| Strokes are the effects applied to the edge of objects and text, or along lines. Tip In QuarkXPress, stroke effects are called frames or line effects. To apply a stroke to an object: 1. | Select the object. | 2. | Make sure the Container icon is chosen in the Toolbox or the Swatches or Color palette . This indicates that the object will be modified. | 3. | Click the Stroke icon in the Toolbox or the Swatches or Color palette .
The Stroke icons (circled) set an effect to be applied to the outside of an object or text. | 4. | Choose a swatch in the Color, Gradient, or Swatches palette. |
You can also apply a stroke color by dragging a swatch onto the edge of any object on the page. To drag stroke effects onto objects: 1. | Drag a gradient or color swatch from the Toolbox or the Color, Gradient, or Swatches palette onto the edge of the object. | 2. | Release the mouse button when you see a small line appear next to the mouse cursor . This applies the color or gradient to the stroke.
Drag a swatch onto the edge to apply a stroke effect to an object. Tip If you release the mouse button when the swatch is inside the object, you apply the effect to the object's fill (see page 148). |
InDesign makes it easy to swap the fill and stroke colors applied to an object. To swap the fill and stroke settings: Permission to Stroke Text If you have worked with other desktop publishing programs, you may have found that strokes applied to text deform the shape of the characters. This happens because the stroke is applied on both the outside and the inside of the text. As a result, most teachers like me warned our students never to add a stroke to text not in headlines and never in body copy. InDesign, however, places strokes only on the outside of text. This means that it does not distort the characters. So you have complete permission to stroke headline text in InDesign. (Body text is too small to stroke.) |
You can also add a color or gradient stroke to the outside edges of text with a color or gradient .
A stroke effect applied to text. To apply a stroke to selected text: 1. | Use the Text tool to highlight the text. | 2. | Click the Stroke icon in the Toolbox or Color palette .
The outlined T in the Stroke icon (circled) indicates that a stroke has been applied to text. | 3. | Choose a swatch in the Color, Gradient, or Swatches palette. |
To apply a stroke to all the text in a frame: 1. | Select the text frame that contains the text to which you want to apply the stroke. | 2. | Click the Text button in the Toolbox or Color palette. | 3. | Click the Stroke icon in the Toolbox or Color palette. | 4. | Choose a swatch in the Color, Gradient, or Swatches palette. |
You can also apply a gradient as a stroke to text or objects. To apply a gradient stroke: 1. | Click the Stroke icon in the Toolbox or the Swatches or Color palette. | 2. | Click the Gradient icon in the Toolbox or the Swatches or Gradient palette. | 3. | Use the Gradient tool to modify the angle or length of the gradient applied to a stroke (see page 150). Tip A linear gradient applied as a stroke creates a beveled effect. This may be combined with a solid or gradient fill for a three-dimensional effect .
The effect of a linear gradient applied as a stroke with three different types of fills. |
Color is only one aspect of a stroke effect. The Stroke palette controls the rest of the stroke attributes. To work with the Stroke palette: One of the most important attributes of a stroke is its thickness. This is controlled by changing the stroke weight .
Different stroke weights. To set the stroke weight (thickness): 1. | Select the object. | 2. | Use the Weight field controls to set the thickness of the stroke .
The Weight controls let you change the stroke thickness. Tip The stroke can be positioned on the outside, in the center, or inside the path using the Align Stroke controls (see page 156). |
If you scale a stroked object with the Scale Strokes setting turned on in the Transform palette, the size of the stroke changes, but the stroke weight displayed stays the same. This can create objects that have half-inch-thick strokes that read 1 point. You can eliminate this confusion by resetting the stroke weight so that it shows the actual thickness aft er scaling. To reset the stroke weight: 1. | Select the object. | 2. | Choose Reset Scaling to 100% from the Transform palette menu. |
A stroke's style is also controlled by the end caps and joins, which form points and corners. To set the caps and joins: 1. | Select an object that has a stroke applied to it. | 2. | In the Stroke palette, use the Cap icons to change the way the ends of open paths are treated :
The Cap icons control the end points of strokes.
The three Cap settings applied to strokes. Butt ends the stroke in a square. This is the default setting for a plain stroke. Round ends the stroke in a semi-circle. Projecting ends the stroke in a square that extends out from the end point.
Tip The Cap settings have no effect on closed paths such as rectangles, ellipses, and polygons. | 3. | Use the Join buttons to change the way two segments of a path meet at corners :
The Join buttons control how the corners of strokes are displayed.
The three Join settings applied to strokes. Miter joins the segments at an angle. Round joins the segments with a curve. Bevel joins the segments with a line between the segments.
