Manipulating Objects
In This Chapter
ᮣ Resizing, moving, and deleting objects
ᮣ Keeping objects from printing
ᮣ Rotating, shearing, and flipping objects
ᮣ Changing object attributes
ᮣ Applying special effects
Frames, shapes, lines, and paths are the building blocks of your layout. But as anyone who ever played with Legos or Tinkertoys knows, it’s how you manipulate the building blocks that results in a unique creation, whether it be a Lego house, a Tinkertoys crane, or an InDesign layout. InDesign provides a lot of control over layout objects so that you can create really interesting, dynamic publications suited to any purpose. In this chapter, I explain the controls that apply to all objects.
This chapter focuses on various effects and actions that apply to any frame or path. Chapter 16 covers various actions specific to text frames and paths, while Chapter 18 covers actions specific to graphics frames. Chapter 7
explains how to add frames, shapes, lines, and paths in the first place. Chapter 10 explains how to align objects and precisely position them. Selecting Objects
Before you can manipulate an object, you have to select it so that InDesign knows what you want to work on. To select an object (rather than its contents), use the Selection tool. Selected items display their item boundary (a rectangle that encompasses the object), as well as eight small resizing handles (one at each of the four corners and one midway between each side of the item boundary). Figure 8-1 shows an example.
136 Part III: Object Essentials
Figure 8-1:
When you
select
a frame
with the
Selection
tool, the
bounding
box appears
with eight
resizing
handles
(left). When
you resize
a control
point,
InDesign
shows you
the new
values as
you move
the mouse
(right).
To select an individual object, just click it with the Selection tool. To select multiple objects, you have several options:
ߜ
Click the first object and Shift+click each additional object. ߜ
Click and drag the mouse to create a selection rectangle (called a mar- quee) that encompasses at least part of each desired object. When you release the mouse, all objects that this marquee touches are selected. ߜ
Choose Edit➪Select All (Ô+A or Ctrl+A) to select all objects on the current spread.
If an object is on a master page and you’re working on a document page, you must Shift+Ô+click or Ctrl+Shift+click the object to select it. How do you know whether an object is on a master page? Easy: If you try to select it by clicking and it doesn’t become selected, it must be on a master page.
Choose
View➪Show Frame Edges (Control+Ô+H or Ctrl+H) to see object edges if they aren’t already visible.
These options are pretty easy, but it can get tricky when you want to select objects that overlap or are obscured by other objects. (See Chapter 10 for more details on object stacking.) So how do you select them?
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One way is to use the Select Previous Object or Select Next Object iconic buttons in the Control panel. (If you Shift+click either button, InDesign jumps past four objects and selects the fifth one. If you Ô+click or Control+click either button, InDesign selects to the bottommost or topmost object, respectively.) Note that the buttons don’t display when the default Essentials workspace is in use; they do appear in the Advanced workspace, and you can turn them on individually by modifying the Control panel’s appearance. (Choose Customize from its flyout menu and then go to the Object section to turn on the Select Container & Content option.)
If you use the Select Previous Object or Select Next Object iconic buttons and reach the top or bottom of the object stack, InDesign cycles back. For example, if you reach the topmost object and click Select Previous Object, InDesign moves to the bottommost object.
Another way to select buried objects is by using the Select submenu option in the Object menu.
The first four options in the Select submenu let you select another object relative to the currently selected object:
ߜ
First Object Above (Option+Shift+Ô+] or Ctrl+Alt+Shift+]) selects the topmost object.
ߜ
Next Object Above (Option+Ô+] or Ctrl+Alt+]) selects the object immediately on top of the current object.
ߜ
Next Object Below (Option+Ô+[ or Ctrl+Alt+[) selects the object immediately under the current object.
ߜ
Last Object Below (Option+Shift+Ô+[ or Ctrl+Alt+Shift+[) selects the bottommost object.
If no objects are selected, InDesign bases its selection on the order in which the objects were created, the topmost object being the one that was most recently created.
You can also access these four selection options by Control+clicking or right-clicking an object and choosing the Select menu from the contextual menu that appears.
The Select submenu has four other options:
ߜ
If you select an object’s content (text or graphic), choose
Object➪Select➪Container to choose the frame or path. Using this option is the same as selecting the object with the Selection tool.
