Xtras or Necessities?

---

FreeHand has many main-line tools for you to work with that are a core part of the program. Other features are added to the program in the form of Xtras. FreeHand comes out of the box with about a dozen and a half Xtras that make your life easier. Third-party Xtras can also be found on the Web (start at www.macromedia.com). Xtras will look to you like any other tool, but they aren't hard-wired into the program. Instead, they work within the program.

The great news is that they work. You can place their icons in the Main toolbar, or in the Tools panel. My default setup has a Main toolbar filled with three full rows of mainstream tools and Xtras that I use all the time. If you're short on window space, you can always access Xtras through the Xtras menu in the FreeHand menu. Here's a short description of the default Xtras in alphabetical order.

Tip 

The top item in the Xtras menu is Repeat (specific Xtra tool listed here) Xtra. This can be a real time-saver when you're doing repetitive tasks.

• Animate: Release to Layers — Takes objects in a blend and places them on new, separate layers for animation or export to SWF (learn all about ShockWave Flash format in Chapters 11 and 12).

• Chart — Create objects that can be used as the "bars" in charts. This Xtra makes a pictograph for that purpose.

• Cleanup — Includes the following four controls:

  • Correct Direction — Used for odd-even fills in compound paths

  • Remove Overlap — Creates compound path from object crossing itself (as in making an "x")

  • Reverse Direction — Switches beginning and end points of path

  • Simplify — Reduces number of points in a path using user input; attempts to maintain path integrity

• Color Control — Sliders allow change in color makeup in CMYK, RGB, or HSL modes.

• Convert to Grayscale — Changes all colors in selected objects to grayscale. Color data is lost.

• Create — Includes the following three controls:

  • Blend — Blends compound paths just as Modify blends normal paths.

  • Emboss — Makes crude embossing effect by cloning, offsetting, and modifying colors of an object.

  • Trap — Used when light and dark colors abut each other in a print job. The press can go out of register minutely, causing the paper to show between the abutting colors. Trapping eliminates any show-through due to press misregistration.

• Darken Colors — Decreases brightness of colors in 10 percent increments.

• Delete — Includes the following two controls:

  • Delete Empty Text Blocks — Discards text blocks in document that contain no data

  • Delete Unused Named Colors — Discards colors that have been dragged into the Swatches panel without being named

• Desaturate Colors — Incrementally reduces intensity of color, ultimately becoming gray.

• Distort — Includes the following two choices:

  • Add Points — Places a point between every two points on a path

  • Fractalize — Makes abstract, geometric patterns

• Import RGB Color Table — A color table contains all the colors in a bitmap. Use this to import those colors to FreeHand for use in modifying an existing drawing or making a new one using the same color scheme.

• IPTC — Found under Other: File Info. Used by newspapers and magazines to keep track of copyright, author/artist, date, and other information.

• Lighten Colors — Increases brightness of colors in 10 percent increments.

• Name All Colors — Click this Xtra to move colors that have been dragged into the Swatches panel without being named in one step.

• Path Operations — Includes eight of my favorite tools, each requiring one object on top of another:

  • Crop — Top object removes anything belonging to the lower object that lies outside the top object's borders

  • Divide — Makes separate elements obtained by overlaps

  • Expand Stroke — Makes a closed and filled path of constant width centered on original path

  • Inset Path — Makes a concentric path inside (positive numbers) or outside (negative numbers) a selected path

  • Intersect — Retains only areas that overlap; discards other areas

  • Punch — Takes a "bite" out of lower object

  • Transparency — Gives appearance of transparency by making a mix of top and bottom object colors

  • Union — Combines both objects into one single object with a single outline

• Randomize Named Colors — Say you want to know what a drawing would look like if you suddenly experienced one of the acid flashbacks from the sixties your weird uncle tells you about — this Xtra changes colors for no apparent reason. For example, you draw a handful of six flowers. Each flower has a different (named) color. Clone the bouquet, and use this Xtra to get a group of flowers that may be more abstract or random than you could have created on your own. Every time you click it, the colors go off in another direction.

• Saturate — Increase the intensity of colors — move away from gray.

• Sort Color List By Name — Alphabetical colors, why not? Doesn't make much sense if the name is 30r 24g 65b, though — name the colors first.

---