How do I use Quartz Composer?

Uh? Isn't that a development graphics tool? What does that have to do with Pages?

Admittedly not very much, but for some situations you may want to use Quartz Composer to modify pictures or text you have converted to an image. There are better and easier tools out there, but none is cheaper than Quartz Composer as it comes with the OS. If you want to experiment with it, here is some advice to get you going:

1. Install the Development Tools from your Mac OS X installation DVD, unless you already have them.
2. Go to Developer > Applications, and open Quartz Composer.
3. Create a new file from the template "Image Filter". (The main differences between this one and a blank file is the fact that the a flag in Editor > Edit Protocol Performance already is set to "Image Filter", which makes sure you get all required patches.)
4. Remove the optional elements and the macro called "Process the Image".
5. Go to Editor > Show Patch Parameters.
6. Double-click on the image, and choose the image you want to use yourself.
7. Click on Edit > Show Patch Creator.
8. Choose any patch you fancy, for example Image Transform. (Others, like Twirl, also work.)
9. Click on the Output node on the patch "Image (required) _protocolInput_Image" and drag it to the left Image node of "Image Transform", so you get a yellow line that links the two.
10. Click on the node "Transformed Image" from Image Transform and drag it to the Input node of the patch "Image (required) _protocolOutput_Image".
11. (Optional) You can also add a Filter like "Circular Wrap Distortion" before the Image Transform. The method is the same as when you added the patch in step 8. You just have to connect the nodes.
    
12. Unless the Viewer is already visible, go to Window > Show Viewer.
13. Unless it is already running, click on the Run button.
14. Click on the patch Image Transform and change its parameters.
15. Experiment. Change or add other patches, to see the changes.
16. If you find a result you like, save the file.
17. Drag the file you created to an open Pages document, where it will appear as an image - or actually a movie - in case you added any moving elements.