4.1 Working with Objects
Objects are fundamental components of any layout. They can act as containers for text and graphics and display attributes such as color, strokes, and gradients. An object containing imported text or graphic is called a frame or shape.
4.1.1 Creating Objects
You can create objects of different shapes using the tools in the Tools panel. Rectangle, Ellipse, and Polygon tools are some of the shape tools in the Tools panel.
Tap interactivity 4.1 and click the buttons for more details.
Interactivity 4.1: Different shape tools
4.1.2 Creating Lines and Paths
In InDesign, one can create straight lines using the Line tool; whereas, zigzag lines, curved lines, and free-form shapes can be created using the Pen and Pencil tools.
■ Creating lines
One can draw straight lines or strokes of different types and weight. To draw a line, click the Line tool on the Tools
panel, and drag the tool on the document.
■ Understanding paths
A line creates a path. A path is made up of one or more straight or curved segments. The start and end of these
segments are marked by anchor points.
A path can have two types of anchor points:
3⁄4 Corner points: These points are used to change the direction of the path and connect any two straight or curved segments.
Smooth points: It is used to connect the path segments as a continuous curve and always connects the two curved segments.
Paths can also have a combination of smooth and corner points. Figure 4.1 displays a path with corner points, smooth points, and a combination of corner and smooth points.
Figure 4.1: Paths with different anchor points
Paths are of two types namely, open path and closed path. Each path consists of a center point, direction line, and direction point. Center point is used to drag the path to align with other elements or to select anchor points. Direction points are points of the direction line that appear when selecting the anchor points connecting the curved segments. One can change the shape of the path using anchor points, direction points, or path segments. Figure 4.2 displays the center point, direction line, and direction point.
Figure 4.2: Different elements of a path
The tools used to draw different types of paths are as follows:
3⁄4 Pencil tool: This tool is used to draw free-form paths. One can also draw open and closed paths of various shapes.
To draw an open path, click the Pencil tool, and draw the path of the desired shape on the document. While drawing, the path appears as a dotted line as shown in Figure 4.3.
Figure 4.3: Dotted line of a path
To draw a close path, click the document and drag the Pencil tool to create a closed shape.
3⁄4 Smooth tool: This tool is used to remove extra anchor points on the path by retaining the shape of the path.
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