10.2

Table Of Contents
Symmetrical Point : A symmetrical point connects two curved lines to form a
continuous curve. The result is similar to a smooth point, but the curve handles always
rest on a straight line through the point and are always equidistant from the point.
Smooth Point : A smooth point connects two curved lines to form a continuous
curve. The curve handles always rest on a straight line through the point, but they
can be distanced independently.
Corner Point : A corner point connects two straight lines, a straight line and a
curved line, or two noncontinuous curved lines. With curved lines, the corner point's
curve handles can be manipulated independently, usually to form a sharp transition
between the two segments.
To change the character of a line segment, use one of the following buttons:
Straight Segment : Makes the active segment straight.
Curved Segment : Makes the active segment curved.
You can also change point and segment types with the Item > Point/Segment Type
submenu.
Creating special effects with clipping paths
Various options in the Clipping tab let you invert a clipping path or specify whether
a picture is clipped using outside edges only, or whether the picture is contained within
its box. You can create special effects such as making visible regions transparent and
transparent regions visible, allowing holes within a path, cropping the picture to the
edges of the picture box, or removing portions of the clipping path that fall outside
the box borders.
Working with alpha masks
Unlike clipping paths, which produce a smooth edge primarily used for separating a
foreground image from a background image, alpha masks can include transparency
information to subtly blend a foreground image into a new background. To work with
alpha masks in QuarkXPress, you must first create an alpha mask in an image-editing
application such as Adobe Photoshop. You can then use the alpha mask in QuarkXPress.
A GUIDE TO QUARKXPRESS 10.2 | 203
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