ߜ
If an object has content (text or graphic) and you select it, choose Object➪Select➪Content to choose the content within the object. This option is basically the same as selecting the frame with the Direct Selection tool.
138 Part III: Object Essentials
ߜ
If you select an object in a group of objects by using the Direct Selection tool, choose Object➪Select➪Previous Object in Group to navigate to the previous object in the group.
ߜ
Similarly, if you select an object in a group of objects by using the Direct Selection tool, choose Object➪Select➪Next Object in Group to navigate to the next object in the group.
The order in which the objects were created determines what is “previous” or
“next” in a group.
The Control panel also provides iconic buttons to select the next or previous object, as well as to select the content or container (frame). These last two buttons appear only if you’ve selected a group. The buttons for selecting the next or previous object appear only if you’re using the Direct Selection tool, while the buttons for selecting the content or container appear whether you’re using the Selection or Direct Selection tool. (Yes, this interface approach is very confusing!) Figure 8-2 shows the buttons.
The Select Next Object and Select Previous Object functions now work for anchored objects in text. If you select an anchored object and use these functions, InDesign CS4 will move to the next (or previous) anchored object in the current story. (Chapter 10 covers anchored objects.)
To deselect objects, just click another object, an empty part of your page, or the pasteboard. To deselect individual objects after you’ve selected multiple objects, Shift+click those you want to deselect.
Figure 8-2:
The Control
panel buttons for
Select Container
selecting
Select Previous Object
the next and
previous
objects in
a group, as
well as for
Select Contents
selecting
contents
Select Next Object
versus
containers.
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The Direct Selection tool lets you select any of the individual anchor points (and direction handles of free-form shapes and curved lines) on an object. If you use the Direct Selection tool to click an object that has a bounding box, the shape within is selected, and the bounding box is deselected. You use this tool to work on the contents independently of its container frame. You can also move a graphic within its frame by clicking within the object (see Chapter 18).
Resizing and Scaling Objects
Two closely related features are resizing and scaling. What’s the difference?
Resizing affects just the container — the frame or path — whereas scaling affects both the container and its contents.
Resizing objects
You resize objects in pretty much the same way you move them: by using the mouse for inexact sizes or the Control panel for precise sizes. To resize an object with the mouse, click and drag one of the frame’s (or path’s) handles with the Selection tool. (Hold the Shift key as you drag to maintain the proportions of the frame.) Drag a corner handle to resize both the width and height or a side handle to resize just the height or width. This method leaves the contents’ size unchanged but changes the size of the frame or path.
InDesign CS4 now shows you the new dimensions as you scale an object via the mouse, with an information box that pops up near the control point you’re dragging, as Figure 8-1, earlier in this chapter, shows.
You can also enter new values in the W: and H: fields (for width and height) of the Control panel. This action also doesn’t change the contents’ size.
Remember those reference points for positioning an object from Chapter 1?
They come into play for resizing objects as well. Basically, the object will grow or shrink starting from the selected reference point, called the control point. So if the upper-left reference point is selected and you enter greater W: and H: values, the object will add the extra width to the right and the extra height below. But if you choose the center reference point, it will grow on both sides as well as on the top and bottom, spreading the extra size evenly. 14_388488-ch08.indd 139
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140 Part III: Object Essentials
Another way to resize a frame — this method doesn’t apply to paths — is to choose Object➪Fitting➪Fit Frame to Content (Option+Ô+C or Ctrl+Alt+C). For a graphic, this action makes the frame the same size as the graphic itself. For text, it increases or decreases the depth of the text frame to match the depth of the text; it doesn’t widen or narrow the frame.
Double-clicking one of a frame’s four handles — the squares at the midpoints of each side — resizes the frame to the content in that axis. For example, double-clicking the left or right handles fits the frame to the contents’ width, while double-clicking the top or bottom handle fits the frame to the contents’
height. Likewise, double-clicking a corner handle resizes the frame in both directions.
