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

Paths and Points and Their Peculiarities

Uniting Paths

Somehow, instead of creating a single, curving path, I created two paths. The second path begins about a quarter inch from where the first one ends. (I think I must have taken a phone call or something when I was drawing.) So I used the Direct Select tool to select the two end points, but now I can't find the Average or Join commands to combine the two paths. Illustrator has had these commands for years, explicitly for situations like mine. I can't believe InDesign doesn't.

InDesign can be a real tease, can't it? Only some of Illustrator's drawing functions are in the program, just enough to make you complacent: "No need to boot up Illustrator for this little drawing." And then you run head-on into a dead end like this one. "Join" and "Average" are two of the many long-time Illustrator features not found in InDesign.

Paste Paths from Illustrator" in Chapter 4.)

You can join the two paths in InDesign, but you have to do it manually. With both paths selected, switch to the Pen tool, zoom in very closely, and hover over one of the selected points. When you see a little slash mark appear in the cursor (meaning it's over a point), click (for a corner point) or click and drag for a curve point. Now hover over the other selected point in the second path. When you're directly over that point, the cursor gains a "merge icon" a small rectangle with a horizontal line through it telling you you're about to join the two paths (Figure 6-3). Click or click and drag on that point. The two paths will become one, with a new path segment bridging the gap.

Instead of the Pen tool, you may find it easier to use the Pencil tool to unite the two paths. Drag from the endpoint of one path to the endpoint of the other (you don't need to select the paths in this case). Hold down the Command/Ctrl key after you start dragging so InDesign knows you want to merge the two paths when you hover over the second path's endpoint. You'll see the same merge icon when you're over the second endpoint. Release the mouse button before the Command/Ctrl key. Voila, one single path, where before there were two. You are omnipotent.

Better Pencil Tool Results

Does anyone actually use the Pencil tool to create anything? It adds far too many points on a path, making it difficult to edit. Or maybe it's just me.

No, it's not just you. No one but a trained mohel with an extra-steady hand could draw anything reasonable with the Pencil tool's default settings. However, you can change these settings. Double-click the Pencil tool to open its settings dialog box. Move both the Fidelity and Smoothness sliders all the way to the right and click OK. Now the freehand paths and shapes you create with the tool will contain as few points as possible. The artwork will not exactly match the path your cursor took especially any small jigs and jogs but after too many coffees, that's probably a good thing. You can always add points to the path with the Pen or the Add Point tool to fine tune your work of art.

Force a Closed Path with the Pencil Tool

The Pencil tool is convenient for freehand drawing of shapes, but no matter how careful I am to end my path where I started, it won't close the path. I have to manually join the two endpoints myself.

You forgot to hold down the "make better" key: Hold down the Option/Alt key after you start drawing your shape, and don't release it until you're done (release the mouse button first). This forces InDesign to close the shape, even if you end the path far away from where you started.

Controlling the Control Handles

I can't figure out how to create a point that's a combination of a curve and a corner with InDesign's Pen tool. For example, the bottom point in a simple Valentine's Day heart, which is pointy (a corner), but it has two curves that leave it, each going in a different direction. If I tart by dragging out a curve point, I can't move the point's control handles independently of each other so that one points up/left and the other up/right. InDesign always moves one of the handles in the opposite direction that I'm moving the other handle.

What you want is called a "cusp" point, in which the control handles move independently. Select the point with the Direct Select tool so you can see both control handles. Now use the Convert Direction Point tool (in the Pen tool pop-up menu) to drag one of the handles (not the point itself) and it will leave its "mate" in place (Figure 6-4). If you have the Pen tool active, you could hold down Option/Alt to get a temporary Convert Direction Point tool. When you have the Direct Select tool, you can get this Convert tool temporarily by holding down Command-Option/Ctrl-Alt.

TIP

You can make control handles move independently of each other while you're drawing a shape, instead of editing the points afterward. When you're using the Pen tool to draw, and you're about to create a curve point that should have independent control handles, drag out the "normal" control handles as usual but don't release the mouse button. Hold down the Option/Alt key and you'll be able to drag the outgoing control handle (the one under your cursor that you're dragging away from the curve point) in a different direction without affecting its mate. Release the mouse button and go on to create your next point in the path. When the path is complete, use the Direct Select tool to adjust the "incoming" control handles for the curve points you did this to, if necessary.

Delete Just One of the Control Handles

I want to create what I call a combination point: A curve comes into the point, but a corner (a straight line) leaves the point. That means the point should have only one control handle, the incoming one that defines the curve. I've tried everything, but I can't delete the outgoing control handle that defines the corner.

It ain't easy, but it's possible. You have to "put away" one of the control handles by hand, and unlike Illustrator, InDesign doesn't give you any visual feedback when it's completely put away. But it does work.

Select the point with the Direct Select tool. Zoom in as close as you can so you can see the point and the control handle you want to put away. Use the Convert Direction Point tool (so you don't accidentally modify the other control handle) to drag the control handle "in" towards the point, and keep dragging until the handle itself is right on top of the point. Don't look for any visual clues in the cursor that you're at the right spot, because there are none. Release the mouse button and the handle should be gone for good.