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A
Anonymous
August 18, 2011
Question

Is it possible to vary the opacity of a Framemaker-created graphic object?

  • August 18, 2011
  • 1 reply
  • 1860 views

I frequently have to add call-outs to illustrations consisting of photographs of our hardware. Sometimes varying light and dark areas in my photos necessitate a background for text that I add to the illustration.

It would be great if I could create, say, a rounded white rectangle in FM behind Framemaker-created text, and then decrease the opacity of the shape so that the reader can partially see the photograph behind it.

Until now, I've had to add this type of shape over my photograph in Photoshop, adjust its opacity, and then flatten the image back into a .jpg. It works beautifully except that it's time-consuming. I also can't really horse around with putting editable Photoshop images in my documents due to working conditions here. That also works beautifully, but is not practical in the long run.

Positioning the text-background object I've created in Photoshop is often a matter of trial and error, guessing where it belongs in relation to arrows and text added in Framemaker.

Is there any way to just add a shape for this purpose in Framemaker, and then reduce its opacity? It'd be a great timesaver!

Thanks, everyone.

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    1 reply

    Bob_Niland
    Community Expert
    Bob_NilandCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 19, 2011

    Unless something has been added in later versions, FM doesn't grok opacity.

    It barely understands EPS clipping paths.

    I just tried an EPS object with 50% opacity from Illustrator. Pen None. Fill None.

    Opaque in the PDF.

    My inclination would be to create the rounded rectangle, fill set to None, and populate it with individual dots or lines comprising a simulated fill. Group. Scale or distort to suit the needs. The rectangle interior between the lines or dots will be transparent. You'll need to experiment with the stroke weights.

    If this feature hasn't been addressed up to FM10, my guess is that it never will be, since it infringes on InDesign's domain.

    A
    Anonymous
    August 19, 2011

    Gaack! That's grim, but believable. It really doesn't seem too much to ask of them, though.

    Thanks!

    --Lew Yedwab

    Lew Yedwab

    Senior Technical Writer | Chyron

    5 Hub Drive | Melville | NY | 11747

    w +1 631 845 3869 |

    Skype: yeswab

    "The Company the Whole World Watches"

    Bob_Niland
    Community Expert
    Bob_NilandCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 19, 2011

    It really doesn't seem too much to ask of them, though.

    It's been asked for pretty much forever.

    Based on a search, I see signs that support for imported EPS transparancy was added in FM8, but I just tried a test in FM9, and the object was opaque. I assume there's some trick (in addition to Pen/Fill=None) that I don't know about.

    But even if it works, that's still not transparency for FM-created graphical objects.

    Doing the dot fill hack wouldn't be that much work, and you'd only need to do it once. I'd suggest white dots.

    We use a similar opaque object that's a rounded-rect outline, with a slightly larger r-r solid mask behind it, and a callout text frame in front, all grouped. Once the dimensions and strokes were worked out, it was just copy-and-use thereafter.

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