10.1

Table Of Contents
menu). You can apply drop shadows to the shape of an item box, line, text path, table
provided that the item has a background color applied to it. You can apply a drop
shadow to text when the box background has an opacity of less than 100%. You can apply
a drop shadow to the contours of a picture when a clipping path or alpha mask is selected
and the box background is None. You can apply a drop shadow to a group with the drop
shadow reflecting the collective shape of all of the items in the group.
Customizing drop shadows
Using the controls in the Measurements palette, or on Windows, the Drop Shadow tab
of the Modify dialog box (Item menu), you can customize how a drop shadow looks,
including its distance from the item, size in relation to the original item, offset, angle of
light source, color, shade, opacity, blur, and more. You can also synchronize the angle
with other drop shadows in the layout, making it easy to maintain a significant light source
throughout a layout and making drop shadows seem more natural.
Incorporating drop shadows with items
Additional options control how drop shadows interact with items, including handling
opacity and text runaround. As with the other controls, these options are located in the
Measurements palette, or on Windows, the Drop Shadow tab of the Modify dialog box
(Item menu) .
Use Inherit Item's Opacity to have the drop shadow reflect different opacities in the item,
such as differences in the box background and frame.
Use Item Knocks Out Drop Shadow to prevent a shadow from displaying through
semi-opaque areas of an item to keep a shadow from peeping through its box, for
example.
Use Runaround Drop Shadow to include a drop shadow with the text wrap contour.
Use Inherit Item's Opacity and Item Knocks Out Drop Shadow combined to achieve
different results based on the combination of these settings, as shown here.
At far left, both Inherit Item's Opacity and Item Knocks Out Drop Shadow are unchecked.
Second from left, only Inherit Item's Opacity is checked. At far right, both options are checked.
220 | A GUIDE TO QUARKXPRESS 10.1
COLOR, OPACITY, AND DROP SHADOWS