Inner Shadow Feature Request
 

I've gotten into the habit of going into Adobe Illustrator to make objects that contain inner shadow that I then paste back into OmniGraffle. It's a total hack, but I think it also represents my strong desire to continue using Graffle for my mock-up tasks.

Inner shadows are necessary to make objects and areas appear recessed, a common trait in UI design.

Please consider adding inner drop shadow (or inner "glow") as a feature for shapes. It would make me love OmniGraffle oh so much more :)

[QUOTE=abeman21;109086]make objects and areas appear recessed[/QUOTE]

Out of interest, subtraction doesn't suffice ?

I consider the subtraction trick to be a hack similar to using illustrator. With the subtraction trick, your shape's boundary is the boundary of the shape you subtract from, as opposed to the shape you subtract out.

Subtracting is also more of a destructive action that makes it harder to modify your shape later. for example, if you wanted to enlarge one of the circles in your example, you'd have to re-do the entire thing.

I think it's another good workaround to be aware of, though, and I will probably use it in the meantime.

[QUOTE=abeman21;109107]With the subtraction trick, your shape's boundary is the boundary of the shape you subtract from, as opposed to the shape you subtract out.

Subtracting is also more of a destructive action that makes it harder to modify your shape later[/QUOTE]

Good points, and requests though [B]Help > Send Feedback[/B] will up the vote.

(In the meanwhile, I've posted [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=23872"]a script[/URL] which automates the subtraction work-around, and leaves the original shape intact).

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This another hack and perhaps not always applicable, but maybe it's less of one.

Unfilled shapes do have inner shadows. If you want a filled shape with an inner shadow:

Make a filled, unshadowed shape. Duplicate it and put the copy in front of the original. Make the front one unfilled and add the shadow. Group them.

When you do this, make sure that the shadowed shape is set to put its shadow over objects behind it (lower left buttons in the Shadow Inspector).

I think I missed something important. For recessed areas (as opposed to hollow objects) one wants to have [I]only[/I] an inner shadow, and my method doesn't do that.

i definitely agree :)