- 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 and sizing graphics
The simplest way to import a graphic into InDesign is to use File > Place. There are several ways to use this feature, which this lesson will introduce.
Import, size, and crop
NOTE
If necessary, after you zoom in, navigate to the top of the page with a bit of the pasteboard visible.
Navigate to page 2 and press Ctrl+Plus Sign (Windows) or Command+Plus Sign (macOS) a couple of times to zoom in. Open the Layers panel and click the Photos layer so that the imported images will be placed on that layer. Choose File > Place and navigate to the Lesson10 folder. Select the file Blue-Hydrangea.psd and click Open.
Move the loaded raster graphics icon (
) into the pasteboard area just above the page and click once. This places the graphic independently of any existing frame. InDesign automatically creates a frame around the graphic and scales it to actual size (100%).
This photo is much too large at actual size, so you’ll need to resize it. In this case, it needs to be scaled down. To do this, you can type a percentage or measurements in the Control panel and InDesign will scale the graphic to those numbers, in the direction of the selected reference point. Or, you can scale the graphic visually. Choose the Selection tool (
) and hold down Shift+Ctrl (Windows) or Shift+Command (macOS). Drag the lower-right handle up and to the left. Watch the Control panel Size and Scale (or the numbers in the gray box next to the Selection tool) until the image is about 2 inches high. Holding down the Ctrl or Command key while dragging scales both the frame and the image within. Adding the Shift key keeps the image proportions so that the image is not distorted while it’s changing size.Move the image down and to right until you see the Smart Guide appear that shows the top aligned with the empty frame to the left.
Now we want to crop out most of the leaves. To do this, you change the size of the frame without changing the size of the graphic inside. Drag the lower-right corner handle in toward the flower so that most of the leaves are no longer visible. Then click the Content Grabber icon (
) and notice that the handles of the image are now much larger than the frame, indicating that the image is larger than the frame. Drag the image up and to the left so that the flower is centered in the frame.
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Place a graphic into an existing frame and use frame fitting options
The next way to use File > Place is to place a graphic into an existing frame.
Click the empty frame to the left of the Blue-Hydrangea.psd image. Choose File > Place, select Sunflower.jpg, and click Open. This time the image is imported into the frame. Once again, it’s at actual size (100%) and that’s too large since the intention is to show the whole flower.
TIPAll frame fitting options are also available as buttons on the Control panel.
Choose Object > Fitting > Fit Content To Frame, which seems like the right choice. But examine the result: the image is indeed within the frame, but the sunflower is distorted (stretched vertically). Confirm this by clicking the Content Grabber icon (
) in the center of the frame (so that you are viewing data about the image rather than the frame), and then look at the scale values in the Control panel. The horizontal and vertical numbers are very different, showing the distortion.
To scale the image without distortion, choose Object > Fitting > Fit Content Proportionally. The image is not distorted, but now it’s too small. Choose Object > Fitting > Fill Frame Proportionally. This option sizes the image without distortion within the frame, and it crops part of the image if it’s a different shape than the frame (as in this case). However, the main part of the flower is still cropped out of the frame.
InDesign CC has a new frame-fitting feature: Content-Aware Fit. This feature intelligently fits the best part from the image when you place it inside a frame by evaluating various parts of the image. Choose Object > Fitting > Content-Aware Fit. The sunflower is now nearly centered in the frame automatically. You can nudge it over if you’d like.
Select the circular picture frame in the lower left and place the image Calla-Lilly.psd. This frame was set up to center the image at 100% size. The picture is centered within the frame, but the subject of the photo (the flower) is not centered in the photo itself. Select either the circular frame or the image within and choose Object > Fitting > Content-Aware Fit. The flower is now centered in the circle.
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Place a graphic into an existing frame by dropping from the desktop
Another way to import graphics is to drop them onto a page from your desktop. Switch to File Explorer (Windows) or the Finder (macOS), and open the Lesson10 folder, which contains the Starflower.jpg file.
Resize and arrange your File Explorer window (Windows) or Finder window (macOS) and your InDesign window, as needed, so that you can simultaneously see the list of files in the Lesson10 folder and the InDesign document window. Make sure that the right side of page 2 in your document is visible.
Select the empty frame to the right of the circular frame. Drag the Starflower.jpg file over this empty frame and release the mouse button.
This picture is smaller than the placeholder frame. Choose Object > Fitting > Fit Frame To Content. Then with the Selection tool, move the picture to a pleasing position in the group as you wish.
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Using Adobe Bridge to import graphics
Adobe Bridge is a separate application available to Creative Cloud users with an All Apps subscription. Adobe Bridge is a cross-platform application that lets you browse your local and networked computers for graphics and then place them into an InDesign layout. (You can also use Bridge to import text files.) This is just one of many features the application provides. (If you don’t have Bridge available, you can complete this section using the Place command in the File menu.)
NOTE
If you do not already have Bridge installed, Creative Cloud will install it when you choose Browse In Bridge.
Choose File > Browse In Bridge to launch Adobe Bridge. Click the folder icons in the Favorites panel or double-click in the Folder panel to navigate to the Lesson10 folder.
Adobe Bridge provides an easy way to locate and rename files. Because you see a preview, you can locate graphics visually without knowing the exact name. Click the graphic maple-leaf-.psd once, and then click the filename to select the filename box. Rename the file maple-leaf-yellow, and press Enter or Return to commit the change.
TIPTo learn more about what you can do with Bridge, start at the Bridge page on the Adobe website: https://helpx.adobe.com/support/bridge.html.
Make the Bridge window smaller by dragging the lower-right corner, and position it so that you can see page 4 of the InDesign document. Drag the maple-leaf-yellow.psd file into your InDesign document and onto an open area of the pasteboard. Click the pasteboard to place the image at full size and return to InDesign (Windows), or click the pasteboard to return to InDesign, and then click the pasteboard again to place the image at full size (macOS).
Use the Selection tool (
) to position the leaf graphic in the upper-left corner of page 4, on top of the empty Blue-Bright frame. Press Shift+Ctrl (Windows) or Shift+Command (macOS) and drag a corner of the frame to scale both the frame and its contents. Scale to about the size of the empty Blue-Bright frame. Align the top and right edges of the graphic frame with the top and right edges of the Blue-Bright frame.A very useful feature of dragging photos from Bridge is that you can quickly change pictures in a frame, while seeing the new image in Bridge and then the result in InDesign. This is very useful in projects where the layout repeats but you need to import different pictures. You’ll try this now.
With the yellow maple leaf still selected, bring the Bridge window to the front again (if needed) and choose the file maple-leaf-red.psd. Drag and drop it right over the yellow maple leaf. InDesign retains the scaling, and now you’ve switched out the image with the new one, in position, in just a few seconds. Try it again with maple-leaf-orange.psd. Select the image with the content grabber and set the Reference Point to the center position (
). Then rotate the image within the frame a bit to the left, to about 6 degrees. Drag and drop the red leaf again. The image is switched while both the scaling and rotation are retained.To see how the Reference Point affects the center of rotation, experiment with rotating the image again using different reference points, such as the upper left or lower right.
Choose File > Save to save your work.
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