In IDCD4 and CS5, when you Opt-drag a copy of an object, ID creates it immediately above the original in the stacking order. Which means that if you Opt-drag a copy of an object that is behind another object, ID creates the copy between them, i.e., above the original but below the object that is in front.

How can this be useful?

As it happened, I just made a mock-up of a box of photo cards in nine groups, each with a different color of border. Initially, I used PDFs of the actual cards, but then I changed my mind. For one thing, most of the photos would be hidden, so there was no point in including the digital images because they wouldn't be seen and would only make the file size much larger. So I deleted the contents of the frames (the images themselves) and filled the frames with one of the nine colors. Then I realized that there weren't enough cards, so I used the Opt-drag cloning method and filled in the gaps. When I made the clone, it appeared immediately in front of the original and behind the next card. Working this way, I added twenty or thirty more cards in different colors, making the box look like it was filled with colored picture cards.


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Michael Brady
michaelb@michaelbradydesign.com
http://thinkinglikeadesigner.blogspot.com/

"Thinking Like a Designer" is now available at
https://www.createspace.com/3462255 or http://snipurl.com/z43se


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