In the first lesson I covered the work area of InDesign. One of the parts of InDesign's work area is the Tools palette. I will cover most of the tools in that palette in this lesson.
Toolbox Basics: Before digging into InDesign tools, specifically, get an overview of the most common tools amongst desktop publishing software applications: Essential Software Tools: Toolbox Overview for Desktop Publishing Software (The InDesign Tools palette that you see in this article is from InDesign 1.5. The CS Tools palette looks a little different.)
Navigating This Lesson: There are 2 tutorials for lesson 4. The Selection, Type, and Line Drawing Tools tutorial has 10 steps. There are also three Pen Tool animations associated with that tutorial. The Frame and Shape Tools tutorial has 7 steps. Navigation among the steps in each part of Lesson 4 is found at the bottom of each step.
To navigate from one tutorial to the next, use the links in the sidebar under "The Tools, Part 1" or bookmark this page and use the links below.
Lesson 4 - The Tools in InDesign CS, Part 1:
TheTools: Selection, Type, Line Drawing Tools
- The Selection Tools
- Selecting Objects in a Group
- Selecting Objects Under Other Objects
- Selecting Some or All Objects
- The Pen Tool
- Use the Pen Tool to Draw Straight Lines (Animation)
- Use the Pen Tool to Draw Curves (Animation)
- Use the Pen Tool to Draw Shapes (Animation)
- The Type Tool
- The Pencil Tool
- The (Hidden) Smooth Tool
- The (Hidden) Erase Tool
- The Line Tool
The Tools: The Frame and Shape Tools
- The Frame Tools Flyout
- Placing Image in a Frame
- Selecting and Resizing Objects
- Resizing Graphics with the Control Palette
- Resizing Graphics with the Context Menu
- The Shape Tools Flyout
- Convert Shapes to Frames
Self-Study: To get the most out of this lesson, click on each tool as it is discussed, and try it out quickly. Do any practice exercises described in the tutorials. Then, do the Assignment (below) and post your results in the DTP Classroom.
Next Steps: In the next lesson, The Tools, Part 2, I finish my overview on the Tools Palette. You will learn other ways of rotating, scaling and transforming your graphics and how to use the Zoom tool, the Eyedropper, the Scissors and the Gradient Tool. Following that lesson, I will cover how to handle text and paragraphs.
Practical Project Practice: You can start exercising what you are learning with the makeover projects. I suggest starting with the Vallifresh Business Card Design, as it's a project that does not require a lot of text formatting (but it does require some) and the logo to be used is already provided in the project parameters. If you want to wait until I take up the subject of how to handle text and paragraph formatting, it's totally fine, but I am sure that you can't wait to get on with some design projects by now.
Assignment: This assignment has two parts:
- All Tools Assignment: You have leeway in this assignment. Let loose and have fun. Using the various tools explained in this lesson, draw shapes, paths and lines. Import pictures into your shapes and resize them. Simply exercise the use of all the covered tools and post what you have done in the Lesson 4 - Assignment thread in the DTP Classroom, with an explanation of what you have done. Ask questions you have concerning the use of the tools covered in this lesson.
- Pen Tool Assignment: Download this shape (penshape.gif). Place into InDesign using one of the Frame Tools and methods learned in this Lesson. Now trace on top of it with the Pen tool to get the same shape. To make it easy, I have left the anchor points in the image so you can see where you should click. Post a screenshot of the result and any questions about the Pen Tool in the Lesson 4 - Assignment thread of the DTP Classroom.
Also, try pressing Shift while you trace curves or lines with the Pen tool and have a look at what happens. Post your observations in the DTP Classroom.
