With Drop Shadow XTensions software, you can apply automatic feathered drop shadows to items and text in a layout.

There are two ways to apply drop shadow effects to active items: Using the Drop Shadow tab of the Measurements palette and using the Drop Shadow pane of the Modify dialog box (Item menu). In either case, however, the options are as follows:

• Angle field: Enter a value between 180° and –180° in .001 increments to specify the angle of the “light source” causing the drop shadow.
• Synchronize Angle check box: Check this to synchronize the angle with other drop shadows in the layout for which this feature is checked. Changing the Angle value of any drop shadows for which Synchronize Angle is checked will affect all of the drop shadows for which the box is checked.
• Distance field: Enter an offset value for the item; the drop shadow offset is measured from the upper left corner of the item’s bounding box.
• Scale field: Enter a value from 0 to 1,000% to specify the size of the drop shadow in relation to the original item.
• Blur field: Enter a value to specify how blurry the edges of the drop shadow are, with higher values creating fuzzier edges.
• Skew field: Enter a value between –75° and 75° to slant the drop shadow at a certain angle.
• Color, Shade, and Opacity: Choose a color from the drop-down menu and enter values in the fields to specify color, shade, and opacity of the drop shadow.
• Multiply Drop Shadow: This setting controls how the shadow is combined with its background. When this box is checked, the shadow color is combined with the background color or colors using a “multiply” blending mode, producing a darker result (similar to an overprint). When this box is unchecked, the color of the background is combined with the color of the shadow to create the intermediate shades you see on screen. In general, this box should be checked when the shadow is black (regardless of shade or opacity) but unchecked when the shadow is a lighter color.
• Inherit Item’s Opacity: Check this to have the drop shadow reflect different opacities in the item, such as differences in the box background and frame.
• Item Knocks Out Drop Shadow: Check this to prevent a shadow from displaying through semi-opaque areas of an item — to keep a shadow from peeping through its box, for example.
• Runaround Drop Shadow: Check this to include a drop shadow with the text wrap contour specified in the Runaround pane (Item > Modify). The runaround Outset value is measured from the edges of the drop shadow. For example, if text is wrapping around a rectangular pull-out quote with a drop shadow, text will not overlap the drop shadow when Runaround Drop Shadow is checked.