Distort or shear a layer

Selecting the Distort tool activates Canvas controls to reposition a layer’s corner points independently, and to shear (slant) its midsection points horizontally or vertically.

Distort a layer in the Canvas

Select a layer in the Layers list or Canvas.
A bounding box appears around the selected layer in the Canvas.
Click the 2D transform tools pop-up menu in the toolbar and, holding down the mouse button, choose the Distort tool.
In the Canvas, a bounding box with eight handles appears around the selected layer.
In the Canvas, drag any of the four corner handles to stretch the layer into an irregular shape.
The Four Corner parameters are updated in the Properties Inspector.

After you distort a layer, you can revert to the layer’s original shape by deselecting the layer’s Four Corner checkbox in the Properties Inspector. Doing so resets the shape of the layer without resetting the shape you defined by dragging in the Canvas.

Shear a layer in the Canvas

Select a layer in the Layers list or Canvas.
A bounding box appears around the selected layer in the Canvas.
Click the 2D transform tools pop-up menu in the toolbar and, holding down the mouse button, choose the Distort tool.
In the Canvas, a bounding box with eight handles appears around the selected layer.
Drag any of the side handles or top and bottom handles to shear (slant) the layer. The top and bottom handles shear the layer horizontally. The left and right handles shear the layer vertically.
The Four Corner parameters are updated in the Properties Inspector.

Note: Shearing a layer using the Distort tool does not affect the Shear parameter in the Transform area of the Properties Inspector. Instead, the Distort tool modifies the Four Corner parameters to simulate a Shear effect. You can still modify the Shear parameter, effectively shearing the shear simulation for interesting results.