Volume 5 • Number 1

Q UA R K S O F T WA R E W O R KF LOW S O L U T I O N S A N D I M PL E M E N TAT I O N
 X-RAY MAGAZINE | volume 5 number 1

Revealing Tips
BY JONATHAN FERMAN
Last issue I provided a wealth of QuarkXPress tips and tricks that went all the way
back to tips you could use with QuarkXPress 4. is time I am going to focus on
QuarkXPress 7 tips and tricks to help you become even more produive, and to
highlight what a powerful design tool QuarkXPress has become.

Figure 1 With QuarkXPress 7 you can open all the palettes you want to use and save them as a palette set,
with their own keyboard shortcuts. It even works with libraries.

Making the Most of the New

QuarkXPress 7 User-interface Features
e user interface (ui) enhancements in QuarkXPress 7
focus on efficiency. look beyond the surface though and
there are even more capabilities to discover, just like the
rest of QuarkXPress. It’s important to get to know the ui
enhancements, as this is a fundamental area to boost
your productivity within the application.
Palettes
let’s start with palettes. As more and more features have
been introduced, the number of palettes in QuarkXPress
has increased to control those features. e only
problem is that palettes can take up valuable screen real
estate and get in the way of your work. Time to tame
those palettes with QuarkXPress 7.
Select a palette either from the window menu or with a
keyboard shortcut, then at the top of the palette on the
top bar Control Å CLICK (one-button mouse) or
RIGHT CLICK (two-button mouse) and you will see a list
of palettes you can add. As you add them, you find that
they dock below the previous palette. QuarkXPress 7
knows about your screen resolution so as you keep
adding palettes, if necessary, the application will reduce
the viewable size of the palettes and, if need be, it will
close some of the palettes so they remain viewable and
accessible on screen. Palettes can also snap in place next
to one another, or you can minimize all of your docked
palettes in one click with Command Å click (mac) or
Control Å click (Windows) on the arrow of any of
the palettes. In this collapsed palette view you can also
change the order, for instance dragging your colors
palette above the style sheets palette.

To maximize the view of all the palettes, you repeat the
process Command Å click (mac) or Control Å
click (Windows), on the arrow in any of the docked
palettes. once you have the palettes the way you want
them, go to Window q Palette sets q Save Palette
Set As. name the set and provide a keyboard shortcut, if
you wish. e palette set will remember all the palettes
open at the time, including the tools and measurements
palettes and the exact location on your screen where
you saved them.
libraries can also be part of a palette set, with their very
own keyboard shortcuts. Just open the library you want
to use, or have it open with the palettes you commonly
use when you open that library, for example the
measurements palette, colors palette, and so on, then
simply save the palette set as described above.
Where did all my palettes go?
let’s say you want to just see the layout without any
palettes getting in the way, just close all your palettes by
choosing close palette group from the contextual
menu of the palette group or click its close box. en, in
the same way that you save a palette set, name it
something like No Palettes, allowing you to easily switch
between your chosen palette sets and no palettes
whenever you like.
Tech TIPS 1
Figure 
Palette set hierarchy.
Palette Set Submenus
Palette sets are saved as individual XML files within the
palette sets folder in the QuarkXPress preferences folder.
once you find the preferences folder you can easily
manage your palettes. on a mac the QuarkXPress
preferences folder is usually located in the Users q
[username] q Library q Preferences q Quark,
but instead of searching, take this opportunity to create
a local preferences folder inside the QuarkXPress folder,
as described in the Revealing Tips article in X-Ray
Magazine, volume 4 number 5. be sure to name the
folder correctly, Preferences, with a capital P, and you’ll
always know right where you can find it. is has the
added benefit of enabling you to simultaneously run
more than one copy of QuarkXPress on your computer
—for those of you who need to run QuarkXPress 6
and 7 concurrently.
on Windows, the QuarkXPress preferences folder
is typically located in the C:\Documents\
Settings\[Owner]\Application Data\Quark\
QuarkXPress 7.0 folder.
You can create your own palette set hierarchy by
creating folders in the palette sets folder in the
QuarkXPress preferences folder (see figure 2). ese
folders become submenus of the Window q Palette
Sets. Simply drag a palette set XML file into the
appropriate folder. e next time you launch
QuarkXPress, the palette set folders you made appear on
the desired submenu as separate fly-out menus. You can
also create nested folders to create nested submenus.
 X-RAY MAGAZINE | volume 5 number 1

Figure 3 You can now launch palettes from the measurements palette.

