We know that InDesign CS3 (due out in the Spring of 2007) will offer some special effects such as inner shadow. But what if you need that effect today? Here’s a quick step-by-step that gives you a credible inner shadow on any path.
- Here we have a yellow frame. I chose Object > Content > Unassigned, which tells InDesign that this frame will have no text or graphic in it. That’s not an important step, but it does get rid of the big X in the frame that was annoying me.
- Now duplicate the frame holding down the Option/Alt key and pressing one of the arrow keys on my keyboard (that duplicates while nudging the object), and immediately press the D key to assign the default color scheme: Black stroke and no fill.
- Adjust the stroke width; in this case it’s about 10 points.
- Choose Object > Feather to feather this stroked frame; I usually change the Corners popup menu (in the Feather dialog box) to Sharp and set Noise to about 4% to make it more realistic.
- Now, while the stroked and feathered frame is selected, choose Edit > Cut or press Command/Ctrl-X.
- Select the original frame and choose Edit > Paste Into, or press Command-Option/Ctrl-Alt-V.
- You will likely have to adjust the nested object a bit. You can select it easily by clicking the Select Content button
in the Control palette or choosing Object > Select > Content (or just click on the frame with the Direct Selection tool). I usually adjust the position and height and width numerically in the Control palette, but you can do it by dragging, too.
Note that you can apply this technique to text, too, but you have to convert the text to outlines first. Oh well.
This article was last modified on December 18, 2021
This article was first published on August 31, 2006
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