Real World Adobe InDesign CS4- P13 ppsx

▶ Select the path, display the Swatches panel, click the Stroke selector at the top of the panel, and then click the None swatch.. You apply stroke styles just as you would apply any of

Select a path.

Figure 5-35 Applying an Arrowhead

Add another head to the other end

arrow-of the line, if you want.

InDesign applies the arrowhead to the selected path.

Choose an arrowhead type from the Start or End pop-up

menus in the Stroke panel.

Note that arrowheads do not

extend the length of a path.

To swap the arrowheads on the beginning and end of a path, select the path using the Direct Selection tool and choose Reverse Path from the Paths submenu of the Object menu (see Figure 5-36)

You won’t find this basic stroke option in the Stroke panel, so stop looking Instead, it’s in the Attributes panel (choose Attributes from the Window menu) Checking the Overprint Stroke option makes the stroke overprint (rather than knock out of) whatever’s behind it This might not seem like much, but if you’re creating color publica-tions, you’ll find it’s one of the most important features in InDesign (see Chapter 10, “Color”)

When you choose a dotted, dashed, or striped stroke, InDesign plays the Gap Color and the Gap Tint pop-up menus at the bottom

dis-of the Stroke panel (see Figure 5-37) Use these controls to specify the color and tint of the “blank” areas in the stroke

When you apply a dotted or dashed stroke to a page item, InDesign displays the Corners pop-up menu at the bottom of the Stroke panel The options on this menu control the way that InDesign draws the stroke as it crosses points on the path (see Figure 5-38)

When you choose Adjust Dashes, InDesign will change the length

of the dashes in the path so that a dash appears centered on each point in the path Choose Adjust Gaps, and InDesign will change the length of the dashes in the path to accomplish the same effect As you’d expect, choosing Adjust Dashes and Gaps changes the length

of both dashes and gaps in the dash pattern, and choosing None does not adjust the position of dashes in the pattern at all

Overprint

Gap Color and Gap Tint

Corner Adjustment

Figure 5-37 Setting the Gap Color of a Stroke

Dotted stroke with gap color set to “None”

Dotted stroke with gap color set to a 50%

tint of Black.

Why adjust the dashes and/or gaps in a dash pattern? If you don’t, you can easily end up with gaps at the corners of paths It’s particu-larly noticeable when you apply dashed strokes to rectangles

Once you’ve applied a stroke to a particular path, you can change the stroke using any of the following methods Again, there’s no “right” way to edit a stroke—which method is best and quickest depends on how you work and which panels you have open at the time you want

to change the stroke

▶ Display the Stroke panel, then make changes in the panel

▶ Click the Stroke selector in the Color panel, then click a color in the panel (see Chapter 10, “Color,” for more on applying colors using the Color panel)

▶ Use the Stroke button at the bottom of the Toolbox to apply or remove colors and gradients from the path

▶ Select the path, then choose a new stroke weight from the Stroke Weight submenu of the Context menu.

▶ Use the Eyedropper tool to pick up the stroke of a path and apply that formatting to another path

To quickly remove a stroke from a path, do one of the following

▶ Select the path, click the Stroke selector, then click None

▶ Select the path, display the Swatches panel, click the Stroke selector at the top of the panel, and then click the None swatch

▶ Enter 0 in the Weight field of the Stroke panel

Stroke Styles

If you’ve looked through the default strokes and haven’t seen the stroke pattern you’re looking for, you can probably create it using InDesign’s stroke styles This is provided that the stroke you’re look-ing for is dashed, dotted, or striped—InDesign does not yet support

Removing Strokes

Figure 5-38 Corner Adjustment for

Dashed Strokes

If you don’t adjust the

dashed stroke pattern, you

run the risk of unsightly gaps

at the corners of the shape.

Adjust the dashes and/or gaps to make InDesign draw the dash centered on each corner of the path.

strokes made up of arbitrary shapes If you need a special skull and crossbones stroke for your pirate/goth/metal newsletter, you’ll have

to create it from scratch (using text paths, as shown in Chapter 6,

“Where Text Meets Graphics”)

To create a stroke style, follow these steps (see Figure 5-39)

1 Choose Stroke Styles from the Stroke panel menu InDesign displays the Stroke Styles dialog box

2 Click the New button to create a new stroke style If you want

to base your new stroke style on an existing style, select the style from the list of stroke styles before you click the button InDesign displays the New Stroke Style dialog box

3 Enter a name for the stroke style Choose a stroke style type (Dash, Dotted, or Stripe) from the Type pop-up menu

4 Set the options for the stroke style The available options vary depending on the type of stroke style you selected

For each type, InDesign displays a preview of the stroke style with an associated Preview Weight field As you would expect, changing the stroke weight using this field affects only the pre-view image of the stroke—the stroke style does not include the stroke weight