Scaling objects
InDesign offers several ways to scale an object, resizing both its contents and its frame (or path):
ߜ
Enter percentage values in the Scale X Percentage and Scale Y
Percentage fields of the Control panel. If the icon to the right of these fields shows a solid chain, adjusting one field automatically adjusts the other by the same percentage, creating proportional resizing. If the icon shows a broken chain, the two dimensions are resized independently, distorting the contents. Click the iconic button to toggle between the unbroken chain and broken chain icons.
ߜ
You can also scale an object using the mouse. Select the object with the Selection tool, make sure that the desired control point is active to control where the scaling operation starts, and then select the Scale tool. Now drag the mouse away from the object to enlarge it or into the object to reduce it. Objects scaled this way are scaled unproportionally; to scale the object proportionally, hold the Shift key when moving the mouse. (You can also use the Free Transform tool in the same way.) ߜ
For graphics frames, use the content-fitting options in the Object menu and Control panel, described in Chapter 18.
Moving Objects
The easiest way to move an object is by using the mouse. With the Selection tool, click an object and drag it to a new location. When you release the mouse, the object is deposited in the new location.
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If you want to more precisely move an object, you can enter specific X: and Y: coordinates in the Control panel, as explained in Chapter 10.
Be sure to select the correct reference point to be used as the control point when entering coordinates. The little squares at the top left of the Control panel and Transform panel represent the object’s reference points (corners, side midpoints, and center). Click a reference point to make it the control point (it turns black, the others turn white); all coordinates are now based on this point.
Deleting Objects
Alas, not all the objects you create survive all the way to the final version of your publication. Some wind up on the cutting room floor. You can always move an object to the pasteboard if you’re not sure whether you want to get rid of it altogether. (Objects on the pasteboard don’t print.) But when it’s time to ax an object, oblivion is just a keystroke or two away.
If you delete a text or graphics frame or path, the contents are removed as well as the frame.
Here’s how to delete objects: Using any selection tool, select the object or objects you want to delete and then press the Delete key or Backspace key. You can also delete a selected item by choosing Edit➪Clear.
Choosing
Edit➪Cut (Ô+X or Ctrl+X) also removes a selected object. However, in this case, a copy of the object is saved to the Clipboard, and you can paste it elsewhere (by choosing Edit➪Paste [Ô+V or Ctrl+V]) until you cut or copy something else, or you shut down your computer.
Preventing Objects from Printing
InDesign lets you prevent a specific object from printing. To do so, select the object with the Selection or Direct Selection tool, open the Attributes panel (Window➪Attributes), and then select the Nonprinting check box. (The other settings in this panel duplicate stroke settings, covered in Chapter 7.) You use this feature for comments and other elements that should not print but that the designer needs to have visible on-screen. Another approach to nonprinting objects is to place them all on a layer and make the entire layer nonprinting, as explained in Chapter 4.
142 Part III: Object Essentials
Transforming Objects
InDesign offers several tools and methods for transforming objects. I discuss resizing, scaling, and moving earlier in this chapter, but you can also take advantage of several other useful transformation tools, including rotating, shearing (skewing), flipping, and reshaping.
Rotating is just spinning an object around. Shearing is a little more complicated: Shearing skews an object (slanting it in one direction) while also rotating the other axis at the same time.
Regardless of whether you use the mouse or numeric controls to apply rotation and/or shearing to graphics, you first need to follow these steps:
1. Select the Selection tool.
2. Click the object you want to modify.
3. If you want, change the object’s control point.
By default, the control point is the upper-left corner of a frame or shape. You can change the control point by clicking one of the little black boxes — the reference points — in the upper-left corner of the Control panel.
4. Choose the appropriate tool — Rotate, Shear, or Free Transform — or use the flip options in the Control panel.
Figure 8-3 shows the Tools panel and Control panel iconic buttons for these controls.
If you hold down the Option or Alt key before and while moving and object, InDesign copies the object and then moves that copy. If you start rotating or resizing, or otherwise transforming an object and then hold Option or Alt, InDesign applies the transformation to a copy. (If you hold Option or Alt first, InDesign opens a dialog box that lets you enter in the new values, such as for scaling or rotating, and choose Copy to apply the new attributes to a copy of the object.
Rotating objects
With the Rotate tool selected, click and drag a selected object to rotate it —
the object rotates following your mouse movement. (Holding down the Shift key while dragging limits rotation increments to multiples of 45 degrees.)
