Frame editing > Text flow settings Index

Menu: Text flow polygon

The text flow polygon (that Calamus creates internally with Manual text flow and which can be made visible and edited only on demand) also exists for automatic text flow, of course. In this case, however, this text flow polygon has to be created by the user! The text flow polygon is intended to permit flowing text around image contents, for instance. For this the mask is assigned to the image frame and will be scaled along with any scaling of the image frame.

Text flow polygon frames can have any desired shape and size, but have to be vector frames; for optimum calculation speed they should not contain highly complex graphics but only one or two objects, if possible.

Example:

1. Construct a large text frame and fill it with a lot of text.
2. Draw a raster graphic frame in the middle of the text frame.
3. Import RGBFUJI.JPG from the IMAGES folder.
4. Activate the Automatic text flow switch in the Frame editing module / Set text flow parameters function group:
   • The text frame flows round the raster image frame as a rectangle.
   
   
   
5. Cut out the lady in the photograph by constructing a vector path round her in a superimposed vector frame.
6. After this select the raster image again.
7. In the Frame editing module / Set text flow parameters function group click on the Menu: Text flow polygon icon (bottom left corner).

   

8. In the popup, select the Assign flow mask entry (the icon remains inverted).
9. Now select the mask (the vector frame just created).
10. Now click again on the Menu: Text flow polygon icon:
    • The icon will appear normal (unselected),
    • the vector frame has disappeared,
    • the text frame flows around the raster image frame following the vector mask of the text flow polygon.

If the text flow polygon was not quite correct, it can be edited:

• Select the entry Flow mask: Clear assignment in the popup.
• Click on Edit flow mask. This places a virtual copy of the text flow polygon vector mask that is still linked to the frame at the original position. This mask can now be edited in the Vector module. When you start to make any alterations, you will see an alert that this vector frame is used more than once. If you select the All button, then any changes that you make to the vector frame contents will also affect directly the vector mask itself. After a successful alteration you can delete the virtual copy again.
• After this simply assign the altered mask to the frame anew. The previously protected original mask will now be replaced by the new mask. A recalculation of the text flow in the text frame follows. You may have to move the text frame slightly to update the text flow.

If you want to flow text around a mask group in which the mask frame is a vector(!) frame, select the second popup entry. The vector mask will now be assigned directly to the mask group as a text flow mask as well. (However, this text flow mask will be used only if the Automatic text flow icon was switched on – see above).

Tip: The optional extra import/export driver Tiffie from Version 6 onwards can import TIFFs with cut out paths in such a way that the cut out path is valid directly as a text flow path. This way you can save a lot of time in positioning images already cut out in Photoshop, for instance.