- Getting started
- Adding graphics from other programs
- Comparing vector and bitmap graphics
- Managing links to imported files
- Updating revised graphics
- Adjusting display quality
- Importing and sizing graphics
- Editing placed pictures
- Working with dropped backgrounds
- Importing native Adobe graphic files
- Using an InDesign library to manage objects
- Exploring on your own
- Review questions
- Review answers
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Importing native Adobe graphic files
InDesign allows you to import files saved from Adobe applications, such as Photoshop (.psd), Illustrator (.ai), and Acrobat (.pdf), in unique ways and provides options for controlling how the files are displayed. For example, you can adjust the visibility of Photoshop and Illustrator layers in InDesign.
Working with a Photoshop file with layers
In the previous exercise, you worked with a Photoshop file with several saved paths; however, the file had only a single background layer. When you work with a layered Photoshop file, you can adjust the visibility of the individual layers. If you locked the Background photos layer in the previous exercise, go to the Layers panel and unlock it now.
In the Links panel, click the link for Cover-PinkFlower.psd, and click the Go To Link button (
) to select the file and center it in your document window. This file, which you relinked in a previous exercise, has four layers.Choose Object > Object Layer Options to open the Object Layer Options dialog box. This dialog box allows you to show and hide layers.
Move the Object Layer Options dialog box so that you can see as much as possible of the selected image. Select the Preview option to view changes while keeping the dialog box open.
In the Object Layer Options dialog box, click the eye icon (
) to the left of the Cobblestones layer. This turns off the layer, leaving only the Pink Flower layer visible.
Click the eye icon (
) to the left of the Green Texture layer to turn the layer on. Turn that layer off and turn on Purple Texture layer. Click OK.Choose File > Save to save your work so far.
Creating an anchored graphics frame
An anchored graphics frame moves with the text to which it’s anchored if editing causes the text to reflow. In this exercise, you’ll anchor the CD title to a text frame on page 6.
In the Pages panel, double-click the second spread, and choose View > Fit Spread In Window. Open the Layers panel and unlock the Text layer if necessary. At the bottom of the pasteboard is the Songs of the Garden logo. You’ll insert this graphic into a paragraph on the page.
TIPIf the Anchored Object Control square is not visible when selecting the logo, choose View > Extras > Show Anchored Object Control.
Press and hold Z to temporarily access the Zoom tool, or select the Zoom tool (
) and click so that you can see the logo and the text frame above it.Using the Selection tool (
), click the logo. (Be careful to click outside the content grabber so that you select the frame and not the graphic within.) Notice the small, solid-red square near the upper-right corner of the frame. You can drag this square into a text frame to anchor an object to text.
NOTEShowing hidden characters is not a necessary step when placing anchored graphics; it is used here to help identify the structure of the text.
Choose Type > Show Hidden Characters to view the spaces and paragraph returns in the text. This helps you locate where you want to anchor the frame.
Select the Type tool (
) and click in front of the word “Addie” at the beginning of the second paragraph. Press Enter (Windows) or Return (macOS) so that the anchored graphic will be in a paragraph by itself.Use the Selection tool and click the logo again. Hold down the Shift key and drag the red square near the upper right of the logo to the beginning of the second paragraph. Holding the Shift key creates an inline graphic that flows with the text (as opposed to floating outside the text frame). You’ll see a bold cursor indicating the point where the graphic anchor will be inserted. After the graphic is anchored, the red square on the graphic frame changes to an anchor symbol. Now if the text in the paragraph above is edited, the graphic will stay where you positioned it between the two paragraphs without you having to adjust its position.
Now you’ll create space between the graphic and the surrounding text with the Space Before option. Once a graphic is anchored, you can select it with the Type tool and apply text attributes that affect its position.
Select the Type tool (
) and then click to the right of the inline graphic to establish the insertion point in that paragraph.
TIPWhen you hold down the Shift key and click the arrow button, InDesign changes the measurement in larger increments than when you do not hold down the Shift key. The amount varies with the measurement units you are using. When using inches, the amount is .25 in. versus .0625 in. without the Shift key; when you are using millimeters, the amount is 10 mm. versus 1 mm.
Click the Paragraph Formatting Controls button (
) in the Control panel. In the Space Before option (
), hold down the Shift key and click the up arrow button to the right of the icon to change the value to 1 in. As you increase the value, the anchored graphics frame and the text below it shift downward.To see how the anchored graphic flows when text is edited, click to the right of the period that ends the first paragraph, and then press Enter or Return twice. Notice how the graphic moves down each time you press the key. Press Backspace (Windows) or Delete (macOS) twice to remove the extra paragraph returns.
Choose File > Save to save your work so far.
Adding text wrap to an anchored graphics frame
You can easily add text wrap to an anchored graphics frame. Text wrap allows you to flow text around a graphic frame or the shape of the graphic within using many different options.