Mighty Measurements Palette

on the subject of palettes, the measurements palette can choose are font specific, so the drop-down list
can also open palettes—all you need to do is CONTROL includes only the categories that are available in the
Å click (one-button mouse) or RIGHT CLICK (two- selected font.
button mouse) on the side bar of the left-hand side of
the measurements palette and you will see a number of
options including the possibility of launching palettes
directly, like the new glyphs palette or the picture effects
palette (see figure 3). If you also have a QuarkXPress item
selected, such as a picture or text box you will see
options to always show tab bar, always hide tab bar, or
the default, to show tab on rollover. is gives you
preferences for how you want to view the new tab bar
in the measurements palette, and easily get to those
additional features now available from the measurements
palette. You can also use keyboard shortcuts to move
from tab to tab within the tab bar.

Command Å Option Å ; (mac) and Ctrl Å Alt Å ;

(Windows) activates the tab that is positioned to the
immediate right of the active tab.

Command Å Option Å , (mac) and Ctrl Å Alt Å ,

(Windows) activates the tab that is positioned to the
immediate left of the active tab.

Using Glyphs
one of the features I really appreciate in QuarkXPress 7
is the new glyphs palette (see figure 4) and its ability to
store favorites. If you haven’t seen the glyphs palette, I
am sure you will appreciate it too. It shows every single
character, or more specifically every image used to
represent a character (or characters), in every single font
available to QuarkXPress 7. To use any of these glyphs,
you place your cursor in the text box and then double
click on a glyph in the palette. is feature is huge in
itself; no more utilities to reference your different font
characters are required.
As an example, let’s say that the glyph you are using is
something you regularly use. Perhaps it’s a trademark or
copyright symbol. With the glyphs palette, you can
choose to see the symbols in the font by selecting the
appropriate option from the second drop-down list
below the font name. e glyph types from which you
Figure 4 Drag your oft-used glyphs to the favorites area.
Favorite Glyphs
If you find a glyph that you want to re-use simply click
on the arrow to the left of favorite glyphs, and drag and
drop your favorite glyphs into the favorites part of the
palette. ese favorites will then be available for any
future job. It’s just like saving favorite web sites in a web
browser; it will save you lots of time. Perhaps that glyph
you placed in your favorites is only really useful with a
particular job or as part of a very infrequently used font.
no problem, simply Control Å click (mac) or right
click (Windows) and you will be able to remove it from
your favorites.
 Tech TIPS 3

A New Way to Look at Things Graphics Tricks

head over to the window menu in QuarkXPress 7 and
you find some new options. e first is new window.
When you select this, it presents you with a new view
of the QuarkXPress project. Within this new view you
could have a different zoom level or page number, or
even a different layout within a QuarkXPress project.
en to view both at the same time go back to the
window menu and choose tile or stack. It’s a useful
feature, but I find the new split window feature
even better.
For a split view, go to Window q Split Window or
click on the new split window marks in the top right
or bottom right of the window, and you can split the
Pictures in text
here’s a fun trick with text that we just didn’t have
room for in Revealing Tips Part 1. It’s a trick you’ve been
able to do since QuarkXPress 4, but QuarkXPress 7 has
enhanced the on-screen quality as well as providing a
few additional effects.
is technique only works with a single line of text, and
it looks much better when applied to short words or
phrases. I like to use a nice chunky font so you can see
more of the picture.
1 create a text box.

window. is also works with the new window

command. You can split the windows horizontally or
vertically and you will see a little gray bar with a circle
 Type in a bit of text.

in the middle (known as the split bar) that allows you

to resize the split window. You can also split windows
3 Apply text formatting.

several times. e other great feature is that if you have

multiple layouts within a project you can drag and drop
items between layouts. It’s a great time saver and another
4 choose a thick or bold typeface at a large
point size.

