Wavy stroke and rectangular fill issue

[tonyaskinner]

Is there any way at all to make a rectangle, for example, and give it a thick wavy stroke (I mean, I know how to do that part) and make the FILL stay only inside the shape? It actually is a rectangular shape, not following the wavy stroke. I just can't draw neatly enough with my pencil took to make a good wavy page border filled with a color. Not sure how else to do it. You can't trace bitmap like in Flash or convert to outlines like you can text. Any ideas?

 

[apepp]

...copy and paste your wavy border into illustrator, fill it as desired, clean it up a bit in the layers palette and paste it back into indesign...

Andrew

 

[apepp]

...or save it out of illustrator as a native .ai file and place that into indesign, you can then re-use and edit the source file if needed and all instances of it in indesign will update...

Andrew

 

[tonyaskinner]

Thanks.. but I don't have Illustrator. I just have InDesign CS2, not the whole suite. I guess there are just some things it can't do.

 

[jmgalvin]

I'm not quite sure what you mean. I'm guessing that you want a wavy border, like in the stroke types in the stroke window. However, you dont want the rectangle inside that stroke to completely fill with a color. You seem to want 2 rectangles.

If that's the case, you could make the bigger rectangle with the wavy stroke, keeping the fill blank. Then place a smaller rectangle inside that (usually best done in a different layer). That rectangle would retain the straight edges.

Another way to do it, if I understand the question, is to use the wavy stroke and align it to the outside of the rectangle. That will leave you with a rectangle in the middle that can be filled without going to the wavy border. Make sure you shoe options in the stroke window for this. an easy test is to use the wavy stroke and make it thick, like 20 points and align to outside. Then, under gap color select any color other than the one you want for the stroke. You'll see the result. The actual, straight sides rectangle will stay blank.

Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4

 

[tonyaskinner]

I guess I'm not explaining very well. I want the same effect as me taking my pencil tool and drawing a wavy rounded rectangle shape and filling it in, where the fill actually touches and stays in the bounds of the stroke.

I don't think it can be done. I mean, if you make the stroke a wavy stroke on an actual rectangle and increase the stroke size to say 10, you can see that the fill color doesn't entirely fill the "new" wavy bordered shape. Depending on the setting it is either not reaching into the little notches or it goes past them. The fill is always rectangular. And, I don't want it to be.

 

[eugenetyson]

Eeks, I know what you mean! The stroke is wavy but the fill shape is still rectangular! That is odd. But understandable. Because you using the rectangle tool, the only thing your changing is the way the stroke behaves. But when you fill it it fills the shape, the rectangle. I agree that perhaps there should be an option to fill the shape's stroke but you can't.

So we've discovered that this is not a good way to achieve this.

You don't have illustrator.

That leaves the pen tool.

To aid you draw a guide, vertical, on the page.

Click once with the pen tool, move down the line again and click and drag it left about an inch either left or right at a roughly 45 degree angle. If you go left then go right for the next bit.

Move down the line and repeat until you have completed your wavy line.

When finished, click on the last point to move the control anchor to the point, then click out the right or left, depending on what way you want to finish this custom box.

Then click around until you've finished the box off.

On second thoughts, you should perhaps draw guides the size you want the box to be. That way at least the sides will meet up at 90 degree angles.