Getting Edgy with QuarkXPress 7.0

Mon, Sep 24, 2007

Featured, How-to

On September 21, Robert Underwood had a terrific post, How To Use An Image As A Background Behind A Story. And back on August 24, he demonstrated how Create a Simple Cutout Using an Alpha Channel — And a Cool Stacking Order trick.

To learn even more about these techniques, check out Steve Gray’s article in X-Ray magazine. This step-by-step tutorial shows exactly how to create a vector (hard-edged) or raster (soft-edged) cutout from a photo using the tools in QuarkXPress 7.

Tip to pick:

  • Create a sloppy, hard-edged selection in Photoshop and save the selection as an alpha channel.
  • Save the file in TIFF format.
  • Import it into QuarkXPress.
  • Use the Gaussian Blur filter in Picture Effects to blur the alpha channel.

The result: a soft, transparent, faded edge on the picture that you can undo and alter at any time. Coooool!

Getting Edgy with QuarkXPress 7.0

This post was written by:

Jay Nelson - who has written 503 posts on Planet Quark.

Jay Nelson is the editorial director of PlanetQuark.com, and the editor and publisher of Design Tools Monthly. He’s also the author of the training videos Quark includes in the box with QuarkXPress 7, and the QuarkXPress 7 training at Lynda.com. In addition, Jay writes for several other publications and speaks at industry events.

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