Add drop shadows and feathers

Excerpted from “Visual Quickstart Guide: InDesign CS for Macintosh and Windows” by Sandee Cohen.

One of the most desired features in graphics programs is an automatic drop shadow that is cast behind objects, text, or images. While it’s been very easy to add drop shadows in Adobe® Photoshop® or Adobe® Illustrator®, it has not been easy to do so in page-layout programs—that is until Adobe® InDesign®.

An example of a drop shadow applied to a placed image.

Applying transparency and effects

You can apply any of the transparency effects—opacity, blend modes, feather, and drop shadow—to any object including frames, image, and text frames. However, you should remember that the transparency effect will be applied to the object as a whole.

This means that if you apply an opacity setting to a frame that contains a fill color and text, the opacity will be applied to both the fill and the text.

Add a drop shadow to an object

1. Select the object, text frame, or placed image to which you want to add a drop shadow.

2. Choose Object > Drop Shadow. This opens the Drop Shadow dialog box.

3. Click the Drop Shadow checkbox. This activates the drop shadow controls.

   Tip: Click the Preview checkbox so you can see the effects as you change the settings.

4. Set the Mode list to choose the blend mode for the shadow. The Mode list settings are the same as the blend mode settings in the Transparency palette.

5. Set the Opacity amount for how transparent the shadow should be.

6. Set the X Offset and Y Offset to create the distance between the shadow and the object.

7. Set the Blur amount for how soft the edges of the drop shadow should be.

8. Use the Color list to set a color for the shadow.

   Tip: You can use the Swatches list to choose named colors or switch to CMYK, RGB, or LAB colors.

9. Click OK to apply the shadow.

   Note: You can’t apply a shadow to just a portion of text. The effect is applied to all the text in the frame.

Remove a drop shadow from an object

1. Select the object that has the drop shadow applied.

2. Choose Object > Drop Shadow. This opens the Drop Shadow dialog box.

3. Uncheck the Drop Shadow checkbox. This turns off the drop shadow effect.

Add a feathered edge to an object

InDesign lets you apply feather commands to objects. This softens the edges of the images.

The three different corner settings for applying a feather effect: sharp (top), round (middle), and diffuse (bottom).

1. Select the object, text frame, or placed image you want to have a feathered edge.

2. Choose Object > Feather. This opens the Feather dialog box.

3. Click the Feather checkbox. This displays the rest of the feather controls.

   Tip: Click the Preview checkbox so you can see the effects as you change the settings.

4. Use the Feather Width controls to set how thick the feather should appear.

5. Choose one of the settings in the Corners list as follows:

   • Sharp feathers by closely following the contours of the object.

   • Round feathers by rounding off any sharp corners in the image.

   • Diffuse makes the edges of the object fade from opaque to transparent. This is the same as the Feather command applied to objects in Adobe Illustrator.

6. Click OK to apply the feather.

Remove a feather from an object

1. Select the object that has the feather applied.

2. Choose Object > Feather. This opens the Feather dialog box.

3. Uncheck the Feather checkbox. This turns off the feather effect.

Excerpted from “Visual Quickstart Guide: InDesign CS for Macintosh and Windows” by Sandee Cohen.Copyright ©2004. Published by Peachpit Press. Used with the permission of Peachpit Press and Pearson Education. To buy this book, visit www.peachpit.com.

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