Fixing the Size of a Group
By default, the size of a group is determined by the layers in that group. Because animated
objects often grow in size, the active height and width of a group (its resolution) can
become large. You can constrain the resolution of a group to a specific width and height
in the Group pane of the Inspector.
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The project in the following image contains a particle system. The animated particles,
although not visible when they move off the Canvas, make the group containing them
large.
Boundary is limited to
height and width set in
Group inspector
Boundary of
particle system
Group with Fixed Resolution disabled
Group with Fixed Resolution enabled
You can crop the size of a group that contains growing objects using the Fixed Resolution
checkbox in the Group pane of the Inspector.
If a project contains animated objects that move or expand beyond the edges of the
Canvas and you don’t activate the Fixed Resolution checkbox, your computer processing
time can increase.
Note: The Group pane of the Inspector (which contains the Fixed Resolution parameter)
is only accessible when a group is selected in the project.
When the Fixed Resolution checkbox is selected, objects in the group but outside the
Canvas are cropped to the size of the group defined in the parameter.
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When enabled, the Fixed Resolution parameter crops the group to the size specified in
the Fixed Width and Fixed Height parameters. This means that if the group’s anchor point
is offset, the cropping might not occur around the edges of the Canvas, and objects can
become cut off.
Selected group with Fixed Resolution enabled,
and set to project size. Notice that text objects
are cut off.
Selected group with an offset anchor point
before Fixed Resolution setting is enabled.
Anchor point
Anchor point
To fix the resolution of a group
1
In the Layers list (or the Timeline), select the group.
2
In the Inspector, click the Group pane.
3
Turn on the Fixed Resolution checkbox.
By default, the group’s resolution is set to the project size. An indicator appears to the
right of Fixed Resolution, informing you that the group is rasterized. For more information
on rasterization, see
About Rasterization
.
4
To define a resolution other than that of the project, adjust the Fixed Width and Fixed
Height sliders.
Note: When you select a layer in a fixed-resolution group, the bounding box around the
layer appears at its original size, unaffected by the containing group’s resolution.
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