Adobe InDesign CS/CS2 Breakthroughs [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Bent Out of Shape

No Rounded Rectangle Tool

Every design software program I know of has a tool to create rounded-corner rectangles: CorelDraw, QuarkXPress, PageMaker, Freehand, Illustrator, even Photoshop has one. But not InDesign!

Adobe's categorized the "roundedness" of a frame's corners as just another corner effect. So create (or select) a normal rectangle frame, then go to Object > Corner Effects and select "Rounded" from the Effect popup menu. Turn on the Preview checkbox so you can see the effect of changing the corners' diameter in the Size field. Click OK when you've achieved optimum roundosity.

If you're using InDesign CS2, you have one more option: You can convert any frame into a rounded-corner rectangle by selecting it and choosing Objects > Convert Shape > Rounded Rectangle. However, to change the default radius of the corner, you'll still have to go visit Corner Effects.

Edit A Shape's Frame

I created a text frame, filled it with text, applied style sheets, added a custom stroke and background color to the frame, and positioned it just-so in my layout. In other words, it's perfect. Except that now, I'd like to make one side of the frame have an S-curve. Since there's no "convert to Bézier shape" command like there is in QuarkXPress, I have to start all over again and recreate the frame by hand with the Pen tool.

InDesign doesn't have that command because every frame text, graphics, and unassigned ones is an "editable Bezier shape." Use the Direct Select tool to select and edit the individual points in your frame, and/or use the Pen tool to add, remove or modify existing points (Figure 6-1). No intermediate "conversion" command is required. You could even click on the frame with the Type on a Path tool (an alternate to the default Type tool) to get text both in and on the text frame.

Create a Triangle Tool

I want to add a series of smallish triangles running across the bottom of my page for a kind of "arty" effect. I can make a triangle with the Pen tool by clicking once for each corner, but they always come out uneven, and I want the three sides to be the same length. If only InDesign had a Triangle Shape tool!

You know what we're going to say: Yes, InDesign CS2 does this for you automatically. No, there's no Triangle tool per se; instead, just draw any rectangular frame and then choose Object > Convert Shape > Triangle. The triangle always "points up," but you can rotate it to whatever direction you want.

Here's a triangle trick that works in both CS and CS2: Use the Polygon tool. Press and hold the mouse button down on either the default Rectangle Frame or Rectangle Shape tool, then drag down the resulting pop-up menu of alternate tools to select the Polygon tool. Double-click the Polygon tool in the Tools palette to open its options dialog box. Set it to 3 sides and a Star Inset of 0% (Figure 6-2) and baby, you've got yourself a Triangle tool. Drag the cursor in your document and watch the triangle appear. Hold down the Shift key as you drag to create a perfectly equilateral triangle.

One Special Corner

The commands in Object > Corner Effects apply to all corners of a selected frame. If I just want one corner of the frame to be rounded, or have an inset (or whatever) I have to edit the shape by hand …and edit and re-edit, because I never get it right the first time.

Go to the InDesign scripts section in the Adobe Studio web site (http://share.studio.adobe.com) and download CornerEffects.js, a free cross-platform script that lets you apply corner effects to one or more corners of a selected frame. (See the "Using InDesign Scripts" sidebar on the next page if you need help installing and running InDesign scripts.)

This corner effects script offers another benefit over the normal Object > Corner Effects feature. In InDesign CS, the corners made with the normal Corner Effects feature are not subject to the Pathfinder features (like Add or Subtract). That is, these normal corner effects are simply stripped away or applied mindlessly to the final shape. The script, however, actually changes the path itself (it adds real Bézier points to the path), so these shapes work with the Pathfinder effects flawlessly. The Pathfinder effects in CS2 work the way you'd expect, so you don't have to worry about it as much.

TIP

Keep your scripts elsewhere on your hard drive and just put aliases (shortcuts) to these files into the Scripts folder. That way, if you have to reinstall or upgrade InDesign, the installer software won't accidentally delete all your scripts.

Using InDesign Scripts

If you pine for a missing feature, there's a good chance that a script would solve your problem. A script is like a Microsoft Word macro, if you're familiar with that concept, or sort of like an Adobe Photoshop action (but actually much more powerful than an action).

InDesign scripts are plain text files written in AppleScript (Mac only), VBScript (Windows only) or JavaScript (cross-platform). You install scripts these text files by dropping themor an alias of theminto your Scripts folder (Adobe InDesign > Presets > Scripts). You run a script by opening InDesign's Scripts palette (Window > Automation > Scripts) and double-clicking the script's name.

If you open your Scripts palette, chances are you'll find it's empty. For some reason, the default installation neglects to add the free scripts that come with InDesign. It's easy enough to install them yourself:

1.

Open the InDesign installation CD-ROM and look for a folder called Scripting. It's probably in another folder called Adobe Technical Information, which may be inside yet another folder, depending if you have the full Creative Suite or just InDesign.

2.

Inside the Scripting folder on the disc you'll find the InDesign Scripting Guide (a 1,600-page PDF) and a folder called Sample Scripts. Open the Sample Scripts folder to see a healthy list of useful JavaScript text files (cross-platform scripts). Copy the files over to your own Scripts folder on your hard drive: Adobe InDesign > Presets > Scripts. If you don't have a Scripts folder in your Presets folder, just make one yourself.

3.

Eject the InDesign installation CD. You're done, the scripts are installed. Check your Scripts palette to see for yourself.

If these freebies don't do the trick, there are three ways to get a script that does: Search the Internet, especially