2020

Table Of Contents
COLOR, OPACITY, AND DROP SHADOWS
Working with opacity
Opacity is applied at the color level, so you can specify opacity for just about
anything you can apply a color to, including the first or second color in a blend.
This means you can have different opacities at work on different attributes of the
same item — a text box border, a background, a picture, and each character of text,
for example, can have differing opacities.
Specifying opacity
Specifying opacity is as easy as specifying the shade of a color. In fact, wherever you
can pick a color — in the Colors palette, the Measurements palette, the Style
menu, and more — you can enter an opacity value from 0% (transparent) to 100%
(opaque) in 0.1% increments.
To specify opacity for a picture, enter a value in the Opacity field of the Picture
Box tab of the Measurements palette.
Specifying opacity for groups
Keep in mind that when you stack items of varying opacities, the colors are
combined and may produce a buildup of ink. For example, if you place a yellow box
with a 30% opacity in front of a cyan box with 100% opacity, the box in front will
become slightly greenish.
You can control this by grouping items and specifying a group opacity rather than
individual item opacities. To do this, on Windows, use the Group Opacity field in
the the Home tab of the Measurements palette. Depending on the effect you want,
you may need to revert the Opacity field for the individual items to 100%
(otherwise, each item’s opacity is added to the group’s opacity).
With these three grouped items, compare individual item opacity to group opacity. At
left, each item is 50% opaque — the items in front compose against the items behind
them. At right, each item’s opacity is 100% while the group’s opacity is 50% — the entire
group composes against the background. The items in the group, however, could have
individual opacities in addition to the group opacity.
Creating blends with transparency
You can blend a color with None rather than just with white. Simply choose any
color with 0% opacity for the first or second color in a gradient in the Gradients
palette, or on Windows, you can use the Box tab of the Mmeasurements palette.
356 | A GUIDE TO QUARKXPRESS 2020