Working with Compound Paths


When more than one path is selected, you can use the Make (Compound Path ) command (Object Compound Paths Make, or z +8 or Ctrl+8) to convert the paths into a single object. A compound path is similar to a group (Object Group, or Ctrl+G or z +G), except that when you create a group out of several objects, each object in the group retains its original attributes, such as stroke color and width, fill color or gradient, and so on. By contrast, when you create a compound path, the attributes of the backmost path are applied to all the other paths (that is, the attributes of the backmost path replace the attributes of the other paths).

You can use a compound path to do such things as:

  • Create transparent areas within a path. For example, by drawing a circular path in front of a picture, you could then use the Make (Compound Paths) command to poke a hole in the picture and reveal the objects or the empty page behind the picture. Figure 27-12 shows a compound path used as a picture frame.


    Figure 27-12: Designer John Cruise created the picture with the hole in it (right) by drawing a circular path (center) in front of a clone of the original picture frame (left), and then creating a compound path from the picture frame and the circular path. The background shape shows within the transparent hole.

  • Apply a single background color or place a single picture within several shapes . For example, you could use the Create Outlines command (Type Create Outlines, or Shift+ z +O or Ctrl+Shift+O) to convert text characters into a compound path, and then place a blend behind the path so that it extends across all characters . (The Create Outlines command is explained in Chapter 28.) Figure 27-13 shows an example of this.


    Figure 27-13: Designer John Cruise converted the text on the top into the editable outlines on the bottom. He then skewed the character outlines ‚ which make up a compound path ‚ by ‚ 30 degrees via the Skew field in the Transform pane or Control palette and applied a gradient fill.

  • Quickly create complex shapes that would be difficult to create with the Pen tool. For example, you could create the complex shape in Figure 27-14 by drawing each of the shaded areas as a separate, closed path. Or you could simply create a square, place four circles in front of it so that they overlap the edges of the square, and then choosing the Make (Compound Paths) command ‚ a process that takes only a few seconds.


    Figure 27-14: Designer John Cruise converted the five closed paths on the left into a compound path via the Make (Compound Path) command to create the shape on the right. InDesign automatically applied the attributes of the original square path, which is the backmost path, to the resulting compound path. Notice that the four semicircular areas where the original shapes overlapped became holes after converting the shapes to a compound path.

That's only the beginning of what you can do with the Make (Compound Paths) command. Mix in a little bit of your imagination and InDesign's other path-, picture-, and text-manipulation features, and the possibilities become endless.

Creating compound paths

You can create a compound path out of any kind of path, including open and closed paths as well as text and graphics frames . When you create a compound path, all the original paths become subpaths of the compound shape and inherit the stroke and fill settings of the path that's farthest back in the stacking order. After you create a compound path, you can modify or remove any of the subpaths.

Tip ‚  

If the results of choosing Make (Compound Path) are not what you expected or want, you can undo the operation (Edit Undo). In this case, try changing the stacking order and then choose Make (Compound Path) again.

Note ‚  

The direction of each subpath determines whether the subpath is filled or transparent. If a particular subpath is transparent instead of filled, or vice versa, you can use the Reverse Path command (Object Reverse Path) to switch the behavior of a subpath. (The Reverse Path command is explained more fully later in this chapter.)

If frames that contain text and/or pictures are selected when you choose Make (Compound Path), the resulting compound path will retain the content of the frame that's closest to the bottom of the stacking order. If the bottommost frame doesn't have any content, the content ‚ text or picture ‚ of the next highest nonempty frame is retained in the compound path. The content of all frames above the frame whose content is retained is removed.

Tip ‚  

To change an object's stacking order (to determine which path's attributes are used for the compound path), use Object Arrange Send to Back, or Shift+ z +[ or Ctrl+Shift+[.

