The Subselection Tool is similar to the Selection Tool (the black arrow) in many ways. You can use it to grab and drag objects on the stage. Although most of the time you’ll want to stick with the Selection Tool for this mainly because the Subselection Tool is a bit different as to how it grabs stuff. Anyway, the main feature of the Subselection Tool is the ability to morph drawings with focal points. It’s similar to the way the Selection Tool morphs drawings, except you do it with focal points. Click the Oval Tool and draw a circle. Then click on the Subselection Tool and drag over the drawn circle to select it. You’ll notice that a bunch of green dots form around the circle.

Click the image for a better view.

These green dots are basically focal points (that’s what I like to call them anyway). Grab one of the green dots and drag it around. You’ll notice a slightly different effect than that of the Selection Tool. Also notice you can only grab and morph any point of the circle that has a green dot. You can do a lot of nifty stuff with this. If three focal points are in a line together, you can grab the outer one and rotate that part of the object 360 degrees in any direction.

Click the image for a better view.

How you choose to manipulate your objects is your choice. Personally I hardly ever use the Subselection Tool. The Selection Tool usually suits me. But everyone is different. Play around with it and decide for yourself!

Coming up, the Free Transform Tool.

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