Tip The join commands affect only corner points. (See Chapter 7, "Pen and Beziers," for information on the types of points.) |
Sometimes a mitered join becomes too long and pointed. Fortunately, you can stop the point from becoming too long by setting the miter limit. To set the miter limit: 1. | Select an object with a mitered join. | 2. | In the Stroke palette, increase the amount in the Miter Limit field to control the size of the angle between the segments .
The Miter Limit field controls how long a miter point may extend. Tip If the size of the angle exceeds the miter limit, a bevel is substituted . It does not mean a shorter point is substituted. |
In traditional drawing programs, a stroke is distributed evenly on the outside and inside of its path. InDesign lets you choose the alignment of the stroke on the path .
Set the Align Stroke controls to set the position of the stroke along the path. Tip This is different than the position of a stroke applied to text (see page 153). To set the alignment of a stroke: 1. | Apply a stroke to an object. | 2. | Choose one of the three alignment options for the stroke as follows :
Examples of how the Align Stroke controls change the position of the stroke on the path. Center aligns the stroke so that half the stroke weight is inside the path and half is outside the path. Inside aligns the stroke so that the entire thickness of the stroke weight is inside the path. Outside aligns the stroke so that the entire thickness of the stroke weight is outside the path.
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Uses for the Stroke Alignment Most people will find they don't ever need to change the alignment options for a stroke. They use the traditional Center alignment all the time. However, for many others, the ability to specify where the stroke aligns on the path is a real benefit. Say you have a placed image inside a frame (see Chapter 8 "Imported Graphics," for more information on working with imported graphics). After you import the graphic, you may want to add a stroke to its frame, but you don't want the stroke to cover any part of the placed image. If you applied a stroke with the traditional Center alignment, you would then have to enlarge the size of the frame by half the size of the stroke. By setting the stroke alignment to Outside, you ensure that the stroke does not cover any part of the image. Or say you want to apply a stroke to an object without increasing its size. With the Center alignment, every time you change the stroke weight, the size of the object would increase or decrease. By setting the stroke alignment to Inside, the stroke only appears inside the object and doesn't add to the size of the object. |
The default setting for strokes is a solid line. However, you can choose one of the specialty strokes such as stripes, dashes, hashes, dots, or diamonds. You can even pick a stroke that curves up and down along the path. To apply stroke styles to strokes: 1. | Apply a stroke to an object. | 2. | Choose one of the styles from the Stroke Type menu .
The 18 default strokes in the Stroke Type menu in the Stroke palette. |
As described on page 152, the color of the stroke comes from choosing the Stroke icon and then picking a color. This method only colors the solid portion of a stroke. For strokes such as stripes and dashes, you can also color the gap, or the clear area between the solid colors of the stroke. Tip This is the same technique used to set the gap color for the underline and strikethrough effects (see page 61). To set a stroke gap color: 1. | Choose one of the specialty strokes that have both solid and clear areas. | 2. | Use the Gap Color menu to choose the color for the clear areas of the stroke .
Use the Gap Color menu in the Stroke palette to set the color of the clear areas of a stroke. Tip This list contains the same colors and gradients as the Swatches palette. | 3. | If necessary, use the Gap Tint controls to set a screen for the gap color .
Use the Gap Tint controls to set a tint for the gap color. |
The stroke list contains a dashed stroke that you can customize to set the size of the dashes and the gaps between them. To create custom dashed strokes: 1. | Apply a stroke to an object. | 2. | Choose Dashed from the Stroke Type pop-up menu. The dashed settings appear at the bottom of the Stroke palette .
The Dashed settings at the bottom of the Stroke palette. These only appear when the Dashed stroke type is chosen. Tip The dashed settings only appear when you select the stroke style named Dashed and not the ones labeled Dashed (3 and 2) or Dashed (4 and 4). | 3. | Enter an amount in the first dash field for the length of all of the dashes in the line. | 4. | Enter an amount in the first gap field for the size of the space between all of the dashes. | 5. | To create a series of dashes and gaps with irregular lengths, enter other values in the rest of the dash and gap fields. Tip Apply round caps to add round ends to the dashes. | 6. | If necessary, use the Corners list to adjust the dashes and gaps :
Use the Corners menu to adjust how dashes and gaps are distributed on a stroke.
Examples of how the Corners settings affect the appearance of a dashed stroke. None leaves the dashes and gaps as they are. This can cause unequal dashes at the corners. Adjust dashes changes the stroke so that the corner dashes are equal. Adjust gaps changes the stroke so that the gap lengths are equal. Adjust dashes and gaps changes the stroke to make the best fit so that both the corner dashes and gaps are equal.
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Tip Although you can't customize them, you can also choose one of the preset dashes from the Stroke Type menu: Dash (3 and 2) creates a dash that is 3 times the stroke weight with a gap that is 2 times the stroke weight .
The effects of the two preset dash styles on 3-point strokes. Dash (4 and 4) creates dashes and gaps that are 4 times the stroke weight .
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