Drawing

Drawing

There are so many drawing tools in PageMaker. Line tool, Rectangle tool, Ellipse tool and Polygon tool are four main drawing tools.

1. Drawing Lines

PageMaker has two Line tools. The first one creates a straight line at any orientation. The second is a constrained line tool that draws only at increments of 45 degrees. You can change the property of tools by double-clicking on them.

To draw a straight line

1. Select the Line tool from the toolbox. The cursor changes to a crosshair.

2. Click and drag on the screen to draw your line. As you drag, a line appears.

3. Release the mouse button and the line will be drawn and selected, with sizing handles on either end.

Resize the line by clicking and dragging the handles, if necessary.

To draw a Dotted line

1. Double click the Line tool from the toolbox. A Custom Stroke dialog box appears.

2. Select the required Stroke style in the drop-down list box.

3. Then click OK button. Now the cursor changes to a crosshair.

4. Click and drag on the screen to draw your dotted line. As you drag, the line appears.

5. Release the mouse button and the line will be drawn and selected, with sizing handles on either end.

Resize the line by clicking and dragging the handles, if necessary.

2. Drawing a Rectangle or an Ellipse

You can also draw rectangles and ellipses shapes by using the same technique as used in line drawing.

1. To draw a rectangle or an ellipse: Click on the Rectangle or Ellipse tool from the toolbox.

The cursor changes to a crosshair.

2. Click and drag anywhere on the screen. As you drag, a rectangle or ellipse appears.

3. Release the mouse button when the rectangle or ellipse is of the desired size.

Press the Shift key while you’re drawing to constrain the shape to a square or circle.

Drawing a Rounded Corner Rectangle

To draw a rounded-corner rectangle:

1. Double-click the Rectangle tool in the toolbox.

The Rounded Corners dialog box appears.

2. Choose a corner setting from the preset shapes.

3. Click on OK. The cursor changes to a crosshair.

4. Click and drag anywhere on the screen.

5. Release the mouse button when the rectangle is the desired size.

Press the Shift key as you draw to constrain the shape to a rounded-corner square.

3. Drawing a Polygon

To draw a Polygon

1. Click on the Polygon tool from the toolbox.

The cursor changes to a crosshair.

2. Click and drag anywhere on the screen. As you drag, a Polygon appears.

3. Release the mouse button when the Polygon is of the desired size.

4. Drawing a Star using Polygon tool

To draw a Star

1. Click on the Polygon tool from the toolbox.

2. The cursor changes to a crosshair.

Click and drag anywhere on the screen. As you drag, a Polygon appears.

3. Release the mouse button when the Polygon is of the desired size.

4. Choose Element > Polygon Settings in the menu bar.

Now Polygon Settings dialog box appears.

5. Type 5 in the Number of sides text box.

6. Type 50% in Star inset textbox.

7. Click OK. Now the required star appears on the screen. Refer Figure 1.44 - 1.46

Drawing a star with given number of sides and required inset

1. The value of ‘Star inset’ is 50% The number of sides is 15

The result of the star shape is shown below

2. The value of ‘Star inset’ is 25% The number of sides is 25

The result of the star shape is shown below

3. The value of ‘Star inset’ is 35%

The number of sides is 70

The result of the star shape is shown below

5. Filling Shapes with Colours and Patterns

Filling Rectangle with colour

1. Draw a rectangle using Rectangle tool.

2. Select the rectangle.

3. Choose Window > Show colors in the menu bar. (or) Press Ctrl + J Now Colors palette appears.

4. Click on the required colour from the Colors Palette.

5. The rectangle has been filled with the colour.