In this example (see figure 5) for the name x-ray,

benefit of using QuarkXPress projects with multiple
I used Arial bold set at 270 points. While the leading
layouts. once you’re finished, go to Window q Split
doesn’t matter, you may want to adjust
Window q Remove All.
the kerning, scaling, and other styling options
until you have exactly the look you’re after.

Figure 5
choose a chunky
font for this tip.
4 X-RAY MAGAZINE | volume 5 number 1

Figure 6
convert the large text to a
picture box with the text
to box command.
5 Select your text with the content tool and choose
Style q Text To Box.

You should now have a picture box below your original

Figure 7 text box (see figure 6). e new picture box has an X
o
Place a picture in the through it in the shape of your text. If you want to have
picture boxes.
the picture box replace your text box in the exact same
Figure 8 position, simply hold down the OPTION key (mac) or ALT
Adjust the placement
of your picture.
key (Windows) while clicking STYLE q TEXT TO BOX.

Figure 9
once the picture is
placed, you can adjust
the positioning like any
other picture.
Figure 1
use the same technique to
create outlined characters. p
e downsides with this method are that you cannot go
back and make changes easily because the original text is
now a picture, also it does not allow you to split the
letters up into individual images (something we will look
at in a moment). To hide your original text box you
could simply create a new layer from the layers palette
and then place the text box on the new layer and hide it.

6 With either the item or content tool (see figure 7),

select your word-shaped picture box and choose
File q Get Picture (COMMAND Å E [mac] or
CTRL Å E [Windows]).

With your image now inside the text-shaped picture box

(see figure 8) it’s simply a matter of adjusting the image
with the content tool until it fills the box. As you are
working with a standard picture box you have all the
a normal fitting options. In this case I wanted the image
to completely fill the picture box so I chose STYLE q
STRETCH PICTURE TO FIT BOX. As the name suggests this
will stretch the image, and that may not give a desired
result. If you want to retain control you could use the
measurements palette to align and resize your fill image.
Alternatively use the other fit options from the style
menu, such as FIT BOX TO PICTURE.

Figure 9 is the completed effect. I used to do this same

effect in Photoshop and it’s a much longer process
s than this.

You can also use this technique to create outlines around

your text-shaped image (see figure 10). Following the
steps listed earlier, all you need to do is select the new
picture box, go to the frames tab of the measurements
palette (or ITEM q MODIFY q FRAME in previous
versions of QuarkXPress), and apply a frame. now just
adjust the frame point size, style, color, and even the
opacity. See above for some of the different effects you
d
can create.
 Tech TIPS 5

Fill Each Character with Its Own Image

Wait. ere’s even more you can do. So far we have
looked at filling the text with just a single image but you
can break it up to have an image for each character.

Follow the previous steps to create the text-shaped

picture box and insert your first image.

1 Select the text-shaped picture box with

the item tool and choose Item q Split q
Outside Paths (see figure 11). Figure 11 expand on this technique to have a different picture in each
character shape.

If you choose all paths instead of outside paths, it will

break the text-shaped picture box into compound paths.
ese are open areas within the character, for instance in
a, e, b, and p they become separate objects within each
character. e all paths option provides even more
creativity, but for now we’ll stick with outside paths.
When you apply the outside paths it may appear as if
nothing has happened but as you will see, it will have
broken up each character into an individual picture box.

 With the item tool still selected, deselect the

picture box, then click on a single letter, that
is now an individual picture box (see figure 12). Figure 1 once you have used the split paths option, you can place
pictures individually.

3 Go to File q Get Picture and place a new image.

e image only fills this one letter.

4 repeat the process for each of the remaining letters

in your word or phrase.

