Effects & transparency

Transparency and effects live in a <TransparencySetting> child of the page item: one <BlendingSetting> for opacity and blend mode, and one element per effect.

In short A page item that is see-through, blends with what is beneath it, or casts a shadow carries a <TransparencySetting> after its <Properties>. Inside it, <BlendingSetting> holds Opacity and BlendMode, and each effect has its own element: DropShadowSetting, InnerShadowSetting, OuterGlowSetting, InnerGlowSetting, BevelAndEmbossSetting, SatinSetting, FeatherSetting, DirectionalFeatherSetting and GradientFeatherSetting. Three more containers apply the same settings to only the fill, only the stroke, or only the content of the item. An effect's numbers follow InDesign's Effects dialog: sizes in points, opacities and spreads in percent, angles naming where the light comes from.

One container per level

All four hold the same children. In the surveyed documents the object level is by far the most used: groups carry it in 170 documents, polygons in 53, rectangles in 49 and text frames in 31. The fill, stroke and content levels appear in a handful of files.

Switched on, or only written down

InDesign writes every effect's settings even when the effect is off, so a file that mentions a DropShadowSetting does not necessarily have a shadow. What switches an effect on:

• a drop shadow: Mode="Drop" (off is Mode="None");
• a basic feather: Mode="Standard" (off is Mode="None");
• every other effect: Applied="true".

Each document's Preferences.xml carries a <TransparencyDefaultContainerObject>: the four containers with every effect switched off, holding InDesign's default values. These are the defaults for new objects, not effects on anything in the document.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<idPkg:Spread xmlns:idPkg="http://ns.adobe.com/AdobeInDesign/idml/1.0/packaging" DOMVersion="20.0">
  <Spread Self="uspread" PageCount="1" BindingLocation="0" ShowMasterItems="true" AllowPageShuffle="true" ItemTransform="1 0 0 1 0 0">
    <Page Self="upage" Name="1" AppliedMaster="umaster" ItemTransform="1 0 0 1 0 0" GeometricBounds="0 0 841.89 595.276" MasterPageTransform="1 0 0 1 0 0"/>
    <Rectangle Self="urect" ItemTransform="1 0 0 1 140 260" FillColor="Color/Teal" StrokeColor="Swatch/None" StrokeWeight="0">
      <Properties>
        <PathGeometry>
          <GeometryPathType PathOpen="false">
            <PathPointArray>
              <PathPointType Anchor="0 0" LeftDirection="0 0" RightDirection="0 0"/>
              <PathPointType Anchor="0 180" LeftDirection="0 180" RightDirection="0 180"/>
              <PathPointType Anchor="300 180" LeftDirection="300 180" RightDirection="300 180"/>
              <PathPointType Anchor="300 0" LeftDirection="300 0" RightDirection="300 0"/>
            </PathPointArray>
          </GeometryPathType>
        </PathGeometry>
      </Properties>
      <TransparencySetting>
        <DropShadowSetting Mode="Drop" BlendMode="Multiply" Opacity="75" XOffset="12" YOffset="12" Size="10" EffectColor="Color/Black" Spread="0" Noise="0" KnockedOut="true" UseGlobalLight="false" HonorOtherEffects="false"/>
      </TransparencySetting>
    </Rectangle>
    <TextFrame Self="uframe" ParentStory="ustory" PreviousTextFrame="n" NextTextFrame="n" ContentType="TextType" AppliedObjectStyle="ObjectStyle/$ID/[None]" Visible="true" Name="$ID/" ItemTransform="1 0 0 1 57.638 145.8237" FillColor="Swatch/None" StrokeColor="Swatch/None" StrokeWeight="0">
      <Properties>
        <PathGeometry>
          <GeometryPathType PathOpen="false">
            <PathPointArray>
              <PathPointType Anchor="0 0" LeftDirection="0 0" RightDirection="0 0"/>
              <PathPointType Anchor="0 400" LeftDirection="0 400" RightDirection="0 400"/>
              <PathPointType Anchor="480 400" LeftDirection="480 400" RightDirection="480 400"/>
              <PathPointType Anchor="480 0" LeftDirection="480 0" RightDirection="480 0"/>
            </PathPointArray>
          </GeometryPathType>
        </PathGeometry>
      </Properties>
    </TextFrame>
  </Spread>
</idPkg:Spread>

Pages in this chapter

• Transparency and blending: BlendingSetting, opacity, blend modes, knockout and isolation, and the four levels.
• Shadows and glows: drop and inner shadow, outer and inner glow, bevel and emboss, satin, and how InDesign measures them.
• Feathering: basic, directional and gradient feather.

Transparency is independent of colour. A tint makes a colour lighter but keeps it opaque; opacity lets what is beneath show through. See gradients & tints.

In Paged: object-level opacity, blend modes and all nine effects are read and drawn; the effects follow InDesign's parameters as measured against InDesign's own output. The fill, stroke and content levels are only partly kept apart; see the pages that follow.

Supported · verified Supported · verified

Frequently asked questions

Where does IDML store an object's opacity? In <TransparencySetting><BlendingSetting Opacity="…">, a child of the page item written after its <Properties>. Opacity is a percentage.

Why does my file mention a drop shadow when nothing has one? InDesign writes each effect's settings whether or not it is on. A drop shadow is on only with Mode="Drop"; the other effects need Applied="true", and a basic feather Mode="Standard".

Can a shadow apply to only the stroke of a frame? Yes. Effects inside StrokeTransparencySetting apply to the stroke alone, inside FillTransparencySetting to the fill, and inside ContentTransparencySetting to the content.

Is a tint the same as opacity? No. A tint lightens a colour but stays opaque; opacity makes the object see-through.