2016

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.
272 | A GUIDE TO QUARKXPRESS 2016
COLOR, OPACITY, AND DROP SHADOWS