Just to finish off the design I applied an outline (by applying

a frame) and a drop shadow (see figure 13). Since each
character is itself a picture box each character could have
different types of frames or drop shadows, making each Figure 13 use the measurements palette for easy positioning and
scaling of the individual pictures.
letter look very unique. You could even apply different
levels of opacity to each letter with QuarkXPress 7.

If you want to manipulate the word as a whole again,

just select all the letters by dragging across them with One of the benefits of QuarkXPress 7 is the quality of
the item tool and choosing Item q Group. text on-screen; this means that if you want to output
your design to the web, the quality will also be better
As I mentioned, one of the benefits of QuarkXPress 7 is
than earlier versions of QuarkXPress.
the quality of text on-screen; this means that if you want
to output your design to the web, the quality will also be
better than earlier versions of QuarkXPress. To take your
design and create a web version (see figure 14), just
select LAYOUT q DUPLICATE, and in the layout type
pull-down menu choose web and click OK.

Figure 14 my finished example.

6 X-RAY MAGAZINE | volume 5 number 1

Figure 15 Start with a typical color image.

Hasta La Vista Gray

ever since QuarkXPress 4 you’ve
been able to add a splash of color
to black-and-white or grayscale
TIFFs. however, QuarkXPress 7
adds new functionality as well as
transparency. converting grayscale
images to colored images can be
useful if there is a special color,
such as a spot color, and you want
Figure 16 Select desaturate to convert to a grayscale.
to add some color consistency and
liven up your images.

What if you don’t already have a grayscale image though?
no problem. As you will see below, Quarkvista, part of
QuarkXPress 7, can convert your existing color images
to grayscale and then you can colorize them.
is non-destructively removes all the color from the
image and gives you a good idea of how the image will
look in a grayscale format. If you feel it’s necessary, apply
any other adjustments or filters. You must however, leave
on at least one adjustment so that vista knows that you

1 create a picture box and place an image you want

to convert (see figure 15).
want to work with this image.

Don’t worry, using this technique will not affect the

original image but rather create a new one.

 open up the picture effects palette (part of

Quarkvista), WINDOW q PICTURE EFFECTS.
Figure 17
Save your picture
is will allow you to convert any image that Quarkvista once you are satisfied
can work with into a grayscale image. with the results.

3 From the first pull-down menu button

(adjustments) select desaturate
(see figure 16).
 Tech TIPS 7

Figure 18 begin applying colorization once you’ve saved your image.

You’ll notice that there is a new

button at the top; it looks like an
inverted picture of mountains.
is is the picture background
color. I would start with the
button to the left of this new
button called picture color
(selected in figure 18).

Figure 19 is technique is an easy way to create a tritone in QuarkXPress.

9 choose a new
color from the
colors palette.

4 once you’re happy with your image, select it

and choose FILE q SAVE PICTURE q SELECTED
PICTURE (see figure 17).
Picture color lets you apply one color to all the dark
tones of your grayscale image, and the new picture
background color lets you apply a color to all the light
tones in your image. With this simple technique you

5 change the color mode to grayscale and

click on the LINK LAYOUT TO NEW PICTURE
check box.
can easily create an image that appears as a duotone.

QuarkXPress applies opacity at the color level, making

6 click OK and provide a name. it incredibly flexible.

You can also create a tritone (three color tones) effect by

7 Save the image to your chosen location.
If you import a grayscale TIFF image you can skip these
first steps.
applying a background color to the background of the
picture box (see figure 19). You can’t do that in any other
page-layout applications that I’m aware of. To show the
background color, you must have applied some level of
opacity to your picture color and/or picture background

8 With your new grayscale image selected,

open the colors palette, WINDOW q COLORS
(see figure 18).
color. All of these settings can have a different level of
opacity as QuarkXPress applies opacity at the color level,
making it incredibly flexible.
8 X-RAY MAGAZINE | volume 5 number 1

Figure 
had a bad day? Feeling
destructive? Just press
COMMAND Å OPTION Å
SHIFT Å K, (COMMAND Å
ALT Å SHIFT Å K
in Windows) and your
text or picture box will be
deleted in a very special way.