In each of the stroke style types, the Pattern Length field controls the length of the pattern in the stroke style

Dash Drag the cursor in the area below the ruler to set the

length of the dashes in the stroke style, or enter values in the Start or Length fields To make more than one dash in the pat-tern, click in the white area and drag To remove a dash, point at the black area and drag it away from the ruler

You can also set the line cap and the way that InDesign handles the dash pattern around corners These options work in exactly the same way as their counterparts in the Stroke panel,

as discussed previously in this chapter

Dotted When you choose Dotted from the Type pop-up menu,

you can add dots to the pattern by clicking below the ruler, or by entering a value in the Center field Either way, you’re control-ling the location of the center of the dot relative to the pattern length You cannot scale the width or height of the dot—it’s always a circle whose width is determined by the stroke weight (If you’re looking for an oval dot, use a dashed stroke with a rounded line cap.)

Figure 5-39 Defining a Stroke Style Choose Stroke Styles from the Stroke panel.

InDesign displays the Stroke Styles dialog box.

Click the New button.

InDesign displays the New

Stroke Style dialog box.

Choose a stroke type from

the Type pop-up menu.

Click the ruler and then drag

to set the location of the dots,

InDesign adds the stroke

style to the list of stroke

styles Click OK to close the

Stroke Styles dialog box.

Click OK when you’ve finished defining the stroke style.

InDesign adds the stroke style to the list of stroke styles in the Stroke panel To apply the stroke style, choose it from the pop-up menu as you would any of the default strokes.

To base your stroke style on

an existing stroke style, select

the stroke style before you

click the New button.

The options on the Corners pop-up menu control the way that dots are adjusted around corners in paths you’ve applied the dotted stroke style to Choose None for no adjustment, or choose Adjust Gaps to have InDesign increase or decrease the gap between dots to make dots appear at each point on the path Note that adjusting the gaps results in uneven spacing between dots on a path, but is probably less distracting than having dots

“miss” the corners of a path (particularly on a rectangle)

To remove a dot, drag the dot out of the ruler window

Stripe Specify the way that the stripes fill the width of the path

by dragging the cursor to the right of the ruler or by entering values in the Start and Width fields To add a new stripe, drag the cursor in a white area To remove a stripe, drag the stripe out

of the ruler window

Stroke styles exist inside a document; creating a stroke style in a specific document does not add that stroke style to any other docu-ments You can copy stroke styles from one document to another You can save and load stroke styles, and you can add stroke styles

to all new documents To add a stroke style to all new documents, create or load the stroke style when no documents are open

You apply stroke styles just as you would apply any of the default stroke types: select an object, then choose the stroke style from the Type pop-up menu in the Stroke panel

To edit a stroke style, choose Stroke Styles from the Stroke panel pop-up menu, select the style from the list of styles in the Stroke Styles dialog box, and click the Edit button InDesign displays the Edit Stroke Style dialog box

Make changes to the stroke style definition and close the dialog box, and InDesign will change the appearance of all of the objects you’ve applied the stroke style to

To delete a stroke style, choose Stroke Styles from the Stroke panel pop-up menu, select the style from the list of styles in the Stroke Styles dialog box, and click the Delete button

When you delete a stroke style, InDesign will display a dialog box asking which stroke style you want to use to replace the stroke style you’re deleting Choose a stroke style from the pop-up menu and click the OK button, and InDesign will replace all occurrences of the deleted style with the stroke style you’ve selected

Applying Stroke Styles

Editing Stroke Styles

Deleting Stroke Styles

To save the stroke styles in your document to a stroke styles file, choose Stroke Styles from the Stroke panel pop-up menu, select the styles you want to save from the list of styles in the Stroke Styles dialog box, and click the Save button InDesign displays a standard file dialog box where you can choose a location and enter a file name for the saved stroke styles file Saved InDesign stroke style docu-ments have the file extension “.inst”.

To load stroke styles from a saved stroke styles file, choose Stroke Styles from the Stroke panel menu to display the Stroke Styles dialog box, then click the Load button InDesign displays a standard file dialog box Locate and select the file you want to load stroke styles from and click OK to load the styles into the current document

To copy a single stroke style from one document to another, select

an object formatted with the stroke style, copy it, and then paste it into another document InDesign will bring the stroke style along with the object, and you can then delete the object

To apply a fill, select a path and do one of the following

▶ Click the Fill selector at the top of the Swatches panel, then click

a color swatch (see Figure 5-40)

▶ Click the Fill selector at the bottom of the Tools panel, then click the Apply Color button (or press comma) This applies the most recently selected color or swatch (see Figure 5-41)

▶ Drag a swatch out of the Swatches panel or Color panel and drop it on a path (see Figure 5-42) The path doesn’t have to be selected

▶ Click the Fill selector in the Color panel, then define a color in the panel (see Figure 5-43)

▶ Select the Eyedropper tool Click an object formatted with the fill you want, then click object to apply the fill (see Figure 5-44)

Saving Stroke Styles

Loading Stroke Styles

Figure 5-41 Applying a Fill (Tools Panel Method)

Click the Fill selector (if

Apply Color button.

