Adobe InDesign CC 2015 - Manual (Page 463)

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Drawing and painting
Last updated 6/6/2015
Create compound shapes
You create compound shapes using the Pathfinder panel (Window > Object & Layout > Pathfinder). Compound shapes
can be made up of simple or compound paths, text frames, text outlines, or other shapes. The appearance of the
compound shape depends on which Pathfinder button you choose.
A Original objects B Add C Subtract D Intersect E Exclude Overlap F Minus Back
Add Traces the outline of all objects to create a single shape.
Subtract Objects in the front “punch holes” in the backmost object.
Intersect Creates a shape from overlapping areas.
Exclude Overlap Creates a shape from areas that do not overlap.
Minus Back Objects in the back “punch holes” in the frontmost object.
In most cases, the resulting shape adopts the attributes (fill, stroke, transparency, layer, and so on) of the frontmost
object. When you subtract shapes, however, objects in the front are deleted. The resulting shape takes on the attributes
of the backmost object instead.
When you include a text frame in a compound shape, the shape of the text frame changes, but the text itself stays the
same. To alter the text itself, create a compound path using text outlines.
Create a compound shape
You can work with a compound shape as a single unit or release its component paths to work with each separately. For
example, you might apply a gradient fill to a part of the compound shape, but leave the rest of the shape unfilled.