I'd Rather Be Writing » indesign

Adobe Illustrator and InDesign Integration with Layered Images [Visual Imagination #3]

Tom Johnson — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 15:21:21 +0000

Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign integrate in a cool way when it comes to images. Let’s say you have a layered image in Illustrator. When you insert that illustrator .ai file into InDesign, you can turn the layers on or off within InDesign itself. This control with the layers allows you to use the same image multiple times without duplicating it or exporting it to another format.

Here’s a screencast showing how I implemented this integration in one of my guides. (My voice is kind of soft here because it’s late and I didn’t want to wake up the kids.)

To turn the layers on or off in InDesign, select the image, and then go to Object > Object Layer Options.

In the screencast, I also noted some more obvious integration points with images between these two applications. First, you can leave your file in the .ai format (or .psd if working with Photoshop) without exporting it to a JPG, GIF, or some other format. When you insert the file as a linked file, you can continue to edit the file within Illustrator and then just update the linked image in InDesign to get the latest edits.

This integration can be infinite, I believe. I didn’t explain this in the screencast, but with my Illustrator image, the image itself was made up of about 8 separate images that reside in their own Illustrator files. Each of the .ai files is inserted as a linked image into the master diagram .ai file. This master diagram is then inserted into InDesign. So if I open one of those supporting image files (for example, the firewall icon file), and update that, the changes propagate through all other files where I’ve inserted the image.

Given this integration, if you’re using InDesign as your authoring tool (which I do for quick reference guides), I highly recommend using another Adobe suite product, such as Illustrator or Photoshop, as your graphics tool, especially if your graphics have layeres.

Blog Sponsors

The Appeal of Adobe InDesign

Tom Johnson — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:20:40 +0000

Have you ever told a project manager that the instructions he plans on releasing with an application — instructions written by an intern who is here for a three-month stint — are complete junk and that it would be an embarrassment to the organization to give them to users? When you tell a project manager that, surprise, you win yourself a new documentation project.

That’s all right, because Joomla, the topic of the instructions, is something I’ve been wanting to explore in depth. I have to say, I’m pretty impressed with Joomla. As a content management system, it’s powerful, easy to use, and captivating (kind of like driving my new Nissan Altima 3.5).

As I rewrote the Word document (of course it was in Word), I decided to create it in InDesign. In a time when I keep hearing about content re-use and single sourcing, a lot of my projects are small, with just one deliverable needed, intended for a handful of people, most of whom prefer something brief. Rather than the one or two page quick reference guides that I usually push, I’ve been extending them to 8 or 16 page documents.

Working with InDesign is interesting. On the one hand, it’s not really a tool built for technical writers. It’s intended for people laying out magazines, brochures, other heavily designed print matter. As such, some things can be confusing. Cross references, figure references, a table of contents — get ready to search the help to figure these out.

On the other hand, the power of the InDesign is somewhat captivating. You’re only limited by your own ignorance. Every day I learn something new and say, hey, that’s cool. For example, I installed the Typefi Autofit plugin yesterday afternoon to enable auto-expanding text frames, which I specifically wanted for my note styles. It’s neat that a proprietary application like InDesign has so many third-party plugins.

You may feel that some of the applications you use are boorish and dumb. Not so with InDesign. InDesign is an application with intelligence and sophistication. When you learn it, you feel like you’re part of an elite club.

When you can’t figure something out, the Adobe Forums for InDesign are excellent. Unlike Feedburner’s forums, which are a wasteland of single cries for help with no responses, the InDesign forums are active, monitored by gurus, and you get informative responses within an hour.

But enough about InDesign. The real question is why bother to use such a powerful layout tool when I could create the content in Flare (or some other HAT) and single source to a printed output? That’s certainly an option, but styling the printed output from Flare doesn’t compare with the styling options in InDesign (at least not within my print CSS skills in Flare).

Also, when I’m writing in a HAT, I get the sense that space is unlimited. I write every little detail, adding topic after topic. I think of every possible scenario and question and document it. The result is a printed document or online help file that is not really readable anymore due to length. It can only be searched.

I know it may be an old-fashioned concept, but I think users want a short guide they can read. Sure, users want to search for answers to those arcane questions, but they also want a guide that’s feasible to get through, that isn’t a War in Peace type novel but rather a dozen pages that tells them what they need to know. When it’s under 20 pages and well-designed, with a readable, attractive layout, that’s a product that has high value for users. It’s a deliverable that project managers and other techies can actually review. As a user, it’s something that still fits into your life.

