- Drawing Objects
- Using the Direct Selection Tool
- Drawing Basic Shapes
- Drawing Stars
- Drawing Simple Lines
- Drawing Straight Paths
- Drawing Curved Paths
- Mixing Straight and Curved Path Segments
- Attaching Curves at Angles
- Adding, Deleting, and Converting Anchor Points
- Extending and Connecting Open Paths
- Splitting Paths
- Creating Corner Effects
- Making Compound Paths
- Creating Paths with the Pencil Tool
- Editing Paths with the Smooth and Erase Tools
- Using Type as a Graphic Element
- Using Outlines as Masks
- Using Outlines as Text Frames
Drawing Stars
The once complex act of drawing stars has been simplified immensely, and InDesign takes advantage of these features. Using the Polygon tool, you control the number of points on the star and star inset.
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Double-click the Polygon tool on the Tools palette. The Polygon tool dialog box will appear, allowing you to set the number of sides and star inset (Figure 3.9). Set a star inset to create a polygon in the shape of a star.
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Click and drag to draw a star (Figure 3.10).
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Press the up or down arrow on your keyboard while dragging to increase or decrease the number of points while you are drawing (Figure 3.11).
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Press the left or right arrow on your keyboard while dragging to increase or decrease the star inset (Figure 3.12).
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Press the Shift key while dragging to constrain the sides of the star to be equal in length.
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Press the (Option) [Alt] key while dragging to expand the star from the center point outward.
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To move the star while you are drawing it, press the spacebar to move it. Release the spacebar (but not the mouse!) to continue drawing.
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TIP
Lines drawn with the Line tool behave a little differently from lines drawn with the Pen tool. The Line tool can create only a single line or path segment, whereas the Pen tool can create multiple line or path segments. Lines can be resized with either the Selection tool (Figure 3.13), by adjusting the bounding box, or with the Direct Selection tool (Figure 3.14). You can change the angle of a line by using the Direct Selection tool.
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