An answer to my Illustrator transformation question

Once again, the power of Internet community :-D.

Previously I asked a question about tranforming a raster graphic on illustrator CS2. And here I got the answer:

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James Talmage - 7:32pm Jan 10, 06 PST (#1 of 1) Edited: 10-Jan-2006 at 07:32pm

1. Make sure the image is embedded. (Click the Embed button in the Control Palette.)

2. Object>EnvelopeDistort>MakeWithMesh. Enter 1 for both columns and rows.

3. Free Transform Tool: Mousedown on a corner. Press and hold CTRL and Alt. Drag.

How come I can make a rectangle into a trapezoid but I cannot make a JPEG photo into a trapezoid?

Because a rectangle is a vector path. A JPEG is a raster image. The Free Transform tool does not work on raster images. But it does work on Envelopes (which are vector paths), and Envelopes work on raster images.

JET
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Hey, thanks JET! However, there are a few caution items:
- Make sure the mode is in "Free Tranform" mode. You can see the mode status at the bottom of the drawing Windows. If it's not, select the object you want to transform, and click the [Free Transform Tool] button.
- you HAVE TO first MOUSEDOWN your cursor at the corner of the object before pressing the Control key. This got me into headache for a while when I pressed Control key BEFORE mouse down.
- If you wannt stretch with both diagonal corner like JET suggested, make sure you mousedown at corner point first, and then press and hold Control button, and then press and hold the ALT button. You cannot hold control and ALT button at the same time. To transform only one corner, you only need to use Control button.
- One important thing: if you tranform a raster graphic more than one time, then keep in mind that the corner you mousedown should be the corner of the bounding box, and NOT the stretched graphic itself. In fact, it may seem strange that you will stretch the bounding box in order to INDIRECTLY trandform the graphic. It may seem strange it the first place, but once you get used to it it's no big deal.
- The speed of tranformation is actually pretty fast UNTIL you start use direct selection tool, select a corner (a corner of the real bitmap), and then stretch. Once you've done the mesh distortion, it will take a lot of time to recalculate the raster graphic. So try to aviod it unless you really have to mesh a graphic.