Let’s say you’ve imported a TIFF image into a layout, and now you want to create some graphic elements that use some of the dominant colors from the image. The easiest way to do that in QuarkXPress is to use the Picture Effects palette.
The trick is to apply a Picture Effect to the image, but not make any changes to it. That way, the picture is unchanged, but you can use the handy Info area at the bottom of the Picture Effects palette. First, select the picture and open the Picture effects palette (Window> Picture Effects):
Apply any Picture Effect:
Leave all settings as they are, and click OK.
The Picture Effect appears in the palette. Click the disclosure triangle next to “Info” at the bottom of the palette. Now, when you move your mouse over the picture, its RGB and CMYK color values are displayed in the Info area. Use those values to build your new color in QuarkXPress, and apply it to rules, text, frames, and so on.
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14. January 2009 at 12:54 pm
…or just use the eyedropper in InDesign. It seems that Quark is really making this a 4 step process out of something very simple. Bummer.
15. January 2009 at 10:14 am
I agree, except you can’t use InDesign’s eyedropper in QuarkXPress. Since there’s no eyedropper (yet) in QuarkXPress, this tip explains a very not-so-obvious technique that makes the seemingly impossible possible. :-)
15. January 2009 at 10:26 am
Oh, and it looks to me that it’s only one extra step: select an Effect from the Picture Effects palette. (Assuming you have that palette open, which would be normal when laying out a page.) In other words, with the picture selected:
1. Select an Effect in the Picture Effects palette
Any color you then mouse over in that picture will show its makeup in the Info area of that palette.
And actually, now that I think of it, in InDesign you need to select the Eyedropper tool to do any of this. In QuarkXPress, you can use your currently active tool. So, maybe that step in InDesign cancels out the Effects step in QuarkXPress, making them possibly equal in effort. (?)
27. January 2009 at 8:03 am
Even though you are in the same tool, you still have to (1) open the effects Palette, (2)run an effect-which you (3) set to nothing, and then (4)run your mouse over the photo. 4 steps for a workaround. I agree that this is the only way to get this to work in Quark, but my point was this is something that Quark should have added as a feature a long time ago. Even going to Photoshop to grab the image color is easier and I don’t have to have an effect running in my document.
27. January 2009 at 8:06 am
Oh and you also have to (5) click the disclosure triangle next to “Info” at the bottom of the palette. 5 Steps, not one.
27. January 2009 at 8:15 am
And this feature doesn’t add the color to your palette, you have to write down the color formula and add this manually to the palette.
27. January 2009 at 5:02 pm
The eyedropper tool is just the letter I on your keyboard. Most Adobe programs use similar keyboard shortcuts and of course you can change them all to be the same.
The fact that QuarkXsucks has image effects gives me the creeps. Why would you want to change those things in there instead of Photoshop, which if I remember even Quark can even go back and forth between these days. From your screenshots, it looks like Quark has only changed minimally since the old days.
Plus you’d have to type those values in, or are you already taking that into the steps. So you had to choose an image effect, then write down the values, then type them into a new swatch. Versus InDesign where you type the letter I on your keyboard, choose the color, and drag that into the swatches panel.
So Quark still only has a few tools? Weird. How about making a PDF? What engine does it use? Not Adobe’s I am sure. What about gradients? Are they actual gradients instead of blends?
Sorry, not that I care, I just heard about a Quark website and I had to see it for myself that Quark was still being talked about by someone. Not even most schools teach Quark any more do they? It had it’s time, and I hated it then, glad to see it lose it’s place on top of the hill. Competition is a good thing, as it learned the hard way.
2. February 2009 at 10:15 am
Well hey, Dee! Aren’t you nice? Thanks for your constructive comments, and for contributing helpful information to this “by QuarkXPress users, for QuarkXPress users” website. When you learn more about how QuarkXPress works, and how many of its features surpass other products, your contributions will be even more valuable.
