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dragonixt29921437
dragonixt29921437
Participant
April 14, 2019
Answered

Appearing black lines while creating a shadow effect to an image!

  • April 14, 2019
  • 12 replies
  • 6498 views

Once I created a document and pasted an image. Then I wanted to set a shadow effect to this image and saw this issue:

So how can I fix this?

    Correct answer craig_kasnoff

    I am currently working with InDesign support to understand and resolve this issue. The Adobe support team agrees this is something that shouldn't be happening. I am on a new computer (Windows 11) with a high-end processor with lots of RAM so this shouldn't be a graphics issue. However, since I find this so annoying, and since I have not heard back from Adobe support yet (who are ALWAYS very helpful) I have found a "work-around" that seems to elimate this issue.

     

    If I go to the master page and create a "white" overlay on the master page (i.e. using the rectangle tool over the whole master page and use a white fill) then when I go back to my normal pages and use the drop shadow on an image, or use any other effect in the effects panel, the black lines no longer show up.

     

    Again, this is just a work-around until I find out from the Adobe support team what the actual issue is, but for me it is WAY better than being distracted by those annoying black lines appearing behind the images.

    12 replies

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    Randy Hagan
    Community Expert
    Randy HaganCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 14, 2019

    I'm assuming that you're talking about the sharp, dark edge around the drop shadow surrounding your image, so if I'm a bit off base, please correct me.

    I think I see a couple of things you can adjust to get better results:

    1) The default Opacity: setting for an InDesign drop shadow is 75%. With a tight drop shadow, that tends to give you the heavy effects and funky banding which appears in your sample image. If you click on the right-pointing chevron to the right of that percentage in the edit box, it opens a slider which you can use to quickly judge the quality of your drop shadow's darkness — as well as how it appears above any element/color build situated behind it.

    If you asked me, I'd scale it back around the 40-45% range to make it a softer, easier-blending drop shadow. But if that doesn't meet your desired effect, first selecting the Preview check box and using the slider lets you pick an opacity setting that'd be more appealing to your eye and judgment.

    2) As for the drop shadow lining up perfectly against the left edge of your image, boosting the X Offset: edit box with a larger positive number will move the shadow further to the right and make it look more like the light is appearing well to the top-left of your image. Be advised that the upward- and downward-pointing chevrons jump in large amounts, and you may have to click into the edit box and dial in a number between two chevron clicks to get your desired result.

    Also, winterm is steering you right about placing images into InDesign rather than copying/pasting them into your layouts. You'll get much better results putting graphics into your InDesign layouts that way. I think between his suggestion and mine, you'll be able to dial in more desirable results for your images within InDesign.

    Good luck. Hope this helps ...

    Randy

    winterm
    winterm
    Legend
    April 14, 2019

    Paste?

    Never paste image to InDesign, always use File>Place command, or drag'n'drop from Explorer/Finder.

    In any case, your image must be saved as a separate file on your HD, and placed to ID as an external link.

    If issue persists, examine your image in Photoshop, maybe resave to be sure.

    If it is jpeg or any other lossy format, after editing better save as psd or tiff, or pdf, and place to ID that. Don't re-save jpegs.

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