Easily Create Complex Shapes Using “Merge Union”

Mon, Jun 30, 2008

Tip

In QuarkXPress, a complex box shape can be created easily by combining several simple boxes. Draw any number of overlapping rectangles, ellipses, Bézier items and freehand boxes, then select them all, and choose Item> Merge> Union.

Easily Create Complex Shapes Using

Easily Create Complex Shapes Using

Easily Create Complex Shapes Using

The other Merge options, such as Difference, Intersection, etc., will combine or remove the items from each other in other ways.

After the items are combined into one item, you can edit the details of the shape by doing this:

QuarkXPress 7 and earlier: choose Item> Edit> Shape or type Shift-F4.
QuarkXPress 8: click on the item with the Bézier Pen tool.

Easily Create Complex Shapes Using

And don’t forget: if you want to use these shapes in another program such as Adobe Illustrator, just export your page in PDF or EPS format. Illustrator can then open that file for editing, with vector shapes, strokes, fills, etc., intact!Easily Create Complex Shapes Using

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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