Layering in InDesign

Are there pros and cons to assembling a graphic on a page in InDesign vs photoshop? I'm creating a 50 page book, and I often run into not knowing whether something should be done first in photoshop or indesign. There are times when I think the entire page should be photoshop and times when I create separate elements in photoshop and then bring them into Indesign as all separate objects.
Any input/advice would be appreciated.
Thanks.

Don't forget that you can turn on and off layers in a Photoshop image within InDesign. I've found that comes in really handy if you need to intermix layers of a Photoshop file with text/objects in ID. Import the layered PSD and then copy, paste in place and turn on and off layers using the Object Layer Options. You can end up with multiple objects that can be stacked in any order and yet only have one PSD file as a link.

Similar Messages

Script needed for creating layers in Indesign.

Ok, this sounds simple and im sure it is.
Im currently getting all WEBSITE designs produced by our creative department in Indesign (speed, ease, lack of training whatever! etc etc)
Im currently layering these elements up manually which is OK, but im sure somebody knows of a script somewhere!!!,
Ive got a SUPERB script that when the indesign file IS LAYERED I can make it a photoshop PSD thats ALL smart objects etc so Its perfect for web psds. Its amazing, if i can find a script that layers the Indesign document as well PRIOR TO RUNNING THE OTHER SCRIPT, I can quite literally do nothing and just watch the machine do the work!!
I look forward to your replies!!
Paul

Hi Vamitul
Im sure its very simple but I never seem to be able to find the answer!!, basically if you have 1 page with say 40 text fields and 40 pictures on there, it would through default create it all on 1 layer which is the standard practice and how Indesign has always worked.
Once I have had the design approved thats been created in Indesign I need to get each element on a seperate layer Ie 80 layers. I currently do this manually! (So the next action I do is use a script I have that turns it into a LAYERED.psd).
I simply want to have a script which puts each element on a seperate layer.
Help me Vamitul, I get a good feeling about you!, you could be my saviour!
Paul

Photoshop Multi Paths on different layers in Indesign

Mac OSX Indesign & Photoshop CS4
Might be a dumb question but...
Is there a way of using a single placed photoshop file in indesign so that the paths can be moved to different layers. Or do you have to duplicate the image onto the different layers and then turn on the paths you wish to use on that layer.
Say for instance if you have a photoshop file with say 3 layers or 3 paths can you tell indesign to put each of those 3 layers or paths on separte layers in indesign without making 3 copies of the image in indesign.
If this can be done does anyone know of a good tutorial for doing this.

I’m nor sure what you want to do with the Photoshop paths, so I’ll leave anything path specific alone until you clarify.
But if you want different layer comps of the image to appear on different layers you will need three instances of the file in your Indesign file.
I think we’ll be able o better understand your question if you tell us what you want without assuming anything about how to get there first.

Hello, is there a way to export or save layers from Indesign to separate png or pdf -files?

Hello, is there a way to export or save layers from Indesign to separate png or pdf -files? I have a Indesign document with serveral layers and I need them as separate png files.
I know that is is possible with Illustrator but can't find it for Indesign.
Thanks a lot.

The script Peter's noting is in #122 here:
how to export indesign layers to photoshop layers (same structure)
It is OSX only and exports PDFs for creating Photoshop layers. The exported PDFs get trashed so if you can use AppleScript I can edit out the Photoshop part post a version that only saves the PDFs

'Paste remembers layers' between Indesign and Photoshop (CS5)?

Hello,
Is it possible to preserve layers from Indesign to Photoshop and copy them all in one copy/paste rather than copying each layer individually?
Thanks in advance for any help on this.
Cheers,
Leah =)

Not as far as I know.
Should no one else have better info and if the task is a frequent one you may want to look into Scripting for automating it.

Using Photoshop layers in InDesign?

Hi all, I'm having much more difficulty finding a solution than I thought I would. Any help is greatly appreciated! I have a designer that has put a magazine spread together in Photoshop. It has the background, graphics, and text. I'm looking to place or import the psd file into InDesign and have the layers be available. I know that I can turn the visibility on and off, but I want to be able to use InDesign to modify the text that was a text layer in the psd file, and to move individual layers around without needing to go into Photoshop each time. With all the propaganda on Adobe's site about integration, I thought this would be easy to accomplish so I'm probably missing something obvious.
To save people looking for the same answer in the future from reading unnecessary posts, let me just state:
Yes, I did search other forums and yes, I did Google it
I know I can edit it in Photoshop and update the link in InDesign, but that's not what I'm trying to accomplish
I know Photoshop isn't desktop publishing software, but let's pretend
TIA for any help. BTW, using CS6.

There could be plugin or script to achieve this but can't be done natively with InDesign and Photoshop.
You could suggest this to be Feature request :- https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

Can you Nudge Layers in InDesign like Photoshop CS5?