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Rotate 90˚ Clockwise
Rotation Angle
Rotate 90˚ Counterclockwise
Figure 8-3:
Scale X Percentage
Flip Status
The buttons for
the Rotate,
Scale,
Scale X Percentage
Flip Vertical
Shear,
Shear X Angle Flip Horizontal
and Free
Transform
tools in the
Rotate tool
Tools panel
Scale tool
and Control
Shear tool
panel, as
well as
Free Transform tool
the flip
and rotate
buttons in
the Control
panel.
InDesign CS4 now shows the current angle of rotation in a pop-up box near the mouse as you rotate an object, similar to how it shows the new dimensions as you resize (refer to Figure 8-1).
For more precise rotation, use the Control panel. You can change the angle of a selected object by entering a value in the Rotation Angle field. If you choose to enter a value in the Rotation Angle field, positive values rotate the selected item counterclockwise around the control point; negative values rotate it clockwise.
Or you can choose one of the predefined angles from the Rotation Angle field’s pop-up menu, or choose any of the three rotation options —
Rotate 180°, Rotate 90° CW, and Rotate 90° CCW — in the Control panel’s flyout menu.
If you choose one of these flyout menu options, the current angle of the selected object is added to the applied angle. For example, if you choose Rotate 90° CCW (counterclockwise), an object that’s currently rotated 12
degrees will end up with a rotation angle of 102 degrees.
No matter what method you choose to rotate an object, the center of rotation will be whatever control point is selected in the Control panel. To “unrotate” an object, enter a Rotation Angle value of 0. 14_388488-ch08.indd 143
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144 Part III: Object Essentials
Sometimes, rotated objects — especially those containing text — can be hard to edit in the regular view of a page. InDesign CS4 thus lets you rotate a spread so that you can view it at 90-, 180-, and 270-degree views — in addition to the standard 0-degree view, of course. Note that the actual spread isn’t rotated, just its appearance in InDesign; it still prints correctly. Figure 8-4 shows an example; note the rotation icon that appears in the pages panel to the right of the rotated spread.
You can rotate a spread’s view in two ways:
ߜ
Choose View➪Rotate Spread and then choose the desired rotation amount from the submenu.
ߜ
Select the desired spread for which to rotate its view in the Pages panel and then choose Rotate Spread View and the desired rotation amount from the submenu.
To set the view back to normal, choose the Clear Rotation option in the submenu.
Figure 8-4:
Rotating a
spread’s
view helps
you work on
rotated text
and other
rotated
objects.
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Shearing objects
With the Shear tool selected, click and drag a selected object to shear it. (Holding down the Shift key constrains the selected object’s rotation value to increments of 45 degrees.) If you drag the mouse in a straight line parallel with one set of edges (such as the top and bottom), you skew the graphic (just slant it in one direction). But if you move the mouse in any other direction, you slant the object’s edges closest to the direction that you move the mouse the furthest and rotate the rest of the graphic. Give it a few tries to see what happens.
As with other functions, you can also use the Control panel for more precise control. Just enter a Shear X Angle value in the Control panel or choose a predefined value from the field’s pop-up menu. Positive shear values slant an object to the right (that is, the top edge of the object is moved to the right), whereas negative values slant an object to the left (the bottom edge is moved to the right). You can enter shear values between 1 and 89 (although values above 70 cause considerable distortion).
Note that when you use the Shear tool, you change the selected object’s angle of rotation and skew angle simultaneously. If you use the mouse, you can in effect get different skew and rotation angles based on how you move the mouse, but if you use the Control panel, both the skew and rotation will have the same angles applied.
To “unshear” an object, enter a Shear X Angle value of 0. Flipping objects
The Object menu has two flipping commands: Object➪Transform➪Flip Horizontal and Object➪Transform➪Flip Vertical. They’re also available in the Control panel as iconic buttons (refer to Figure 8-3).
These controls let you make a mirror image of a selected object and its contents. If you choose Flip Horizontal, the graphic is flipped along a vertical axis (that is, the right edge and left edge exchange places); if you choose Flip Vertical, the object is flipped upside down. (You’re not making a flipped copy of the select object, but actually flipping the selected object.) As with other tools, the invisible line over which an object is flipped is based on what reference point is currently active as the control point for that object.
