I wanted to share an issue I came across while joining a text frame with another path to make a compound path text frame. I discovered a workaround, but I can’t figure out the underlying functionality.
1. I created a text frame with rounded corners and a gradient fill color.
2. I wanted to affix a triangle to make it look more like a speech bubble. To make the gradient flow across both shapes, I needed to make a compound path.
3. I selected the text frame and the shape and clicked Make Compound Path. The shape took a white chunk out of the text box. (I.e., it excluded the overlapping areas).
After a lot of fiddling, I discovered a curious workaround. If I first Flip Horizontal the shape, then select Make Compound Path, it creates the joined text frame as I originally desired, and the gradient flows smoothly across the new object.
As I said, I can’t figure out why this happens, but it might be a good workaround for someone struggling with a similar issue.
(I realize there are other solutions, such as floating a text frame over a shape, but this way is much easier if you’re working with Object Styles and multiple iterations.)
Cheers,
Joe
josephlangdon.com
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