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ShlomoPerets microtype.com
Making the
Most out of
FrameMaker’s
Graphic Tools
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1 Myservices&tools ('&')
■ Training / Consulting
FrameMaker (including Structured),
Acrobat, Captivate (on-site or via web)
■ Template development
■ Conversion services
(to FM; FM to Structured FM)
■ Add-ons: FM Express Customization;
FrameMaker-to-Acrobat TimeSavers +
Assistants (Forms, Navigation …)
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FrameMakergraphics
■ Easy to handle inside FrameMaker
■ Vector
■ Not easily exported to other graphic
formats for re-use elsewhere
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FrameMaker’sgraphictools
smart select select object
line arc
polyline freehand curve
rectangle rounded rectangle
oval polygon
text frame text line
graphic frame
fill pattern
pen pattern
line width
line end style
current defaultdashed line pattern
color
tint
overprint
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Setupdrawingenvironment
■ Grids
● Visible grid
● Invisible snapping grid
● Choose your own spacing for the grids
■ Gravity
● Makes it easier to connect to an existing
object when drawing/resizing/reshaping
● Objects exert gravity along their path; corners
= double; rectangles/ovals also at their centers
● Gravity takes precedence over Snap (if active)
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Viewquality
■ Often need to refresh screen:
Window > Refresh or Control-L
■ Tip: select object before zooming in,
to have it displayed in the zoomed view
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Selectingobjects
■ Shift-click to select additional objects
■ Shift-click an object to deselect one
object
■ With smart cursor: Ctrl-click text frame
or text line to select as an object
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Selectingobjects
CONTINUED
■ Drag selection border around objects
■ Holding down Shift-Ctrl while
dragging makes it easier to select
specific items
■ Select all on page or in frame (Ctrl-A)
■ Select first drawn (Esc o F),
next (Esc o n)
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ManyusesofShiftkey
■ Shift and drag object to move along
vertical or horizontal axis
■ Shift-click when selecting a tool to
keep it active & draw multiple objects
(select any tool to end)
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ManyusesofShiftkey
CONTINUED
■ Shift while resizing to maintain ratio
■ Shift while using the drawing tools
to constrain the shapes drawn
● Oval circle
● Rectangle square
● Arc circular arc
● Line, Polyline & Polygon straight vertical or
horizontal lines or at 45°
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Quickcopying
Hold down Alt or Ctrl while dragging
an object to create a copy
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Group/ungroup
■ Small groups can be nested inside larger
groups – may need to ungroup several
times to access a specific item
■ Small groups can be useful when
aligning and distributing, e.g. several
pairs of graphic item + callout
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Objectstyles(FM11+)
■ Named styles for graphics
● Object Style Designer Esc g i
● Object Style Catalog Esc g e
■ Globally update some/all graphic
properties by adjusting style definitions
■ Can use File > Import Formats to bring
styles defined in other files
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Finepositioning(“nudge”)
■ Move selected objects using arrow keys:
press Alt-Arrow for a small nudge or
Alt-Shift-Arrow keys for a large nudge
■ At 100% zoom, small nudge is 1 point
and large nudge is 6 points; the nudge
distance changes depending on zoom
settings
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Bringtofront/sendtoback
■ Controls stacking order
■ When adding callouts to bitmaps, bitmap
should be sent to back
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Align
■ Single item is aligned relative to
anchored frame, graphic frame or page
■ When two or more objects selected –
items align relative to last item selected
Before
aligning
T/B
Centers
Tops Bottoms
Before
aligning
L/R
Centers
Left
Sides
Right
Sides
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Align
CONTINUED
■ Esc g a to open Graphics > Align
(multiple choices, vertical+horizontal)
■ Use direct alignment: Esc j followed by
● l (left) ● t (top)
● r (right) ● m (middle)
● c (center) ● b (bottom)
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Distribute
Leftmost / topmost items remain in place
Objects as
drawn
Equidistant
centers
Edge gap
= .0625"
Equidistant
edges
Horizontal
distribution
Objects as
drawn
Equidistant
centers
Edge gap
= .0625"
Equidistant
edges
Vertical
distribution
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Rotate
■ Free rotate with Alt+drag handle
(rotation angle reported in status bar)
■ Shift while Alt+dragging a corner or
reshape handle constrain rotation to 45°
■ Can inspect an object’s rotation angle
in Object Properties (Rotation/Angle)
Objects rotate around
their centers
Text lines rotate around
their alignment points
Abc
Abc
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Reshape
■ Reshape arc
■ Reshape polyline / polygon
Arc: 270 -306 10% Arc: 270 18 30%Start and end angles
Percentage of circle
2 Choose
Reshape
3 Drag 4 Release1 Select
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Reshape
CONTINUED
■ Reshape curve
Control point
Reshape handle
2 Drag reshape
handle
3 Drag control
point
4 Rotate control
point
1 Select Reshape
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Reshape
CONTINUED
■ Ctrl-click to add/remove control points
■ Right-drag reshape handle to crimp
a curve
Right-drag
reshape
handle
Select
Reshape
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Join
■ Join lines, arcs, polylines, freehand
curves – so that fill can be applied
■ Objects have to be touching end to end
to be joined
Objects
drawn
Objects
positioned
and selected
Objects
joined
Fill pattern
selected
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Smooth
Smooth/unsmooth
Before smoothing After smoothing
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Scale
Useful when you need to resize different
items consistently
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Curvatureofroundedrectangle
The curvature of the “corners” of a
rounded rectangle can be changed by
specifying the radius of an imaginary circle
drawn in the corner of a rectangle
(Graphics > Object Properties)
Radius = .125 inch Radius = .25 inches Radius = .375 inch
r r r
The longer the radius, the more curved the corners are
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Croppingagraphic
Use an anchored or unanchored graphic
frame to crop (mask) the edges of a
graphic
Uncropped graphic Graphic placed and cropped in an
unanchored graphic frame
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Pickingupobjectproperties
To change one or more properties of one
object to match another:
● Select the object that has the properties you
want to copy
● Hold down Shift, Graphics > Pick Up Object
Properties – properties of selected object are
made the default in palette
● Select the objects you want to change and
click the properties to apply
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Changelinecapstyle
Cap style determines the appearance of
any line ends that don’t have arrowheads
Projecting Butt Round
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Changearrowstyle
Arrow styles are determined by their base
angle, tip angle, and length. They can be
filled, hollow, or drawn with sticks.
B = Base angle
T = Tip angle
L = Length
T B
L
Filled
Hollow
Stick
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Customarrowstyle
You can create a custom arrow style by
specifying new settings below Custom:
● Style: Filled, Hollow, or Stick
● Base angle: 10–175
(at least 5 greater than tip angle;
FrameMaker ignores base angle setting when
choosing Stick)
● Tip angle: 5–85
● Length: 0–255 points
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Customarrowstyle
CONTINUED
Length specified applies to objects that
have a line width of 1 point. When you use
a thicker line width, arrowhead is longer
Arrow Base angle Tip angle Length
70 30 10 points
80 30 10 points
70 15 10 points
70 30 5 points
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Setnumberofsides
Use to draw a regular polygon
Original
object
Number of sides = 3
Start angle = 0
Number of sides = 3
Start angle = 45
0 0
45
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FrameMakerclipart
■ Ancient…, but can still be used as a
basis for development, or to learn how
graphic techniques were used
■ Files are in the clipart folder
(Help > Clip Art…)
C:Program Files (x86)AdobeAdobeFrameMaker12ClipArt
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