'Getting You Started' guide to
Pagemaker 6.5

Section 3 Adding graphics

Drawing tools

PageMaker is not a drawing package, and its drawing facilities are very limited, but it is able to produce a number of simple shapes, namely boxes, lines, ellipses, polygons and circles.

Drawing boxes

Click on the Rectangle tool in the toolbox .   On the screen, click and drag with the mouse to form a box, then release.  Hold the <Shift> key down as you draw to produce a square.

Drawing lines

Horizontal and vertical lines are drawn with the  tool. Straight lines at an angle are drawn with the  tool. Again, click and drag to form the lines.

Drawing ellipses/circles

Using the ellipse tool , click and drag to form an ellipse. Hold down <Shift> as you do it to make a circle.

Drawing polygons

Use the polygon tool  to click points representing the vertices of the required polygon. The final point should be the same as the first one.

Frames

PageMaker also has three frame tools, which are similar to the rectangle, ellipse and Polygon tools, except that the shapes created with the frame tools act as placeholders for text or imported graphics.

To create a frame to hold text, use the appropriate frame tool and draw the frame on the page.  Then either:

• click with the text tool inside the frame and begin to type.
  or
• import a text file (see above) and place the text icon inside the frame.

Text will be limited by the boundaries of the frame.

Frames can also be used to hold imported graphics (see below).

Stroke and fill

All the above objects have a 'stroke-type'. Boxes and ellipses/circles also have a 'fill'. Both strokes and fills can be altered as follows:

First select the object with the 'Pointer' tool. Click on the 'Element' menu at the top of the screen. You can choose 'Stroke' or 'Fill' separately, or 'Stroke and Fill' together. From the resultant dialogue box, select the type of stroke and/or fill that you require, and click 'OK'.

NB: If you are drawing a filled box to highlight some text, the newly-drawn box may obscure the text. To make the text reappear, you need to 'send the box to the back'. Select the box if not already selected, choose 'Element', 'Arrange' and click on 'Send to back'.

Rounded corners

You can round the corners of boxes by selecting the box and clicking on 'Element' and 'Rounded corners'. Then choose the type of corner you want and click 'OK'.
 

Stacked objects

When there are two or more objects stacked on top of each other, it can sometimes be difficult to select the one you want. If you hold down the <Ctrl> key (PC) or <Command> key (MAC) as you attempt to 'pick' the item, you will select each stacked object in turn. Use 'Send to back' or 'Bring to front' from the 'Element', 'Arrange' menu to alter the stacking order.

Selecting multiple objects

To select a number of items at once, there are two methods:

i) Hold the <Shift> key down as you select each item. The object is then added to the selection.

ii) With the 'Pointer' tool, click and drag, creating a box around all the required objects (this is called a 'marquee'). Be careful that your first click does not itself select an individual object.

Importing graphics

To import a graphics file, select 'File' and 'Place'. Choose a file from those selected and click 'OK'. When the system has fetched the file from the disk, the cursor changes to a 'Place graphics' icon . Position this at the appropriate point on the page and click.

Manipulating an imported image

Once imported, the image can be altered in the following ways :

Moving an image

Place the cursor somewhere on the body of the image, click and drag .

Resizing/reshaping an image

If the image is not already selected, select it by placing the cursor anywhere on it and clicking. Place the cursor on a corner handle of the image, click and drag. To maintain the aspect ratio (height-to-width), hold the <Shift> key as you click and drag.

Cropping an image

To slice off part of the image, choose the 'Crop' tool  and select the image. Place the cursor on an edge or corner handle, click and hold. When straight lines appear, continue to hold down the button as you drag the cursor into the image. When an image is cropped, you are only selecting a portion of the image to be displayed and printed - the whole image remains in the document and can be retrieved later; this is useful, but may make the size of the final file much bigger than expected.

Duplicating an image

Select the image. Click on 'Edit' and 'Copy'. Before pasting it back, move the existing image away, so that the new copy does not overlay it. Then click on 'Edit', 'Paste'.

Rotating an image

Select the image. Switch to the 'rotate' tool  and place the cursor on the point about which you want to rotate. Click and drag away from that point, then move the cursor around until you obtain the rotation you want.
 

Using the Control palette

With a graphic image selected, select 'Window' and 'Control palette' to open the following window:

(The appearance of this box depends upon what is selected at the time). This allows you to alter the position of the image (X-Y controls), the size (W-H controls), the rotation  and skew , as well as creating reflected images using the buttons on the extreme right. You can also tell whether the original image has been resized or reshaped by checking the `%' boxes, which tell you the current width and height of the image as a percentage of its original dimensions.

Graphics inside frames

If required, an imported graphic may be placed inside an existing (empty) frame.

First draw a frame using one of the frame tools (see above).  It is then necessary to set the frame options to determine what will happen if the imported graphic is too big for the frame.  The options are:

1. Scale the graphic to fit the frame.
2. Scale the frame to fit the graphic.
3. Crop the edges of the graphic to fit the frame.

These options are selected under 'Element', 'Frame', 'Frame options'.

Having done this, import the graphic as normal and place it inside the frame.

If the Crop option has been selected, the Crop tool  may be used to position the graphic within the frame.

To delete the graphic, leaving the frame in place, select the frame and then click on 'Element', 'Frame', 'Separate Content'.  Once the elements have been separated they can be dealt with individually.

Combining graphics with text

When text and graphics coexist on a page, there are several ways in which they may be combined.

Overlay

By default, imported graphics will overlay text, often making it difficult to read.

Text wrap

To make the text wrap around the image, first select the graphics image. (If this proves difficult, try holding down <Ctrl> or <Command> as you click.) Then click on 'Element' and 'Text wrap'. A dialogue box appears.

In the top line of three options, the first represents overlay, which is the default, the second is text wrap, and the third is not available. Select the second and proceed to the second row. In this row, the options are as follows -

first option  - text will stop just above the image, and continue on the next page

second option  - text will stop above the image and continue just underneath

third option  - text will flow all around the image (if there is room).

Select the one required and click 'OK'.
 

If you have chosen option 3, you can see the border that has been created by selecting the image. This border can be customised by clicking on it to create new points, and then clicking and dragging the points to wherever you want them.

In-line graphics

This allows graphics to move with the text. To convert an independent graphic to an in-line, select the image and click on 'Edit', 'Cut'. Switch to the 'Text' tool and click an insertion point where you want the image to appear. Then click on 'Edit', 'Paste'. The image is now treated as a rather special text character, although it can still be selected and cut or copied in the usual way. To convert an in-line to an independent, select the object with the 'Pointer' tool, 'Cut' it and then re-paste it using the 'Pointer' tool again.

Captions

To add a caption to an image that has been 'text-wrapped':

Expand the text wrap frame as above to make room for the caption. Using the 'Text' tool, create a caption somewhere else, for instance on the white space outside the page. Switch to the 'Pointer' tool and reduce the width of the caption text block until it will fit inside the space left within the frame. Then click and drag the text into the frame.

Exercise

Produce a single sheet (A4) 'poster' promoting an imaginary (or real !) forthcoming event.

Some examples :

Cycle race, Photography convention, Christmas Bazaar, Boot sale etc.

Some of the graphics images supplied might be useful. Include all necessary text, and print off a hard copy of your final effort.