Create and Manage Clones

To create a clone, first select the object that you want to clone. Then do one of three things.

1. Click the Clone button on the commands bar.

The clone button on the commands bar

2. Click Edit menu > Clone > Create Clone.

3. Use the keyboard shortcut: AltOption + d

Find Original

If you have created a lot of clones, or maybe you just have a very complex canvas, and you’ve lost track of the original, there is a way to find it. First select the clone whose parent you want to find. Then do one of two things.

1. Click Edit menu > Clone > Select Original

2. Press Shift + d.

An animated dashed blue line will point to the original, then the original will become selected. Remember you can check the status bar to confirm it.

Unlink Clones

We saw in the video in the Introduction section, how clones are linked to their original or parent object. However, if users find a need for it, that link can be broken so that the clone becomes a regular object, which no longer reacts when the original or parent object is manipulated. There are three ways to do this. First select the clone whose link you want to break.

1. Click the Unlink Clone button on the commands bar.

The unlink clone button on the commands bar

2. Edit menu > Clone > Unlink Clone

3. Press Shift + AltOption + d

If there is more than one clone, or even clones in groups, they can be unlinked via:

1. Select all the clones, including groups, to be unlinked.

2. Edit menu > Clone > Unlink Clones recursively

Relink Clones

“Relink” is a bit confusing, and that term may be changed in the next new version. It does not mean to create a clone from the object you just unlinked, making it a clone again. It means to give a clone a different parent object. And unless you choose a copy or duplicate of the original, it will become a clone of an entirely different object. Relinking a clone is a two-step process.

1. Select the other object, then copy it by whatever technique you prefer.

2. Select the clone. Then Edit menu > Clone > Relink to Copied

Todo

(“Relink to Copied” might be changed to “Switch Clone Source” (due to a bug report I posted) - double-check before publishing, and rewrite if necessary)

Clone Original Path (LPE)

Clone Original Path is a Live Path Effect. Follow that link to learn details about LPEs. But briefly, it is a special feature which has a “live” component as you use it. Usually very complex edits are made to the object as a whole, as you drag a control path or point, or edit number fields in the LPE dialog. This particular path effect is best used together with other path effects. You can learn more specific information about the Clone Original Path LPE by following the link.

Todo

make a link to the “Clone Original Path LPE” chapter after that chapter is created