InDesign applies the most recently selected swatch to the fill of the selected object.

Drag a color swatch out

of the Swatches panel…

Figure 5-42 Applying a Fill (Drag and Drop

Method)

Note that you don’t need

to select the object when applying a fill using drag and drop.

…and drop it in the interior of a path.

Click the Fill selector (if it’s not already active)…

Select an object.

…and click a color swatch.

InDesign applies the swatch to the fill

of the selected object.

Figure 5-40 Applying a Fill (Swatches Panel Method)

Click the Fill selector

in the Color panel (if it’s not already active).

Define a color You can change color models, drag the sliders, enter values in the fields, or click anywhere in the color (as we have in this example).

Figure 5-43 Applying a Fill (Color Panel Method)

Select an object.

InDesign applies the color to the fill of the object.

Use the Eyedropper tool to pick up the color you want from another path…

…and then click the Eyedropper tool on the path you want

to format.

Figure 5-44 Applying a Fill (Eyedropper Method)

To quickly remove a fill from a path, do one of the following:

▶ Click the Fill selector in the Tools panel, then click the None button (or, better yet, press /)

▶ Click the Fill button in the Color panel and then click the None swatch (if you can’t see the None swatch, it’s because you’ve hidden the Color panel’s option—choose Show Options from the Color panel menu to display the options)

▶ Click the Fill button at the bottom of the Toolbox, then click the None swatch in the Swatches panel

Gradients

A “gradient” is a type of fill or stroke that creates a graduation from one color to another—an effect also known as a “fountain,” “blend,”

or “vignette.” InDesign offers two types of gradients: “Linear” and

“Radial.” For either type of gradient fill, you can set the colors used

in the gradient, the rate at which one color blends into another, and

Removing Fills

the colors used in the gradient (gradients can contain two or more colors) For Linear gradients, you can set the angle that the gradua-tion is to follow.

Linear gradients create a smooth color transition (or series of sitions) from one end of a path to another; Radial gradients create a graduation from the center of a path to its edges Gradients applied

tran-to paths are calculated relative tran-to the geometric bounds of the path; gradients applied to text characters use the geometric bounding box

of the text frame containing the text (not the individual characters themselves)

To apply a gradient to a path, follow these steps (see Figure 5-45)

1 Select the path using the Selection tool or the Direct Selection tool, or select text using the Text tool or Path Text tool

2 Do one of the following

▶ Click the Fill or Stroke selector in the Tools panel (to specify which part of the path you want to apply the gradient to)

Click the Apply Gradient button at the bottom of the Tools panel

▶ Display the Gradient panel (choose Gradient from the Window menu), and then click the gradient ramp

▶ Click an existing gradient swatch in the Swatches panel (press F5 to display the Swatches panel) You can also drag the gradient swatch out of the Swatches panel and drop it on

a path (the path doesn’t have to be selected)

▶ Select the Eyedropper tool and click an object formatted with

a gradient, then click the tool again on the selected path

▶ Select the Gradient tool and drag the tool inside the path

When you create or edit a gradient, you work with InDesign’s ent controls: the gradient ramp, gradient stop icons, and center point icons What the heck are we talking about? See Figure 5-46

gradi-In our opinion, the best way to apply gradients is to use the Swatches panel Just as applying a color from the Swatches panel establishes a link between the color swatch and the object you’ve applied it to, so applying a gradient swatch links the swatch and the objects you’ve formatted with it This means that you can edit the definition of the

Applying Gradients

Gradient Controls

Creating a Gradient Swatch

Click the Fill or Stroke selector…

…then click the Apply Gradient button…

InDesign applies the current default gradient.

…or select an object, then click a gradient swatch in the Swatches panel…

…or display the Gradient panel and click the gradient ramp…

…or drag a gradient swatch

out of the Swatches panel…

Figure 5-45 Applying a Gradient

…and drop it on a path (the path does not have to be selected).

gradient swatch and update the formatting of all of the objects you’ve applied the swatch to

To create a gradient swatch, follow these steps (see Figure 5-47)

1 Select an object that has the gradient you want (optional)

2 Display the Swatches panel, if it’s not already visible, then choose New Gradient Swatch from the Swatches panel menu InDesign displays the New Gradient Swatch dialog box If you selected an object in Step 1, InDesign picks up the attributes of the gradient

applied to the object and displays them in this dialog box If you did not select an object, the controls in the dialog box refl ect the document’s current default gradient.

