Quark updates most-popular XTensions module

by Dan Logan, Technical Product Manager, Desktop, Quark, Inc.

Back in the old days — before transparency was incorporated into page layout — designers would employ a number of different workarounds for creating effects like shadows, glows, and bevels. The most common technique was to "pre-compose" a region of the page in Photoshop and import it as an image. Another approach was to import an item's shadow as a gray or 1-bit image and set it to overprint. None of these workarounds were ideal because of their static nature — if the layout changed you would have to manually update the effect.

This workflow was identified by A Lowly Apprentice Productions (ALAP) as a problem they could alleviate by creating an XTensions module that automates the process of pre-composing page items. It does this by rendering boxes and combining them in a raster compositing engine that offers transparency blending, in addition to effects like shadows and glows. The XTensions module is called ShadowCaster and was a top seller for ALAP until they were acquired by Quark in 2005.

Automating a workaround isn't typically the best solution for this sort of problem, so for QuarkXPress 7, we undertook a major refactoring effort in our graphics engine to natively support transparency. Drop shadows dynamically update based on layout geometry, and final rendering is deferred until output, where transparency relationships are deconstructed using discrete vector shapes, and spot colors are supported in rasterized compositing.
While the new solution is preferred in most workflows, some workflows require a different approach that allows users to manually edit the shadow before output. Still others require additional effects, such as glow or bevel, that aren't yet available directly in QuarkXPress. Take Cabela's® for example; their workflow used ShadowCaster to create shadows (usually based on clipping paths) and export them as TIFFs for modification in an image-editing application. To support their workflow, we decided to port ShadowCaster XT 3.3 to work with QuarkXPress 7 as a stop-gap measure until we could support this type of workflow natively.

So take a look at ShadowCaster 3.3 and let me know what you think. Eventually we'll adopt some of these concepts into transparency offering of QuarkXPress. I'm curious where you see the most value in how ShadowCaster approaches the problem. Keep in mind, this is not a formal release of the software, so it's non-warranted.

The provided documentation is from the old ALAP version and may not be 100% correct, and it's available only for the Mac® version of QuarkXPress. Also keep in mind, there are no guarantees that this XTensions module will be available for versions of QuarkXPress past 7.

Quick-start tips for ShadowCaster

1. Select Window > ShadowCaster Create. This is where you add items and apply effects and transparency.
2. Select Window > ShadowCaster Preview. This is where you preview the effects before placing the result back into the layout.
3. Select one or more boxes and click the Add Item button on either the Create or Preview palette. The items are rasterized and added to the Create palette as separate layers. You can then apply opacity, blend mode, or effects to the layers much like you would in an image editing application.
4. Once you're happy with the results shown in the Preview palette, click the Place button. ShadowCaster renders the items with their effects and places the resulting image into a picture box behind the original items (the rendering settings are taken from the Preferences dialog box, which is available through the palette options drop-down menu on either palette).
5. The original items will be left behind. It's always a good idea to retain these items in case you want to modify the effect. You will need to get them out of the way. I like to put them on a separate layer that I leave invisible until I need them. If you re-add these items to the Create palette, they will retain their previous transparency and effect attributes.

Have fun!!

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