The New InDesign CS3 Special Effects - 2

Let's keep the default settings for the Bevel and Emboss effect and click OK to apply the effect to the frame.
As you can see, an icon (fx) has been placed at the right on the Stroke line in the Effects Panel. This indicates that an effect has been applied to the Stroke. If you double click on this icon, it will open the Effects dialog box again and take you directly to the Bevel and Emboss settings for editing. You can also use this icon to quickly move this effect to another object by dragging the icon from one line to another.
If you compare frames 2 and 3 in our example, the frame now has a 3D Bevel and Emboss effect applied to the stroke or outline of the frame.

Gradient Feather

For this example, we have two frames. The top frame contains a black and white photo and the bottom frame contains text with a solid yellow background (fill). We can blend these to frames together by adding a gradient to the top frame. Click on the frame that you wish to work with.

Besides opening the Effects Panel as we did before, we can quickly open the drop-down menu of special effects from the Control Panel. Go to the center of the Control Panel and you will see the same fx button that was in the Effects Panel. Click on the button and choose Gradient Feather from the list.
The Effects dialog box will open for the Gradient Feather settings. We want the darker end of the gradient to be at the bottom of the top frame so that it looks as if the gradient is blending into the bottom frame. Click on the Angle control and drag to the right and downward until you have the angle set to 90 degrees. Click OK.
If you compare the before and after in our example, the gradient has been applied to the top frame and now the two frames appear to be only one frame.

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