Rotating objects randomly

[Ron Lindeboom]

Technically, you are supposed to be able to click on an object (so that the corner points appear in your selected object) and then move your cursor’s pointer just barely outside any of your corner points and then your pointer will become two arrows, one pointing to the top of your screen, the other to the side of your screen. You can then move your mouse/pen/etc. to randomly rotate your object to where you want it visually.

Me, I have never found the magic to get this to work for me (I have tried using both the black and white arrow tools) and fortunately, I know degrees of rotation pretty well and can nail things with the numeric dialog box in usually a couple of tries.

If anyone knows why I have not found the magic, please let me know.

Best,

Ron Lindeboom

[Kelly Johnson]

Well, it’s not exactly like Illustrator, but, click the object to rotate, select the rotate tool and where ever you click with the rotate tool on the object will become the focus point for the rotation.

[Erica Gamet]

If you want to rotate the frame and the content, select the graphic with the Selection tool (solid arrow), choose either the Rotate tool or the Free Transform tool (which rotates and scales in one tool), and click on the graphic to choose the Transformation Point (the point around which the object will rotate), move your pointer outside of the frame (you’ll see the double-headed arrow) and click and move the pointer to rotate.

If you want to rotate just the content and not the frame itself, select the graphic with the Direct Selection tool (hollow arrow), and follow the same steps. You won’t get the double-headed arrow, but rather crosshairs…no clue why! Good luck!

[Ivan Matveev]

I wrote a quick script to rotate objects randomly. Maybe it would be of help to anyone but me: https://dmtrvk.ru/2020/06/04/rock-and-roll-indesign/