The Alien Easter Egg

As you may be aware, aliens have been lurking inside
QuarkXPress for quite some time. e QuarkXPress
development team put them there. ey are known
as easter eggs, a special bit of code hidden within an Figure 1 easter eggs in QuarkXPress are not limited to visitation
by aliens.
application. is easter egg can be found in QuarkXPress
4, 5, 6.1, 6.5, and 7; it’s not really a tip, but it is fun, so
For Windows users
without further delay...
Follow the steps above (replacing step 4 with CONTROL
For Mac Users Å ALT Å SHIFT Å K). is also wipes out the box with
sounds effects, but I am sorry to say that they are not

1 To get the best effect, change the view to fit in

window (COMMAND Å 0).
nearly as good as the alien delete on the mac.

mac users can enjoy a second alien easter egg. Just

 create or select a text or picture box (ideally a

small one in the center), but beware, this box
will be exterminated!
choose EDIT q UNDO if you accidentally delete a box
you meant to keep.
repeat steps 2 through 4, five times in a row. on the fifth
time, a larger alien comes in from the other side and the
small alien gets his comeuppance after a shot from a
bazooka by the first alien. crazy, but true!
To rush to this funny attack, place four text or picture

3 Turn up the volume so you can hear all the sound

effects.
boxes very close to the left-hand side of the QuarkXPress
page, near to the left edge ruler. Place your fifth and final
text or picture box around the middle of the screen to

4 Press COMMAND Å OPTION Å SHIFT Å K.

An alien marches in from the side of the layout window,
deletes the box with a multi-colored ray gun, and
then disappears.
let this animation run longer. Also make sure that your
palettes do not obscure the middle of the screen. en
watch as the poor little alien gets blown away. For
Windows users I have a done a montage picture that
shows the last moments of our alien friend.
 Tech TIPS 9

Figure  nor are easter eggs limited to engineers.

See the Team Behind QuarkXPress

here’s another easter egg that works with QuarkXPress 6
and 7. hold down the COMMAND Å OPTION (mac) or
CONTROL Å ALT (Windows) keys, then go to the
QuarkXPress menu and choose About QuarkXPress.

is gives you a screen with all sorts of information

about your version of QuarkXPress and the system you
are using. now hold down COMMAND Å OPTION Å
SHIFT (mac) or CONTROL Å ALT Å SHIFT (Windows)
and click OK. Keep your mouse button held down and Figure 3 To create an orphan shadow, start with a single line of text.
images will start to appear in this window. e longer
you hold down the mouse button the more team
members you will see. It made me appreciate the
massive amount of people involved in QuarkXPress.
1 create a text box and apply a font and adjust the
point size.

In this case I’ve used brush Script mT because it joins the

Into the Shadow letters together if they are in lowercase.
ere are all sorts of settings and unique timesaving
features you can use with drop shadows in QuarkXPress 7.
I want to start by showing you one that you may not
 Select the text with the content tool and, using
either the colors palette or the measurements
palette, drop the opacity of the text color to 0%.
have seen or been aware of.
Your text will now disappear.
Orphan Shadows
is effect is known as an orphan shadow because the
original item disappears and only the drop shadow is
shown; it gives the item a blurred look. It’s very flexible
3 using the measurements, click on the
drop shadow (tab) (see figure 24).

because while it seems the original item disappears, it still

exists and you can make changes to the original item or
directly to the drop shadow at any point. You can apply
this effect to text and pictures. let’s start with text.

In this instance we want to apply a blur effect to our text

to give it a similar look to the clouds in the sky within
this image (see figure 23).

Figure 4 use the measurements palette to add a drop shadow.

3 X-RAY MAGAZINE | volume 5 number 1

In this instance I wanted to keep the original

snowboarder image but also show the outline of the
boarder to indicate movement (see figure 26). here’s
how you can do this:

1 Select the image and duplicate it,

COMMAND Å D (mac) or CTRL Å D (Windows).