Hello,
I have been trying to find ways to nudge the InDesign layers by selecting the specific layer/layers in the layers pallete. At the moment, the only way I know to move the layers, is by selecting and clicking on the layer on the document itself. The issue was, that when I duplicate a group of layers, I could not just select the duplicated layers, but I had to select every component of the duplicated layers on top of the original layer, so I could not simply drag and drop a selection cursor.
But the point being, is there any way to nudge the InDesign layers by selecting the specific layer/layers in the layers palette.
Thanks

Not exactly. You can't nudge the layers, but you can select all the objects on them (on a spread-by-spread basis) and move them all together. To do that click the small square to the right of the layer name, or Alt/Opt click the layer name itself.
Layer in ID are more similar to layers in Illustrator than they are to Photoshop.

Password-lock layers in InDesign

Here's the deal: You have a client asking to give them your native InDesign files so they can update and fix texts.
Is there a way, like a plugin or something, that you could use to lock layers that contains elements you don't want them to edit?
It happens often that you get back a file and they deleted or modified elements, without knowing it (they're not designers...).
Simply locking layers is not enough, the client knows how to unlock layers and "play" with the files...
Plus it'd be a way to secure your work in case you're not making a template for the client and you don't want to show your technique.

At least I now know such plugin doesn't exist. Not sure it'd be popular or not but talked to a couple designers the other day,
they said it'd be really helpful too, they face similar situations with clients not willing to pay for a full job. This doesn't apply to clients who have money to pay for full jobs.
I work with low-budget companies / organizations who're not interested in investing in software or training.
They like, have a license for InDesign and can play around a bit and put out flyers for their office, that's all. They don't even know
they're supposed to pay for fonts so I keep using fonts that are delivered with InDesign. So yes, InDesign is a professional software that some non-professionals can still use a bit. I don't even want to know how they proceed with final files to send to the printers. I guess they (printers) must fix alot!
Working with PDF and commenting is not always possible. When working on a full-job it might be, but when working on a template, it's the client who's going to put the text in the publication, not me. I just prepare a template with styles with a few pages as examples.
That's because humanitarian organizations prefers paying expensive international office staff with no knowledge of graphic design instead of hiring a professional one (locally) to do their jobs. It's total non-sense, but it's how it is and gives us independents some work, even though it's badly paid.

Working with layers from InDesign to Acrobat

Hi, I'm currently creating a fairly large pdf document for a client which has pop-up effect windows in Acrobat. The artwork is created in InDesign and the file is exported as an interactive pdf with layers. In Acrobat I then make these 'pop-ups' visible then invisible when hovered over/moved away from respectively. I was at the finished stage, all interactive elements that couldn't be set in InDesign had been meticulously added in Acrobat. Twice now, however, my client has made a small change to one of the pages that has several of these layer effects on it and each time I replace the page in Acrobat I have to re-do all the interactive parts. My question is: Is there a way you can replace a page in Acrobat and retain the layer interactivity that existed on the original, outgoing page? It seems impossible as whether I delete the page first and insert the new one in its place, or alternatively do a straightforward 'replace', the outgoing page's layers are deleted with the page and the incoming page's layers come in - but with none of the interactivity. I have to set it all up again. Bear in mind these are interactive events that can only be set up in Acrobat, not in InDesign, and I suspect that's where the problem lies. The new completely wipes out the old. Does anyone have any advice on a work-around for this - or should I just go and open the wine early, take a deep breath and re-do all the interactivity for the third time? Many thanks for your time, whether the news is good or bad

If you need the black text to wind up on a separate printing plate from the black in the 4-color images, you will need to create a spot black, and set all your text (and table rules that will change) into that spot black.
I use this method to keep the pricing in my catalog separate, so I can print one version with prices, and one without.

Illustrator layers to indesign?

CS3 - I have 20 layers of a line each of words of text which all need a fair
amount of work on in Illustrator before placing in different areas of ID
document - do I have to save each layer as seperate document or can I
somehow "place" each layer seperately and still use edit original?

InDesign 5 will let you select which layers of an Illustrator 13 file are visible. Click Import Options when placing or hold Shift when you click OK to access layer options when placing, or right-click on a placed AI file.

Working with layers in Indesign

is there a way to save the black separation or all of the black type only to a layer of its own. It would need to contain all of the black type and tables etc..? Leaving all of the 4c graphics on the base layer.
This a large document with hundred of pages and only black type changes are needed between the layers for versioning.

If you need the black text to wind up on a separate printing plate from the black in the 4-color images, you will need to create a spot black, and set all your text (and table rules that will change) into that spot black.
I use this method to keep the pricing in my catalog separate, so I can print one version with prices, and one without.

Exporting layers out of Illustrator into InDesign

Is there a way to export a file with layers out of Illustrator and import/place into InDesign and still retain the layers???