3 Specify the colors and gradient stop positions for the gradient, if necessary

4 Enter a name for the gradient swatch

5 Click the OK button to save the gradient swatch InDesign adds the gradient swatch to the list of swatches in the Swatches panel

You can also apply and edit gradients using the Gradient panel (see Figure 5-48) Like the New Gradient Swatch and Gradient Options dialog boxes, the Gradient panel contains a gradient ramp, with center points above the ramp and gradient stops below

To apply a gradient, select a path, display the Gradient panel, then click the gradient ramp InDesign applies the gradient object

Using the Gradient Panel

Gradient ramp Center point

Gradient stop Gradient stop

Selected gradient stop

Unselected gradient stop

To change the position of a center point, select it…

…and then drag it to a new location on the gradient ramp.

To change the position of a gradient stop, select it…

…and then drag it to a new location on the gradient ramp.

To add a new gradient stop, position the cursor below the gradient ramp…

…and click.

Figure 5-46 Gradient Controls

…and then drag it away from the gradient ramp.

To remove a gradient stop, select it…

Choose New Gradient Swatch from the Swatches panel menu (or click the New Swatch button).

InDesign displays the New

Gradient Swatch dialog box.

Enter a name for the gradient (optional, but a good idea).

Set up the gradient If you selected an object formatted using a gradient, that gradient’s

properties will appear here.

Click the OK button…

Figure 5-47 Creating a Gradient Swatch

…and InDesign adds the gradient to the list of available swatches.

To edit a gradient applied to a path, select the path, then display the Gradient panel (if it’s not already visible) InDesign loads the gra-dient applied to the path into the Gradient panel Adjust the gradient stop positions, add gradient stops, or change the position of center points or colors, and InDesign applies the changes to the path

To edit the color, gradient type, or angle of a gradient you’ve applied

to an object, select the object and then display the Gradient panel You can use any of the following techniques to change the gradient

▶ Drag a gradient stop to a new position on the gradient ramp

▶ Select the stop and enter a new value in the Location field

▶ Add a new gradient stop by clicking below the gradient ramp

▶ Change the position of the center point by dragging it above the gradient ramp Or you can select the center point and enter a new value in the Location field

▶ Remove a stop by dragging it away from the gradient ramp

▶ Reverse the gradient ramp by clicking the Reverse button

▶ Change the angle of a linear gradient by entering a new value in the Angle field

Editing Gradients

▶ Change the color of a gradient stop using the Swatches panel To

do this, select the stop, then hold down Option/Alt and click a color swatch in the Swatches panel (see Figure 5-49)

▶ Change the color of a gradient stop to an unnamed color To

do this, select the gradient stop, then display the Color panel

Specify a color As you change color values in the Color panel, InDesign changes the color applied to the gradient stop

▶ Change the gradient type using the Type pop-up menu

It’s something every

InDesign user has done at

least once—you select a

gradient stop, then click a

color swatch in the Swatches

panel, expecting to apply the

color to the gradient stop

Instead, InDesign fills (or

strokes) the path with the

color How the heck do you

get a swatch color into a

gradient stop?

Select a gradient stop.

Hold down Option/ Alt and click the color swatch in the Swatches panel

InDesign assigns the color to the gradient stop.

Figure 5-49 Getting a Swatch Color

into a Gradient Stop

You use the Gradient panel

to edit the gradient applied

to an object You could,

as shown in this example,

change the location of the

center point between two

To apply a gradient to more than one path, select the paths (which need not already have gradients applied to their fills or strokes), then drag the Gradient tool The point at which you start dragging defines the starting point of the gradient (see Figure 5-50).

Applying a Gradient

to Multiple Paths

Select a series of paths In this ple, each path has been formatted using a radial gradient fill Position the Gradient tool over the point at which you want to place the center point (for a radial gradient) or start (for a linear gradient), and then drag the tool.

exam-InDesign applies a single gradient to the selected paths.

Figure 5-50 Applying a Gradient to

Multiple Objects

Transparency

Hands down, InDesign’s sexiest feature is its transparency effects These include drop shadows, feathering, support for transparency inside Photoshop and Illustrator graphics, changing an object’s opacity or blending mode… the list goes on But before we go any further with this wild transparency talk, we just need to be clear about something: PostScript’s basic drawing model does not allow for transparency Period

So how does InDesign print transparent objects to a PostScript printer? Simple: it cheats When the time comes to print, InDesign uses clipping paths to create the illusion of transparency and/or rasterizes the transparent objects and sends the printer separated image data All of this takes place in the background—InDesign does not change the objects in your document Instead, it changes the way that the objects are sent to the printer

The way that InDesign sends the transparent objects to the printer

is defined by the Transparency Flattener settings for the spread taining the objects Flattener settings are described in Chapter 11,