Editing compound paths

After you create a compound path, you can change the shape of any of the subpaths by clicking on one with the Direct Selection tool, and then clicking and dragging any of its anchor points or direction handles. The Pen, Add Anchor Point, Delete Anchor Point, and Change Direction Line tools work the same for subpaths as for other paths, which means that you can reshape them however you want.

The Stroke pane (Window Stroke, or F10), Swatches (Window Swatches, or F5), and Color pane (Window Color, or F6) ‚ as well as the transformation tools, the Control palette (Window Control), and the Transform pane (Window Transform, or F9) also let you change the appearance of a compound path. When you change the appearance of a compound path, the changes are applied uniformly to all subpaths.

Moving a subpath is a little tricky because you can't drag just that subpath. If you try, all the subpaths move. If you want to move an entire subpath, you must move each of the subpath's anchor points individually. In this case, it's probably easier to release the compound path, as described next, move the path as needed, then re-create the compound path by choosing Make (Object Compound Path Make, or z +8 or Ctrl+8).

If you want to delete a subpath, you must use the Delete Anchor Point tool to delete all its anchor points. If you delete an anchor point of a closed subpath, it becomes an open subpath.

Note ‚  

You can't delete anchor points using the Cut command (Edit Cut, or z +X or Ctrl+X), the Clear command (or Edit Clear, or Delete or Backspace), nor the Del or Delete key. All of these keyboard commands remove the entire path.

Changing a subpath's direction

When you create a path, it has a built-in direction ‚ clockwise or counterclockwise ‚ that is generally not noticeable but affects a compound path. Generally , you can't determine the direction of a path by looking at it. However, you can tell if subpaths' directions differ by how subpaths interact:

  • If a subpath in a compound path has the same direction as the backmost path, the area within the subpath is transparent.

  • Conversely, if a subpath's direction is different than the backmost path, the area within the subpath will be filled.

If a subpath is filled in and you want it to be transparent, or vice versa, click on the compound path with the Direct Selection tool, then click on one of the anchor points of the subpath whose direction you want to change and choose Object Compound Path Release, or Option+ z +8 or Ctrl+Alt+8. Figure 27-15 shows how changing the direction of a subpath changes it from filled to transparent.


Figure 27-15: The gray square and circle on the left have been combined into a compound path, but the direction of the circular subpath causes it to be filled in instead of transparent. Changing the subpath's direction produced the results on the right: a transparent hole in the square shape.

Splitting a compound path

If you decide you want to "deconstruct" a compound path, you can do so by clicking anywhere within the compound path and then choosing Object Compound Paths Release, or Option+ z +8 or Ctrl+Alt+8. The resulting paths retain the attributes of the compound path.

Note ‚  

The Release command is not available if the selected compound path contains text or if it's nested within a frame.

Using the Pathfinder

Sometimes, you want to combine multiple paths. You could join them, as described earlier, or you could use the new Pathfinder tool, accessed by selecting the objects and then choosing Object Pathfinder. You'll see five options in the resulting submenu: Add, Subtract, Intersect, Exclude Overlap, and Minus Back. Figure 27-16 shows how they affect a group of paths (two open and one closed).


Figure 27-16: Three paths and the five Pathfinder options. Top row: The three original paths, after applying Add, and after applying Subtract. Bottom row: After applying Intersect, Exclude Overlap, and Minus Back.
New Feature ‚  

InDesign CS offers a new feature to combine paths, called the Pathfinder.

Here's what they do:

  • Add adds all objects' shapes together.

  • Subtract subtracts all objects from the bottommost object in the stack.

  • Intersect creates an object where objects overlap ‚ this works only on closed paths.

  • Exclude Overlap removes overlapping paths and keeps the nonoverlapping paths of all objects.

  • Minus Back subtracts all objects from the top object in the stack.

    QuarkXPress User ‚  

    The Pathfinder options are similar to QuarkXPress's Merge options.




Adobe InDesign CS Bible
Adobe InDesign CS3 Bible
ISBN: 0470119381
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 344
Authors: Galen Gruman

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