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1.

Draw an Object to Fill

Draw a shape in your drawing area that you can fill.

2.

Select Format, Area

With the shape selected, select

Format, Area to display the

Area dialog box, or click the

Area button on the

Line and Filling toolbar. The first page of the dialog box,

Area , basically provides the same fill tools as the

Line and Filling toolbar does. You can elect to use no fill, a color fill, a gradient fill, a hatching pattern fill, or a bitmap fill (from a graphic image stored on your disk). As you select the respective

Fill section options, the

Area page changes to reflect the options you've selected. For example, if you click the

Gradient option, the

Area page offers a long list of gradient patterns you can choose from and enables you to determine how dramatically the gradient moves, in incremental pixels, from one color to another.

NOTE

Until you familiarize yourself with all the gradient patterns, save any changes you make to a new pattern by clicking

Add .

3.

Specify a Shadow

Click to select the

Shadow page of the

Area dialog box. Here, you can apply a shadowing effect to your selected object (including 3D text you've placed on the drawing). The

Position option enables you to determine where the shadow will fall; for example, if you click the lower-right corner, the shadow will drop from the lower-right corner of your selected shape when you click

OK to apply the shadow.

4.

Select a Transparency, Color, or Gradient

If you have elected to add a color fill to a shape, you can determine how much of the underlying objects show through the filled area. The

No transparency option makes the selected object's fill overwrite anything below it. If you choose the

Transparency option, you can determine, in percentage terms, how much any objects underneath the fill area show through. If you choose the

Gradient option, you determine how the color or other fill transitions to full transparency.

NOTE

The

Transparency page applies only to colors you've already filled a shape with; if you choose the

Gradient option on this page you'll affect how the chosen fill transitions gradually complete the transparency. Use the

Gradients page instead if you want to fill an object with a gradient pattern that transitions from one color to another.

Click the

Colors tab to display the

Colors page of the

Area dialog box. Here, you can choose a color or even generate your own color by combining

RGB

values . Click the

Save button if you generate a color that you might want to reuse in the future. To reuse a saved color, click the

Load button and select the color you wish to use.

KEY TERM

RGB values
The red, green, and blue elements of a color. All colors are composed of different combinations of the primary colors, red, green, and blue. The numbers you enter in the three RGB values determine how much of each primary color you want to include in your colored fill.

If you click the

Gradients tab, you are able to specify exact attributes of the gradient you want to fill with. As mentioned earlier in this task, saving any changes you make to a gradient to a new pattern is recommended until you familiarize yourself with gradient effects. On the

Gradients page, you can determine the gradient's central location, the angle of the gradient as it moves from one color to another, how much of a border the gradient will have, and the extent of the gradient's "from" and "to" colors. As with the

Colors page, you can save a specialized gradient that you generate for later use by clicking the

Save button.

5.

Select a Hatching

Click to select the

Hatching page. Here, you can select from the available hatching patterns to fill your shape. In addition, you can determine the spacing between hatch marks with the

Spacing option. You can specify the angle used for the hatching grid lines, the direction of the hatch rotation, and the type and color of lines to use inside the hatching pattern. You can save a specialized gradient that you generate for later use by clicking

Save Hatches List . To reuse a saved hatching pattern, click the

Load button and select the hatching pattern you wish to use.

6.

Select a Bitmap

Click the

Bitmaps tab to display the

Bitmaps page of the

Area dialog box. Here, you can select from several bitmapped images to fill your shape. The

Bitmaps page even enables you to create your own bitmap pattern and save it for reuse by clicking

Save Bitmaps List . If you select

Blank instead of another bitmap pattern, the

Pattern Editor activates. Click the boxes in the

Pattern Editor to fill them in. As you do, the preview area updates to show you what your pattern will look like as a fill. The

Foreground color option determines the color of the selected boxes (as you click to select them), and the

Background color option determines the pattern's background. Be sure to save your pattern by clicking the

Save button if you want to reuse the same bitmap pattern in the future.