 Select the duplicate image with the content

or item tool.

3 Select the mask by going to the first tab in

the measurements palette (this is known as the
classic tab), and choose mask from the mask
drop-down menu.
Figure 5 e drop shadow can be adjusted like any other shadow.

4 With the mask selected, open the colors palette,

and with the picture color button selected (it’s the

4 uncheck inherit opacity and your text will

appear but with a blurred effect.
middle icon at the top that looks like a picture of
mountains) drop the opacity to 0%.
So what we have done is hide the original text, and now
you only see the drop shadow. At this point you may
want to adjust some of the drop shadow attributes such
5 Finally, go to the drop shadow tab
within the measurements palette and
uncheck inherit opacity.
as the position (offset), or increase or decrease the blur
(drop shadow blur). In my example, I also changed the offset to zero, as
I wanted the shadow to have the exact same shape as

5 once you are happy with the effect, click away

anywhere on the layout to see how the effect looks
(see figure 25).
the original masked image. If you want to use this effect
several times in your layout you may find it easier to put
each instance of the blurred effect on a separate layer
remember, the text remains editable so you can change using the layers palette.
it if you need to.

e orphan shadow effect can be applied to images as

well, but it looks especially good if your image has an
alpha channel mask. If you have a mask, it can show only
the outline of your masked image.

To create an alpha channel mask check the help file in

your image-editing application or do a search on the
internet. For my example, I am working on an image
that already has an alpha channel mask. Figure 7 is orphan drop shadow can create very interesting effects
when used with graphics.

If you compare the original image on the left with the

changes I have made on the right, you will see I have
used the same orphan shadow effect three times, simply
changing the color and scale of each instance (see figure
27). QuarkXPress 7 is unique its ability to create orphan
shadows and the effect is very easy to create, so have
some fun with it.

Figure 6 e selected image is that of an alpha channel mask.

 Tech TIPS 31

Figure 8 To create a glow effect, start with a single line of text.

Glow
It’s also easy to create a glow effect. For instance,
creating a glow effect to simulate neon lighting. It works
with text or picture boxes. In this example we’ll show
you how to create a glow effect on text to make it look
like a neon sign.

1 create a text box and enter your text

(see figure 28).
Figure 3 create a drop shadow of the same color as the text.

 choose a font and point size you

want to use. 5 To make the glow effect seen in figure 30 (rather
than a regular drop shadow), change the drop
shadow distance to zero (this applies the shadow
I chose a font that looked like the curvy type they
directly behind the object).
typically use in neon signs (the one used in this example
is Santa Fe LET, a TrueType font). is effect will work
best if you have a dark background; in this case I chose
a black background.
6 Adjust the drop shadow blur until you are happy
with the amount of blur being applied.

You can also make the blur more or less subtle by

adjusting the opacity.

Figure 9 use the measurements palette to add the effects. Figure 31 Adjust the opacity and blur until you are satisfied
with the effect.

3 With your text box selected, go to the drop

shadow tab within the measurements palette (see
figure 29) and click on the apply drop shadow
check box.
To finish the neon sign effect in my example, I added a
frame around the text box (see figure 31). As it was part
of the text box, the drop shadow was automatically
applied. I made the frame a similar thickness to the text

4 From the drop shadow color pull-down menu,

select the same color you used for your text.
and applied the same color. Finally I changed the shape
of the frame to complement the text with ITEM q
SHAPE q ROUNDED CORNER.
3 X-RAY MAGAZINE | volume 5 number 1

Figure 33 here’s a comparison of cmYK and grayscale.

notice the color palette is rendered in grayscale as well.

Figure 3 Soft proofing will enable you to view on-screen what you would normally have to print.