The Control panel displays the current object’s flip status. (Look for the large P in the panel when an object is selected; it’s to the right of the two flip buttons.) The P changes appearance so that it’s flipped the same way as the selected object.
146 Part III: Object Essentials
Using the Free Transform tool
Advanced users will like the Free Transform
ߜ Finally, if you move the mouse close to a
tool. When you select this tool, InDesign lets
frame handle, you see a curved arrow,
you scale, rotate, and resize — but not
which indicates that you can rotate the
shear — selected objects — as follows:
object around that object’s center point.
ߜ If you click within the frame, you can move Having a tool that does more than one the object by dragging it.
thing can be confusing, but once you get
ߜ
the hang of it, it sure beats constantly changing
If you select a frame handle (whether tools!
corner or midpoint), you can resize the
object by dragging.
Repeating transformations
Whatever transformations you use, you can apply them repeatedly. InDesign remembers the effects that you apply to frames via the Control panel, Transform panel, and transform tools. Choose Object➪Transform
Again➪Transform Again (Option+Ô+3 or Ctrl+Alt+3) to repeat the last transformation on the selected object. (It can be a different object than you last applied a transformation to.)
Or choose Object➪Transform Again➪Transform Sequence Again
(Option+Ô+4 or Ctrl+Alt+4) to apply all recent transformations to a selected object. That sequence of transactions stays in memory until you perform a new transformation, which then starts a new sequence, so you can apply the same transformation to multiple objects.
Two other transform-again options are available through the
Object➪Transform Again menu option’s submenu: Transform Again
Individually and Transform Sequence Again Individually. You use these options on groups; they work like the regular Transform Again and Transform Sequence Again options but apply any effects to each object individually within the group. For example, applying Transform Again to a group rotates the entire group as if it were one unit, but choosing Transform Again Individually rotates each object in the group separately, not the group as a unit. Try it and see exactly what it does!
Replacing Object Attributes
A really painstaking task in any layout is going through it to fix formatting to frames, lines, or other objects once the design standards have changed. Chapter 8: Manipulating Objects
147
InDesign has a very handy way to apply object formatting consistently to objects — the object styles feature described in Chapter 9 — but even if you use these styles, you’ll still have local formatting applied to at least some objects.
That’s where the Object pane of the Find/Replace dialog box comes in, letting you replace attributes throughout your document, no matter what they’re applied to. Figure 8-5 shows that pane.
Here’s how it works:
1. Open the Find/Change dialog box by choosing Edit➪Find/Change (Ô+F or Ctrl+F) and then go to the Object pane.
2. Select the desired object attributes and click OK when you’re done.
To do so, click the Specify Attributes to Find iconic button to the right of the Find Object Format list. In the dialog box that appears (see Figure 8-5), select the attributes to search (choose one category at a time from the list at left and then set the desired parameters in the pane that appears) and click OK when you’re done.
Highlight an attribute in the list and click the Clear Object Find Format Settings iconic button — the trashcan icon — if you want to remove an attribute from your search. (This dialog box is nearly identical to the New Object Style dialog box covered in Chapter 9.)
3. If you’re replacing attributes, click the Specify Attributes to Change iconic button to the right of the Change Object Format list.
These controls work like the Find Object Format controls.
4. Limit or expand the search range by choosing an option from the Search pop-up menu: Selection, Document, and All Documents.
5. Choose the type of frames to search in the Type pop-up menu: All Frames, Text Frames, Graphic Frames, and Unassigned Frames.
6. Determine the scope of your search by selecting or deselecting any of the five buttons at the bottom of the pane.
From left to right, the five buttons are Include Locked Layers, Include Locked Stories, Include Hidden Layers, Include Master Pages, and Include Footnotes. Note that the first two buttons apply only to finds; you can’t change the formatting of locked objects. (If an icon’s background darkens, it’s selected.)
7. Click Find, Change, Change All, or Change/Find as desired to perform your search and/or replace operation.
8. Click Done when done.
148 Part III: Object Essentials
Figure 8-5:
The Object
pane of the
Find/Change
dialog box
(upper left)
and its
Find Object
Format
dialog box
(lower
right).