2. February 2009 at 10:22 am
Kevin, the steps you’re outlining are true for someone who has no intention of using this feature. But for those who do use it, the palette will be open, the info part will be displaying, and I believe the number of clicks do indeed match my previous observation.
I agree (definitely!) that Quark should have added an eyedropper tool about 10 years ago. They should have added a number of features 10 years ago…
I can also make a lengthy list of features that Adobe took 10 years too long to implement. Seriously. In particular, Illustrator lagged significantly behind FreeHand because they were afraid to cannibalize sales of Photoshop, PageMaker, and now InDesign.
This tip is simply a description of how to work around Quark’s lack of an eyedropper tool. Can’t we just leave it at that?
16. March 2009 at 3:20 pm
Well I just have to weigh in on what Dee brought up. The medium-sized agency where I work has several print designers equally proficient with InDesign and Quark. Some of our legacy and inherited files are in InDesign, but every one of us prefers to design print materials, from ads to brochures to catalogs, etc. from scratch with Quark. The type handling workflows and windows of Quark are hands down better (read: get your work done faster) than InDesign. On the other hand, InDesign is marginally easier/faster with image editing (like the eyedropper tool) but remarkably awkward with image sizing and cropping. In addition, every pre-press at large printers that we use prefers Quakr.
Dee brings up a good point, though, since Adobe gave away thousands of copies of CS to schools, the young have had little or no exposure to Quark. The result is rabidly uninformed kids (like Dee) who wouldn’t survive a week in a hyperactive design studio. I know this because every summer an intern or two leaves the office after a week in tears because “the real world is just not like art school,” sniff, sniff.
For an unbiased report comparing Quark with InDesign go here:
http://www.it-enquirer.com/main/ite/more/report_qxpvsidcs/
On another (related) topic, we’re starting to design simple web sites with Quark Interactive. So far so good, and MUCH faster than any other app (NightmareWeaver anyone?) and beautifully WYSIWYG. The code is a bit awkward, but who cares if it works? We’ve seen some European sites supposedly done all in Quark with good Flash that are fantastic. Europe is the new California–everything good in design is happening there first.
Thanks for letting me rant, Jay… Mike
17. March 2009 at 5:35 am
quark is great I love it, indesign is soul less and i only ever use it if I have to, I usually just recreate in quark, yes its behind the times but what it lacks in bells and whistles it makes up for in being simple and easy to use.
28. May 2009 at 7:11 am
Back in the day, I was the first in my agency’s creative department to use Indesign (much to our production coordinator’s consternation). Why? Because it was out there, so I needed to know how to use it.
I am currently the last in this department to start projects in Quark, but still do so at every opportunity. Others must be able to work with those files, and I don’t allow any Markzware conversions. Why? Because Quark’s out there, and everyone needs to know how to use it.
Quark was complacent when it was it, but Adobe is Microsoft with a smile.
Each does some things better than the other. Don’t voluntarily limit your toolkit.
People who pigeonhole themselves into any one app are eventually crippled.
18. June 2009 at 11:37 am
I have to concur with Fred, don’t buy into the whole ‘software as a religion’ attitude, it just limits you more than you can know.
Having 25 years in the business, going from drawing tables to all computer production, I have learned all kinds of software and all have their drawbacks and advantages.
Keep an open mind.
15. July 2009 at 11:57 pm
Sir,
I selected 5th colour of Pantone or spot in a image of Photoshop. How do out put or make pdf file of 5 colours (c+m+y+k+Pantone) from QuarkXpress. Please some one know let us.
3. November 2009 at 11:54 am
Wow, a lotta angry dudes out there! I LOVE QUARK 8. It really is fab. Long over due but brings us long time users back up there, right at the top.
Q for Jay; this might give everyone a laugh, but WHERE is the picture effects palette!!! ? Q8.1
4. November 2009 at 10:19 am
Kieran: The Picture Effects palette can be opened/closed from the Window menu: Window> Show Picture Effects. See http://planetquark.com/2009/11/04/safely-export-pictures-from-quarkxpress/ for more fun with that feature…