Compare Color Spaces

one of the fantastic features of QuarkXPress 7 is in the
area of color management and the ability to do soft
proofing. Soft proofing lets you simulate colors, as they
will go to press, on-screen rather than having to print a
physical proof. To do your bit for the environment and
save a tree or two, go to VIEW q PROOF OUTPUT and
select a color space, such as composite CMYK. is
renders the page in CMYK rather than your computer’s
usual color space of RGB.
When your layout is complete, duplicate it (LAYOUT
q DUPLICATE), and in the new layout go to VIEW q
PROOF OUTPUT to compare the new color space with
the original in a split screen (see figure 32). by default
QuarkXPress, like most applications, renders everything
in RGB, shown above, on the left-hand side of the image.
on the right-hand side, everything in the new layout has
been rendered in composite CMYK. notice how on the
CMYK version, images and colors are darker. You can now
decide if you want to make any color changes or image
modifications before you go to press.
To be truly accurate in terms of color, you really need
to calibrate your devices with hardware and software
designed to provide you with true color fidelity. To learn
more about calibration, refer to X-Ray Magazine volume
3, number 4 (QuarkXPress 7 Takes a Quantum Leap in
Color Quality).
Image Reflections
Another unique feature of QuarkXPress 7 is its ability to
do color blends to none; in other words, a blend from a
color to complete transparency. is allows you to do a
really great-looking reflection effect without having to
use a separate graphics application. e only caveat is
that this effect only works properly if you are blending
into a solid background color such as white or black—
or any solid color for that matter.
In this example we’ll apply a reflection to this logo, but
this technique works with any image.

e layout on the left in figure 33 is a CMYK rendered

version, but what if things change and you need to
output the job in grayscale? Just duplicate the layout and Figure 34 here I’ll use the X-Ray Magazine logo to create a reflection.
choose the grayscale proof output. e grayscale proof
option is useful if you have a job that will be black ink only,
such as a newspaper advertisement. notice that the colors
palette also gets rendered in the same color space, so you
1 create a picture box, and place and scale
a picture as required (see figure 34).

remember that you will need to double the height

can see your colors in the way they are going to print.
of your picture box to create the reflected image.
 Tech TIPS 33

 open the colors palette (F12) and measurements

palette (F9), as we will need these in a moment. 8 In the colors palette, select the top pull-down
menu named solid and choose linear blend,
as highlighted above.

3 With the picture box selected, go to ITEM q STEP

AND REPEAT and enter a repeat count of one, with a
horizontal and vertical offset of zero (see figure 35). 9 In the angle field, enter 90 to set the blend to the
correct angle.

is will place the image precisely on top of the

original image. 1 Set color #1 to the background color.

For instance, if you have a white background on your

layout you would choose white. e look we are trying
Figure 35 to achieve is for the reflection to blend and disappear
use the step and
repeat dialog to create into the background.
the offset of the
reflection.
11 Set color #2 to none to create the
transparent look.

You can move the picture box with the color blend

4 Drag the duplicated image below the first

image and ensure that the images are
touching, the bottom edge of the original picture
further up to make the reflection more or less visible

should be just touching the top edge

of the duplicate image.

Figure 38 combining the blend feature with duplicated images,

all sorts of reflections can be created.

Figure 36 once you have duplicated the image, use the measurements
palette to flip the image. 1 click outside of the picture box to
see the finished reflection effect
(see figure 38).

5 Flip the duplicate image to make it look like a

reflection (see figure 36) by selecting the lower
(duplicate) image with the item or content tool.
is reflection effect looks great with box shots,
screenshots, and all kinds of images really, and it’s
easy to do.

6 click on the classic tab of the measurements

palette, if it is not already selected, and then click
on the flip vertical button (circled in figure 36).
So with these revealing tips up your sleeve you should
be able to get things done faster than ever before.
now you should have a reflection, but we can make it
Conclusion
look so much better using the new blend features.
So with these revealing tips up your sleeve, along with
what we covered in X-Ray Magazine, volume 4 number
5, you should be able to get things done faster than ever
before. leaving you more time to read this magazine, or
anything else you fancy doing. If you like these tips
Figure 37 using blend, the reflection becomes much more realistic.
please let us know, or submit your own, we’d love to

7 With the rectangle picture box tool selected,

draw a picture box over the reflected lower picture
box (see figure 37).
hear from you.