Making Fancy Corners
Anytime you’re working on an object that has any sharp corners, you have the option to add a little pizzazz to those corners via InDesign’s Corner Options feature (Object➪Corner Options). Five built-in corner options, shown in Figure 8-6, are available. Note that if the shape contains only smooth points, any corner option you apply won’t be noticeable. To add a corner option:
1. Select either of the selection tools and click the object to which you want to add a corner effect.
2.
Choose
Object➪Corner Options to display the Corner Options
dialog box.
Select the Preview check box to view changes as you make them.
3. Choose an option from the Effect pop-up menu.
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Figure 8-6:
The Corner
Options
dialog box
lets you
apply any of
five effects
to frame
and path
corners.
From left to
right: None,
Fancy,
Bevel, Inset,
Inverse
Rounded,
and
Rounded.
4. Enter a distance in the Size field.
The Size value determines the length that the effect extends from the corner.
You can also use the new nudge buttons to increase or decrease the sizes in increments. (The increments depend on the default measurement unit selected; see Chapter 2.)
5. Click OK to close the dialog box and apply your changes.
If you can’t see a corner effect after applying one, make sure that a color is applied to the stroke or try making the object’s stroke thicker. Increasing the Size value in the Corner Options dialog box can also make a corner effect more visible.
Using Transparency and Lighting Effects
InDesign was a pioneer in the use of transparency effects on objects. These effects let you overlay objects without completely obscuring them, allowing for very interesting visual effects, such as fades and shadows. It provides rich controls over transparency and lighting so that you can create effects such as embossing and beveled edges and control the intensity and direction of shadows and light.
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Basic transparency
One of InDesign’s most sophisticated tools is its set of transparency options, which let you make objects partially transparent. You apply transparency with the Effects panel (Window➪Effects [Shift+Ô+F10 or Ctrl+Shift+F10]), by choosing Object➪Effects➪Transparency, or by clicking the Effects iconic button (the fx icon) in the Control panel and choosing Transparency from its pop-up menu.
The first option displays the Effects panel, which takes the least screen space and is best used for simple operations. The other options open the more complex and larger Effects dialog box. (Be sure that the Transparency pane is visible in the Effects dialog box; if not, click the Transparency option in the option list at left.)
Figure 8-7 shows the Effects panel as well as a text title that uses transparency as it overprints a background photo. The photo has an Opacity setting of 40 percent, making it partially transparent. The text has an Opacity setting of 65 percent but also has a blending mode applied, which changes how the transparency appears.
To set the transparency level, in the Opacity field of the Effects panel or Effects dialog box’s Transparency pane, enter a value or choose one from the pop-up menu. A value of 0 is completely invisible, whereas a value of 100 is completely solid.
You can’t apply transparency to text selections or to entire layers, but InDesign does let you apply different transparency settings to an object’s contents, fill, and stroke, as well as to the object itself. You do so by choosing the desired component in the list in the Effects panel or using the Settings For pop-up menu in the Effects dialog box. (If you see only Object listed in the Effects panel, click the right-facing triangle to its left to display the rest.) If you want more than basic transparency, you have a lot of other options. Most are for experts, but a few are worth describing. One is the set of 16
transparency types — called blending modes. (Photoshop and Illustrator users will recognize these expert options.) You access blending modes in the pop-up menu in the Effects panel or via the Mode pop-up menu on the Effects dialog box’s Transparency pane. The differences among them can be subtle or extreme, depending on a variety of issues. Experiment with them to see what effect works best in each case.
The Difference, Exclusion, Hue, Saturation, Color, and Luminosity modes don’t blend spot colors — only process colors.
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Figure 8-7:
The Effects
panel and
its flyout
menu (right),
as well
as transparency
applied to
the image
and text
(the original
objects are
at left).
You have two other options in the Effects panel and in the Transparency pane of the Effects dialog box:
ߜ
Isolate Blending restricts the blending modes to the objects in a group, instead of also applying them to objects beneath the group. This option can prevent unintended changes to those underlying objects.
ߜ
Knockout Group obscures any objects below the selected group. But those objects are still affected by any blend mode settings applied to the group, unless Isolate Blending is also checked.
