It all depends on what format you are Saving the final file. I am not familiar with what Pagemaker can handle, but for print. transparency should not be that much of an issue. Is it going on top of another image? If so, can you combine the images in one Photoshop image?
In Print white translates into the color of the paper.
I’ll be placing the graphic in Pagemaker.
Then you’re wasting your time. Pagemaker has no support for transparency.
Time to look into InDesign. But I’ll warn you that even ID has some issues with honoring blend modes and you’ll likely be better off creating the shadow directly in InDesign.
Bob
Ed:
I save the image as a tiff file. Is there a different way to save the image? From what I have read, Pagemaker accepts tiff and eps "with clipping path" formats. Not clear on the "clipping path" part of this.
And the image does go on top of an area in the publication that is colored. Combining the images is a solution; however, I can’t seem to match the background color in Photoshop exactly with the same color used in the Pagemaker application.
Bob:
I keep thinking my solution is simple (I see it done all the time), and maybe I just have the wrong application to achieve the look. I was hoping I wouldn’t hear that. I have Illustrator. Any thoughts on using that application to get the effect?
Deborah, You see it done all the time with new up-to-date software not Pagemaker. PM has not been updated for 7 years now(and never will) and many feel even version 7 was not much of an update.
If you want to do these things you need InDesign.
Deborah,
If Pagemaker truely doesn’t support transparency, then you have no choice but to try to match that background color better or use another application. A Clipping Path would not help in this instance.
Can you determine the color build of the background in PM? If you have the same build in the Photoshop file, they should print the same even if they look different on screen.
In order for Pagemaker 7 to simulate transparency, you need to save your image in Photoshop with a clipping path.
This means that you need to select the part of the image you want to see using the selection or pen tools, and then define the selection
as a clipping path.
Assuming you have an image ready to be saved for Pagemaker, try the following procedure.
Select the part of the image you want to see in Pagemaker. Open the Paths pallet and select "Make Work Path" from the pallet menu.
Open the Paths menu again and this time select "Save Path".
Go to the Paths menu again and this time select "Clipping Path" from the pallet menu. When asked, select the name of the Path you had previously saved.
Save the image as a Tiff file.
Now when you place the image on a coloured or textured background in Pagemaker, it should only display the part of the image you selected in Photoshop. The clipping path you created in Photoshop will hide the unwanted background of the image.
Hope this helps
All well and good if you want a hard edge. Won’t work with a drop shadow.
Bob
But, George, a drop shadow usually has anti-aliased edges and is translucent, and a Clipping Path is not going to honor that. It would look like crap.
Sorry for the confusion. I meant to put a reference to Deborah’s point that she wasn’t sure about how to create clipping paths for use in Pagemaker 7.
I also should probably have mentioned that I would have used Pagemaker to apply the drop shadow as suggested by Robert.
Please don’t shoot me for trying to help. 🙂
Does Pagemaker have the capability to make drop shadows?
Hi Ed,
To tell you the truth Ed, I can’t really remember, now you mention it. I’ve been on In Design since it came out, and I don’t have PM7 on any of my current computers.
If it doesn’t, I’m sure I must have found a way, as I do remember adding shadows to things. I probably just used layers and placed something under the item to represent the shadow.
It seems such a long time ago. I do know that the instructions I gave for creating a clipping path are right, as I wrote these for a client who was providing images to me for a project I was working on.
I don’t know anyone today who is still using Pagemaker.
Since drop shadows fall under the category of transparency the answer is no…PM can’t do it.
Bob
But you should be able to them with an overprinting tiff, if your RIP will honor that. Or just make the whole thing in PS. At this point I think I’d rather be in PS than PM for < 16 pages. Let the printer strip it.
J
For text, you can make a cheesy fake drop shadow in Pagemaker by duplicating the type layer and placing it behind and offset from the main text. Set it to an appropriate color. Probably somewhere between the text color and the background. If you want to get fancy, you can make two or more duplicates each with slightly different colors. (simulating drop shadow)
For your photo, you might try to match the background of the Pagemaker document in Photoshop and apply the drop shadow. Don’t place the tiff in pagemaker with the full background, but use the clipping path to just take the photo and the drop shadow into Photoshop. Hopefully, if there is a color difference, it won’t be as noticeable as taking in the whole background with a slightly different color.
