rotating with the Selection Tool, so the object will be rotated around itself with the transformation point in the center.
Reshaping and Distortion Tools
Besides the transformation tools described above, Illustrator has some extra tools that can alter object shapes in other various ways. They not only change one object parameter, like position, size, or angle, but they can distort and reshape it drastically. Let's briefly take a look at these tools.
Free Transform Tool
The Free Transform Tool (E) allows to transform the object freely - it combines all transformation tools into one, including: move, scale, rotate, reflect, and shear. Also, it allows one to perform perspective distortion. Basically, with this tool you can drag handles on the object's bounding box in any direction, unlike with other transformation tools.
To rotate or scale, simply place the cursor near the handle you need on the object bounding box and perform the transformation just like with the appropriate tools. To reflect an object, drag from the handle on one side to the opposite one, while holding Shift. Finally, to shear the object with the Free Transform Tool, move one of the side handles to the needed direction, while holding down Command + Alt.
To drag one corner handle separately, press the mouse key over the corner and then press Command after this - now you can reposition it as you distort the object. To constrain the horizontal or vertical baseline while dragging a handle, hold down Shift. If you want to drag two handles symmetrically to distort in perspective, drag a corner handle while holding down Alt + Command + Shift.
Reshape Tool is hidden under the Scale and Shear tools. It also allows one to transform an object its own specific way. To my mind, it works much like scaling but considers anchor points while transforming. When you select an object and choose the Reshape Tool, you can move any existing anchor point on the object by dragging it to the desired position. However, the result will be reshaping the entire object proportionally with no need to tweak every point separately. This effect of this tool can be only seen on open paths.
Warp Tool Group
A group of tools worth mentioning are the Warp Tools group (Shift + R). Although these tools do not transform object in the usual way, they still deform the shape significantly, so I think we can briefly overview them. Within this group, there are eight tools that affect the shape of an object locally in various ways. From warp to wrinkle, to bloat, to pucker, they add anchor points and segments to the object deforming it drastically.
Section 3. Transforming with Menu
We've learned how to use the transformation tools to change the object's parameters - position, size, angle, shape, and others. Still, in Illustrator there are always multiple ways of doing one action. Let's try to perform transformation with appropriate menu commands: Object > Transform.
All the usual transformation types we observed (move, scale, rotate, reflect, and shear) can be performed with appropriate menu commands from Object > Transform.
They work just like the tools described above, only you can't change the reference point from the object's center, and transformations can't be performed manually. When you access the submenu (for example, Object > Transform > Scale) the dialog pops-up similar with one of the appropriate tools. Simply insert the desired parameters and press OK to apply or Copy to duplicate an object.
The most important shortcut about transformation, to my mind, is Object > Transform > Transform Again feature (Command + D). This command repeats the last transformation applied with the same parameters, be that move, scaling with altered reference point, or rotation with duplicating.
This useful feature allows one to create very interesting effects - for instance, from a simple object transformed again several times we can get a nice flower. Transform again can be really helpful in many cases, so just remember this shortcut: Command + D.
Reset Bounding Box
We've already spoken about the bounding box an