Drop shadows and inner shadows
The Effects panel and dialog box, as well as the Object➪Effects menu command, give you access to a bunch of other lighting features, including drop shadows.
152 Part III: Object Essentials
To get to these other lighting features, choose Effects➪Drop Shadow from the Effects panel’s flyout menu or choose Drop Shadow from the fx iconic button’s pop-up menu. In the Effects dialog box, select Drop Shadow from the option list at left. Or just press Option+Ô+M or Ctrl+Alt+M. No matter how you get there, you see the following options in the Drop Shadow pane of the Effects dialog box, shown in Figure 8-8.
ߜ
Choose what component of the object to apply the drop shadow to by using the Settings For pop-up menu. (You can apply multiple drop shadows, one to each component of an object.) ߜ
Enable the Drop Shadow check box option to turn on the drop shadow function for the selected component.
ߜ
Select a lighting type (technically, a blend mode) by choosing one of the 16 options in the Mode pop-up menu. (These blending modes are the same ones used for transparencies.)
ߜ
Specify the opacity by entering a value in the Opacity field — 0% is invisible, whereas 100% is completely solid.
ߜ
Specify the shadow’s position relative to the object by using the X Offset and Y Offset fields. A positive X Offset moves the shadow to the right; a positive Y Offset moves the shadow down. Negative values go in the other direction.
ߜ
Specify the shadow’s size by entering a value in the Distance field — this option blurs a copy of the object used in the drop shadow to make it look like it was created by shining light on the object.
ߜ
Choose a lighting angle in the Angle field or use the mouse to move the direction within the circle to determine the direction of the shadow. You can also select the Use Global Light option, which then uses whatever settings you define in the Global Light dialog box — a handy way to have consistent settings for all objects. (Choose Object➪Effects➪Global Light, or choose Global Light from the Effects panel’s flyout menu, to open the Global Light dialog box.)
Figure 8-8:
The Drop
Shadow
pane of the
Effects
dialog box.
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ߜ
Choose a color source — Swatches, RGB, CMYK, or Lab — from the Color pop-up menu in the Effect Color dialog box, which you get by clicking the color swatch to the right of the Mode pop-up menu, and then select a color from the sliders or swatches below that menu. You get sliders for RGB, CMYK, and Lab colors or a set of previously defined color swatches if you selected Swatches in the Color pop-up menu. ߜ
Adjust the other settings, if desired, to control other, expert drop shadow characteristics: Size, Spread, Noise, Object Knocks Out Shadow, and Shadow Honors Other Effects.
ߜ
To see the effects of your various setting adjustments in the actual layout, check the Preview option. (Because the Effects dialog box is so big, you’ll likely need a large monitor to have room for both the dialog box and the object you’re applying the effects to.)
InDesign has a second shadow option: inner shadows. It works pretty much like drop shadows, with a nearly identical pane in the Effects dialog box. The visual difference is that an inner shadow is contained within the object, as if the frames were a wall blocking the shadow, whereas a drop shadow occurs outside the frame, as if the frame were casting a shadow outside. Feathering and other lighting effects
A similar option to drop shadows is feathering, which essentially softens the edges of objects. Three types of feathering are available:
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Basic feathering: This option softens the edges on all sides of an object. ߜ
Directional feathering: This option lets you control the direction of the feathering as well as separate feather widths for each side, creating a smeared-border effect.
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Gradient feathering: This option provides a gradient effect to the feathered area.
The other effects are outer glow, inner glow, bevel and emboss, and satin. Figure 8-9 shows examples of each.
You apply them the same ways as you do drop shadows, selecting the object component in the Settings For pop-up menu and modifying the various controls such as opacity, light angle and distance, blending mode, and effect size, as appropriate for the specific effect. Once you get a hang for transparency and drop shadows, it’s easy to use the other effects.
154 Part III: Object Essentials
Figure 8-9:
Various
effects
applied
to a set of
objects.
Top row:
The original
object, drop
shadow,
and inner
shadow.
Second
row: Basic
feather,
directional
feather,
and gradient feather.
Third row:
Outer
glow and
inner glow.
Bottom row:
Bevel and
emboss, and
satin.