John Mensinger
Forum Replies Created
-
Wow! Very interesting.
It really is the range-targeted mask you originally sought.
I like the way you think, George. Thanks for sharing.
John M:
All of the vim with none of that annoying vigor. -
Sure, just enter 60 in the rotation field at the bottom left of the Transform panel. You only have to rotate once, then use the Transform Again command. The method I posted previously requires no use of the mouse at all.
John M:
All of the vim with none of that annoying vigor. -
Andrew, as it appears you’ve already ascertained, neither simple placing nor InDesign’s built-in Data Merge will accommodate the live-updating scenario you desire. You do indeed need a catalog plug-in for that. I have no experience with those you mentioned, but Woodwing’s Smart Catalog does what you want. I used it to populate the table cells in this document:
https://www.garland-group.com/docs/uploaded/gar/products/A_ALL_PB_USASEPT08_PRICEBOOKUSA090108.pdf -
Ah! Found it. My original reply was the quick & simplified explanation.
This tutorial will really give you the weapons you need for masking and adjusting based on luminance and density:
https://www.deke.com/category/free-tags/luminance-mask -
George, I can’t see an image in your post, but what you want is a “luminance mask.”
Typically, you can produce such a mask by loading a given channel as a selection. In the Channels panel, Ctrl+click on a channel thumbnail to load that channel as a luminance mask. Your image may already contain a channel that will produce a useful mask this way, but if it doesn’t, choose the channel that’s closest, duplicate it, then adjust its luminance range using Levels and/or Curves until it is suitable as a basis for your mask.
-
Without more detail, it’s hard to envision exactly what you’re doing, but here’s what I tried, and it works.
Draw an object, (or produce your pattern).
Copy, then paste in front, (Ctrl+F).
Choose the Rotate tool, move the reference point as desired, then rotate the copy 60°.
With the rotated copy still selected, copy, then paste in front again, (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+F).
Choose Object > Transform > Transform Again, (Ctrl+D).
Repeat Ctrl+C, Ctrl+F, Ctrl+D as many times as necessary.
-
Most likely, it’s just a manifestation of the limitations of your computer’s display. The grid of pixels that make up your monitor image can’t produce clean-edged lines in every case, and this is especially true when small degrees of rotation are involved. Your text should still print just fine.
-
With a blinking insertion point in the field, type your shortcut according to these rules:
1. Must include the CTRL key, (and may also include ALT and/or SHIFT).
2. Must include a number typed via the number pad.
Example: CTRL+num1
This essentially gives you 40 possible combinations:
CTRL+(num0-num9)
CTRL+ALT+(num0-num9)
CTRL+SHIFT+(num0-num9)
CTRL+ALT+SHIFT(num0-num9) -
If I understand you correctly, I don’t think you’ll be able to do this in InDesign. (Honestly, I’m not sure I understand why you’d want to do it.) Auto page numbers are just that, and I don’t know of any way to “release” their automatic nature so they may be rearranged out of sequence. If you have Acrobat, however, you can export to PDF and reorder the pages in Acrobat, where the page numbers will stay with their respective pages, regardless of the order.