizontally but not vertically. This is to accommodate longer naming structures within the device icons but, it is not considered useful to be able to extend the vertical height of these objects. If the 'Show Control Ports' option is selected in the Properties for a device then the icon will lengthen to display all the extra ports.