If you give someone a manual that makes an almighty thud, they don’t even open it.

Blog Sponsors

InDesign Magazine is your source for Adobe InDesign tutorials, how-to’s and feature articles

Tom Johnson — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:51:50 +0000

InDesign Magazine: Your source for Adobe InDesign tutorials, how-to’s and feature articles. Wow, did you know InDesign has its own magazine.? InDesign also has entire conferences dedicated to the tool. The community surrounding InDesign is really quite extensive. Lots of resources for it.

Blog Sponsors

Extracting Images from Visio and Inserting Them in Indesign

Tom Johnson — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:41:34 +0000

Have you ever tried to find cool graphics for conceptual diagrams but find yourself coming up empty handed? Sure, sites like istockphoto.com make icons available inexpensively. But no matter what the cost, if you work for a company you still have to submit an expense request, get it approved by management, and then subtract the cost from a dwindling budget. It’s a pain in the neck, and you’re usually in a time crunch, right?

Never fear, Visio is here. Visio has tons of great-looking icons. And they’re all vectors, so they resize seamlessly. There’s only one problem: they’re stuck in Visio.

With a little manipulation, however, you can unfree them from Visio and keep them looking sharp for insertion in InDesign. You need a power app (namely, Adobe Illustrator), but that’s it.

To extract images from Visio and insert them into InDesign, here’s what I do:

Open Visio and find the icon you want. Search for “secretary” or “design” and you’ll find the standard bald blue man. Select and copy the image.
Copy the image from Visio

Open Adobe Illustrator, create a new document, and paste in the Visio icon. You’ll notice that each of the sixteen million layers for the image suddenly appears.
In Illustrator, you can see see the layers
Right-click the icon and choose Ungroup.
Now here you can make a few adjustments to the icon, mostly removing things or changing colors. On the Illustrator toolbar, the black arrow allows you to move things, and the white arrow allows you to distort or reshape things. The white arrow is handy, for example, if you want to squish in the line that mysteriously extends from the head of the icon.
Modify the image
When you’re finished, go to File > Save As and save it as an Adobe Illustrator (.ai) file type.
Save it as an .ai file
In Adobe Indesign, go to File > Place and insert the image. You can still resize it and the vector properties of the image are retained, so you won’t see the jagged edges. In other words, Indesign allows you to embed the image as a vector, rather than rasterizing it and having it become pixilated.
Edges still look sharp in InDesign

If it’s absolutely necessary, you can convert it to a GIF, but the edges will look jagged. Open up the file in Photoshop and go to Image > Mode. Make sure RGB color and 8 bit are selected. Now save it as a GIF file or a Photoshop (.psd) file. The edges will be a bit jagged, but as long as you don’t resize it, the edges won’t be too bad.

Blog Sponsors

InDesignSecrets » Blog Archive » Eliminating YDB (Yucky Discolored Box) Syndrome

Tom Johnson — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:54:29 +0000

InDesignSecrets » Blog Archive » Eliminating YDB (Yucky Discolored Box) Syndrome. If you ever put transparent images over colored backgrounds in Indesign, you need to apply this tweak to avoid discoloration issues around your image.

Blog Sponsors

MadCap Blaze: a new publishing powerhouse? | A Technical Communication Community

Tom Johnson — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:17:57 +0000

MadCap Blaze: a new publishing powerhouse? | A Technical Communication Community.

Blog Sponsors

Adobe Video Workshop

Tom Johnson — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 18:43:09 +0000

Adobe Video Workshop. A lot of nice video tutorials here.

Blog Sponsors

InDesignSecrets

Tom Johnson — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:02:29 +0000

InDesignSecrets. This is a cool site — lots of tips and tricks if you use InDesign. And it has an extensive and regular podcast.

I'd Rather Be Writing » indesign

Adobe Illustrator and InDesign Integration with Layered Images [Visual Imagination #3]

Blog Sponsors

The Appeal of Adobe InDesign

Blog Sponsors

InDesign Magazine is your source for Adobe InDesign tutorials, how-to’s and feature articles

Blog Sponsors

Extracting Images from Visio and Inserting Them in Indesign

Blog Sponsors

InDesignSecrets » Blog Archive » Eliminating YDB (Yucky Discolored Box) Syndrome

Blog Sponsors

MadCap Blaze: a new publishing powerhouse? | A Technical Communication Community

Blog Sponsors

Adobe Video Workshop

Blog Sponsors

InDesignSecrets

Blog Sponsors

Free Adobe InDesign Tutorials | Layers Magazine

Blog Sponsors