Razor-sharp InDesign recipes

Adobe InDesign tips & tricks: Retain contour weight even with waveforms

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Stefan Petri
By Stefan Petri Last updated on Shown in: Adobe InDesign CS6
Adobe InDesign tips & tricks: Retain contour weight even with waveforms

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Here's a cool trick I read on the InDesign blog.


Step 1

I draw a circle by holding down the Shift+key so that it really is a circle. I give the circle a blue outline of 5 pixels and set which outline I want, for example the wavy line.

- Outline: 5 pt

Adobe InDesign tips & tricks: Retain contour weight even with waveforms

Step 2

Then I want the outline thickness to be much thicker. The problem with this is that the waves become increasingly smaller.

- Contour: 33 pt

Adobe InDesign tips & tricks: Retain contour weight even with waveforms

Step 3

That's a shame. Maybe I don't want that at all. How can I help myself? Then let's use Illustrator. I would like to have exactly this shape, only with a thicker outline. I click on the circle and copy the whole thing with Ctrl+C.

- Outline: 13 pt

Adobe InDesign tips & tricks: Retain contour weight even with waveforms

Step 4

I now go into my Illustrator and create a new document. File>New...

Adobe InDesign tips & tricks: Retain contour weight even with waveforms

Step 5

I insert the whole thing with Ctrl+V.

Adobe InDesign tips & tricks: Retain contour weight even with waveforms

Step 6

Then I press F7 and go to my layers panel. Here I open everything down to the smallest detail and this is exactly the path I would like to have. I click on this little circle on the far right. Then I copy everything to the clipboard again with Ctrl+C.

Adobe InDesign tips & tricks: Retain contour weight even with waveforms

Step 7

I first delete the existing circle and press Ctrl+V to paste the path from the clipboard. Now I can increase the contour without reducing the number of waves.

- Contour : 31 Pt

Adobe InDesign tips & tricks: Retain contour weight even with waveforms

Step 8

Of course, this can also be done with all other tools. I can draw anything here, for example a triangle, and then copy it again with Ctrl+C.

Adobe InDesign tips & tricks: Retain contour weight even with waveforms

Step 9

Paste into Illustrator with Ctrl+V and then copy the path with Ctrl+C.

Adobe InDesign tips & tricks: Retain contour weight even with waveforms

Step 10

I delete the existing triangle again and paste the path from the clipboard with Ctrl+V. Now I can change the outline thickness.

- Contour : 12 pt

Adobe InDesign tips & tricks: Retain contour weight even with waveforms



This can be done with any shape.

Stefan Petri
Trainer About Stefan Petri Together with his brother Matthias, Stefan Petri runs the popular specialist forum PSD-Tutorials.de and the e-learning platform TutKit.com, which focuses on the training and further education of digital professional skills. All courses by Stefan Petri