In addition to the basic drawing operations discussed earlier, Quartz offers a number of advanced drawing features. Advanced drawing features can be used singly or in combination with other features to achieve professional, snazzylooking graphics.

Patterns can have intrinsic color or be a stencil and are used to stroke and fill. Intrinsic colored patterns use specific colors for the pattern, similar to the way specific colors are used for a flag. Stencil patterns define areas to paint and, in that way, are similar to masks.

Shadows provide a way for you to achieve the "Aqua look" on objects that you draw. Transparency layers allow you to group objects, which in turn lets you apply effects such as shadows and alpha compositing to a group as a whole. Shadings let you paint an area with a color that varies smoothly, and they come in two "flavors" axial and radial. Axial shadings vary along an axis, whereas radial shadings are defined by two circles. A number of interesting geometries arise depending on how the two circles relate to each other.