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lsk2002
Inspiring
October 27, 2011
Question

Halo Arrows

  • October 27, 2011
  • 2 replies
  • 1643 views

Is there a way to make halo arrows, or is there maybe a plugin that has more options for arrows? I know (and what I have been doing) can make a large white arrow and a smaller black arrow and group them. This does work, but when rotating the arrow it distorts sometimes and has to be ungrouped, changed, and grouped back. We use these kinds of arrows for darker images so the arrow will stand out. We used to use Interleaf and it had all kinds of arrows that could be used.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

ls

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    2 replies

    Michael_Müller-Hillebrand
    Michael_Müller-Hillebrand
    Legend
    October 28, 2011

    Is,

    My suggestion is to create the foreground line and then use a script to add the backgrounds. I used this as a demonstration how similar FrameScript and ExtendScript programming can be, see here (the text is in German but you should be able to understand the code):

    http://www.framescript.eu/2011/02/linienhintergrund-automatisch-erstellen/

    There are some problems with arrows. They are drawn from the tip and the rules how their size is adjusted based on the line width are non-linear, i.e. it is not easy to find a good automated solution. I am working on that for a client atv the moment, covering exactly one style of arrows.

    - Michael

    L
    lsk2002Author
    Inspiring
    October 28, 2011

    Michael,

    OK...way over my head, but I did run a script in InDesign a guy gave me...it it wasn't that difficult. I don't even see a window like in FM10 where you run a script from. I use FM9. (I have been searching a little on the net.) Anyway, I opened the toolkit and copied and pasted the extend script in there and saved it....just because that was the closes thing online and in help that I though might work...lol...but how do you run it.... IF that is where to start?

    Thanks,

    ls

    Michael_Müller-Hillebrand
    Michael_Müller-Hillebrand
    Legend
    October 28, 2011

    Is,

    ExtendScript is supported from FrameMaker 10 only.

    FrameScript is supported for FrameMaker 6 through 10. With FM9 you may want to download a trial version of FrameScript, see http://www.framescript.com  If installed it has its own menu with a run command. But before trying the script have a look at the settings easily visible in the source code.

    - Michael

    Bob_Niland
    Community Expert
    Bob_NilandCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 27, 2011

    I long ago created a small set of self-masking arrows for our group to use.

    These started with a 0.5in long Frame graphic line, 1.0 pt black, with a default (90/16/12 filled) arrow head at one end.

    At high zoom, a Frame polygon was added under and just outside the outline of this arrow. No border. Named fill color (one of the colors routinely set to white or Cutout during final rendering).

    A small amount of the arrow tail was left exposed beyond the mask, so it can be placed on top of our self masking bubbles, touching or overlaying the black circle, without having to be super precise in placement. For use on line art and bi-tone bitmaps, another variant has a bit of the arrow tip unmasked beneath, so it can "touch" the thing being pointed to.

    The arrow and mask are grouped. We keep the set on a Reference page.

    They rotate cleanly (with a nice transparent outline), and render cleanly.

    What they don't do is scale cleanly. So we don't.

    And keeping the tails orthogonal to the bubbles (of which we have several styles), requires a bit of practice.

    _______

    You'd expect a premier tech pub app to do callout bubbles.

    L
    lsk2002Author
    Inspiring
    October 27, 2011

    Error,

    Thanks for replying. Glad someone else is in need of something like this. I guess my way or your way, you have to fiddle with it. Maybe that can be on the wish list....

    ls

    Bob_Niland
    Community Expert
    Bob_NilandCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 28, 2011

    I guess my way or your way, you have to fiddle with it.

    Getting the arrows and bubbles set up, tested and optimized took some fiddling. We just use them now, and haven't played the fiddle in some years.

    In addition to the elements needed in anchored and graphic frames, you may also need smaller bubbles for the narrative text. These can be a bit trickier.

    Our design goal was to mimic the circled numbers in Zapf Dingbats, with both circles and rounded rectangles (for multi-digit callouts). These are done as tiny anchored frames, with graphics and a tinier text frame. The problem is that even when the dimensions exactly match the dingbats, Frame thinks they're too tall, and increases the line space above. We elected to set

  • Fixed for paragraphs using them, but that can have other side effects.

    Maybe that can be on the wish list.

    Has been since Frame 2.0, I imagine. What's needed is variable bubble shapes, leaders and arrows, with variable strokes, variable self-masking, auto-centered text of a specific normal paragraph format (not the mostly useless graphical text - we use markers extensively in callout bubbles).

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