Literal translation of layers between the two apps is impossible. Illustrator layers and InDesign layers are built differently.
It's fairly easy to get InDesign layers into Illustrator. Export PDF, with Create Adobe Layers enabled (must be Acrobat 6 compatible or higher), then open the PDF in Illustrator.
However you can always have complications opening PDFs with Illustrator. For example you may experience text editing issues, or color space issues.
You asked about AI layers to InDesign layers. You could save the AI layers out as separate files, then bring those into InDesign and place them in layers with corresponding names. Something like this may be scriptable. Even so, the layer construct is very different. For example, you can have layer effects in Illustrator, but not in InDesign. You also have sub layers in Illustrator, but not in InDesign.
Hope this helps.

Missing content exporting from InDesign CC 2014 to Flash Pro CC 2014

Dear all,
to produce a larger number of similar animated swf's, I wanted to create all necessary text and graphic layers in InDesign CC 2014, then export as *.fla to Flash Pro CC 2014 for "bulk" animation.
Finally it should then just be a case of selecting the correct layers and publishing.
The problem: When exporting from InDesign to Flash, all layers are recognized but initially apart from the text layers they were shown as empty items without the content.
Rescaling the placed images in InDesign to be no larger than the final document helped to now also have the images when opening the exported *.fla in Flash.
I am still missing all other InDesign objects though, e.g. even a simple colored rectangular will not show in Flash.
Any help to fix this issue would be greatly appreciated. Searching for it only brought up a couple of tutorials that do not seem to have this issue.
Best regards
Christopher

I think that it's just a bug in InDesign. It happens with CS6 as well.

PDFs from InDesign for print then web?

The workflow is supposed to be: we simply take the PDF files which were created from InDesign and then sent to our printer, and give them to our web service company who has our online edition finished by morning. But we're upgrading our photo processing for the print edition, which results in overly bright photos for printing on newsprint. With a 48 page tiny-town newspaper, it would be a major problem to replace all of the photos in the layout with specially processed ones for web. But we need to have PDFs for our web service company that contain, richer, higher contrast photos for web.
Is there some trick other than manually processing new photos for every page and manually re-linking each one on every page? Maybe CS4 has some feature that makes this easy, i.e., automated web version of an InDesign layout, i.e., links to an alternate folder of photos just for a web version?
CS2 / Mac OS 10.4.11 / various Mac hardware

RGB-workflow is just a way to do things... You can do it in at least CS2, CS3 and CS4 softwares, propably with earlier versions too. It basically means that you adjust your images in some wide RGB gamut, like AdobeRGB, then save them without making CMYK conversion and place them to indesign layout as RGB images. When you export your PDF, you make that RGB-CMYK conversion to all images at once.
Normally people can use same adjustments for both web- and print images. When image is adjusted well, icc-profile that will be used for RGB-CMYK converion will take care of fine tuning like compensating midtones and Total Ink Limits...
In InDesign CS4 you can use Photoshop PSD images with adjustment layers. If you really have to make some adjustment that would be nice to get rid off in indesign, you may toggle visibility of those adjustment layers in InDesigns Object Layer Options tool.
I still suggest that you try to fix your workflow so that you don´t have to make any extra adjustments to images for printing after you have once placed them to indesign layout. It should be possible, millions of publishers do that every day...

Copy/Paste graphic w/drop shadow to indesign - loses transparency

See above image.. I made a vector version of our company logo in illustrator (all programs referenced are cs5 btw) and it looks great, but when I copy and paste from Illustrator to InDesign, it loses the transparency around the logo. If I place the logo instead, it works fine. The trouble is there are about 16 variations of the logo, and its MUCH easier to copy/paste from one aggregate file instead of having many different logo files to place.
Background on how the logo was created: The inner circle area is multiple different gradient layers (some with transparency masks as well). The white line around the outside is an expanded stroke, and it had a drop shadow effect applied (Stylize menu), which I expanded so it would scale properly when scaling the logo up and down. Here is a link to download the logo: download logo
Q: Is there any way to make InDesign preserve the transparency when I copy and paste?
Would be eternally grateful if someone has a solution that allows me to copy/paste!

I agree with Bob's suggestion to use separate "layer groups" in your logo file for different styles. I also use separate layers inside InDesign to "multi-purpose" company documents with different backgrounds, graphics, and content. But that's the only way I use layers inside InDesign – Not for general placement of image files! I also disagree with ability to copy and paste graphics from Illustrator with drop shadow. Here's an .ai logo which I quickly added Drop Shadow to in Illustrator CS4, and then a Copy and Paste into InDesign CS4 document. Best workflow practice is to 'Place' image files as Bob suggests, linking them from a separate file folder.
For something "quick and dirty" I see no problem with Copy and Paste, but your success may vary based on OS, and CS versions you are using! Sometimes it is wiser to take a few shortcuts to hit rather than miss that deadline!

Layering in InDesign

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for