Using the Selection tool (
), select the graphics frame with the Songs of the Garden logo you placed in the previous exercise.Press Shift+Ctrl (Windows) or Shift+Command (macOS), and drag the upper-right handle of the frame up and to the right until you’ve scaled the graphic and its frame roughly 20% across the second column. With the graphic still selected, drag it downward so that the top is below the first paragraph.
Choose Window > Text Wrap to access the Text Wrap panel. In the Text Wrap panel, select Wrap Around Object Shape (
) to add text wrap to the graphic.To increase space around the bounding box of the graphic, click the up arrow button in the Top Offset option (
) and change the value to 0.1875 in.Text can also wrap around a graphic’s shape rather than around the rectangular bounding box.
In the Text Wrap panel under Contour Options, choose Detect Edges from the Type menu. Detect Edges creates a vector path. Because this image is a vector graphic, the text wrap is determined by the shape formed by the letters.
To view the document clearly, choose Edit > Deselect All, and choose Type > Hide Hidden Characters to hide the paragraph returns and spaces.
Using the Selection tool (
), select the graphics frame with the Songs of the Garden logo again.In the Text Wrap panel, experiment with the available options from the Wrap To menu. Keep Largest Area as your final choice. The text moves into the largest area to one side of the text wrap boundary.
The path created when using the Detect Edges contour option is an editable path. For example, you can manually adjust the anchor points by dragging them to a new position. You can also add or delete points, and convert them from corner points to smooth points (and vice versa) with the Pen tool (
). You can change the shape of curves by adjusting the anchor point handles with the Direct Selection tool (
).Select the Direct Selection tool (
), and then click the graphic to view the anchor points used for the text wrap. Experiment with moving individual points and notice how that reflows the text.
TIPWhen you hover over an anchor point with the Pen tool, the icon adds a minus sign to indicate that if you click that point, it will be deleted.
Examine this path in the 10_End.indd file, where many points along the bottom of the graphic were deleted to better control the text flow of the first line of the next paragraph.
Close the Text Wrap panel.
Choose File > Save.
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Importing an Illustrator file
InDesign takes full advantage of the smooth edges of vector graphics, such as those from Adobe Illustrator. Most vector graphics don’t require a clipping path, because most applications save them with transparent backgrounds. In this section, you’ll place an Illustrator graphic into your InDesign document.
TIP
When you use High Quality Display setting, vector graphics and type appear with smooth edges at any size or magnification.
In the Layers panel, select the Graphics layer. Choose Edit > Deselect All to make sure nothing is selected in your document.
Choose View > Fit Spread In Window to see the entire spread.
Choose File > Place, and select the Illustrator file Garland.ai from the Lesson10 folder. Make sure that Show Import Options is not selected. Click Open.
NOTEIf an Illustrator file imports with a white background, delete it and import it again, but turn on Show Import Options and then turn on Transparent Background.
Click in the upper-left corner of page 5 with the loaded vector graphics icon (
) to add the Illustrator file to the page. Use the Selection tool () to position it as shown here. Graphics created in Illustrator have transparent backgrounds by default.Choose File > Save to save your work.
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Importing an Illustrator file with layers
You can import native Illustrator files with layers into an InDesign layout and control the visibility of the layers and reposition the graphic. However, you cannot edit the paths, objects, or text.
Deselect all objects by clicking in the pasteboard of the document window. Click the empty frame to the left of the red box on the far left of the spread.
Choose File > Place. In the lower-left corner of the Place dialog box, select Show Import Options. Select the file Flower-Title.ai, and click Open. The Place PDF dialog box appears when Show Import Options is selected (because Illustrator files are written in PDF file format).
In the Place PDF dialog box, make sure that Show Preview is selected. In the General tab choose Bounding Box (All Layers) from the Crop To menu and make sure that Transparent Background is selected.
Click the Layers tab to view the layers. This file has three layers: a background image of a flower (Layer 3), a layer of text in English (English Title), and a layer of text in Spanish (Spanish Title).
Although you can designate now which layers you would like to display in the imported graphic, the small Preview area makes it difficult to see the results.
Click OK. You’ll select the layers to display while working in the layout.
Use the Zoom tool (
) to zoom in on the graphic.
In the Control panel, click the center Reference Point (
) and then click the content grabber. Enter 70% for the scale.Switch to the Selection tool (
) and drag or nudge with the arrow keys to position the graphic so that it is visually centered over the red box.With the graphic still selected, choose Object > Object Layer Options. Move the dialog box if necessary so that you can see the graphic in the document.
Select Preview, and then click the eye icon (
) next to the English Title layer to turn it off.
Click the empty box next to Spanish Title to turn on that layer. Click OK, and then choose Edit > Deselect All.
Using layered Illustrator files allows you to repurpose illustrations without having to create separate files for each variation.
Choose File > Save to save your work.
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