My InDesign program is printing my placed images lighter than illustrator.

I am trying to print a colour logo in Indesign with black type on my inkjet printer. The colours are appearing fine on screen and so is the black but when I print everything is washed out. I tried just printing a black box and it appears black on screen but in print it is grey. I have tried changing the preferences Appearance of Black to rich and accurate but that did not make a difference. Do I need to do anything in color management I am using Indesign CS2. How can I solve this problem?

Acrobat worked, thanks for that advice. I set my Convert to Profile under the Edit Menu to Color
Match RGB. That helped a little bit but it is not printing like the
pdf. I would like to get this problem resolved. I normally use
illustrator most of my work. But I would like to have InDesign working
properly as I need it to do other jobs.
Take Care,
Jen
Take Care,
Jen
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:24:47 -0600
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: My InDesign program is printing my placed images lighter than illustrator.
Jen,
This is a problem that you have no time to fool with, correct?
When printing from InDesign and all looks hopeless, export to PDF and print from the PDF.
Why?
I don't know for sure but it seems all printers made recently accept PDF better than straight from InDesign. It could be the printer driver and it could be InDesign but you don't have time to mess with it now. Wait for some free time to sort it out, but for now output to PDF and print from Adobe Reader or Acrobat.
>

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Shadow and stroke won't print around placed images

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Just be sure to have the latest for your particular version of OS X. It might be worth searching on the manufacturer's support site for issues too.
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Printing in mirror image -- not sure why

Hi there
I had a problem suddenly develop -- I don't know if it's because I hit an unknown key combination or something, but everything I send to my printer from InDesign suddenly starting printing in mirror image. It's not an issue in printing specs from the printer itself, I tried that. The only way I've been able to solve it is to take what I've created on screen and flip it horizontally so it looks completely mirror-imaged, then print it. It comes out correctly then. Any ideas why this is happening?
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Placing images in Illustrator for print ready files

I'm designing a brochure in Illustrator that contains several logos and photos. (Yes, I know, Illustrator... I've read several forums and know that InDesign may be a better program for this, but I completely underbid this project and really need to stick with something I know for cost efficiency.)
I need to resize several images in Photoshop to place in Illustrator and I'm wondering if I should save them as CMYK jpegs, or tiffs, etc. I need the file to be the smallest it can be for upload to the printer. I need the basics on different file types and their pros and cons.
Also, when I'm sending out the proof to the customer, any tips on saving the pdf so the images aren't too blurry and the file is still sendable?
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How many pages are we talking about? The key to file efficiency is Placing images at their final size, so you are on the right track. Let me try to help...
"I need to resize several images in Photoshop to place in Illustrator and I'm wondering if I should save them as CMYK jpegs, or tiffs, etc. I need the file to be the smallest it can be for upload to the printer. I need the basics on different file types and their pros and cons."
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"Also, when I'm sending out the proof to the customer, any tips on saving the pdf so the images aren't too blurry and the file is still sendable?"
-There are a few different ways you can create a PDF viewable as a softproof. You could send the final as a Standard PDF using defaults. Don't forget to embed the fonts and leave color unchanged. What I do is Export > RGB TIF @ 150ppi > Open the .tiff in Photoshop and Save-As Photoshop PDF with a JPG compression of 8. You could do that for each page and then reassemble using Acrobat for one assembled, final PDF optimized.
"Please help!! Any other information or tips on how to prepare my file as a print ready would be great. I love to learn and really need some great resources."
-Get Adobe's Print Publishing Guide. It has enough information in it to help you wade through all of the disinformation out there. Get in touch with a couple of local print shops and have them take a look at your files. Good shops can spot problems and give you some handy tips. Not all shops will take the time, so finding one can be tricky.
Thanks!
-You're welcome. Let us know how it all shakes out.

Placing Image - InDesign vs InDesignServer

I have a script that correctly places images in tagged rectangles via script in InDesign, the script then exports to PDF. All is well.
When I run the same script with the same image path folder structure in InDesignServer, the exported PDF does not show the 'placed' images. I'm getting no errors in my console.
Early in the script I have;
myInDesign.imagePreview = True
I place the images with;
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myRectangle.fit 1668247152
myRectangle.fit 1667591779
for each myItem in myRectangle.items
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next
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In all other aspects the script works the same on ID as IDS. I'm starting my ID CS6 server with InDesignServer -previews
I suspect I'm missing something with the PDF export preferences, but have no idea why it's working on ID and not on IDS.
Any help greatly appreciated.

I'm not able to post all the code, but here's a stripped down version with all the important parts... The only line that differs from ID vs ID Server is the first line...
'Set myInDesign = CreateObject("InDesignServer.Application")
Set myInDesign = CreateObject("InDesign.Application")
Set myDocument = myInDesign.Open(strTemplateFilename )
Set myPage = myDocument.Pages.Item(1)
set myPageItems = myPage.PageItems
set myRectangles = myPage.Rectangles
myInDesign.imagePreview = True
myInDesign.findTextPreferences = Nothing
myInDesign.changeTextPreferences = Nothing
' change some text
myInDesign.findTextPreferences.findWhat = "[" & strattrname & "]"
myInDesign.changeTextPreferences.changeTo = strattrvalue
myDocument.changeText()
' change the image in the targeted rectangle
for each myRectangle in myRectangles
if myRectangle.Label = strattrname then
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end if
next
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myDataProperties.SelectDataSource(strMergeSample)
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myDataProperties.DatamergePreferences.RecordNumber = 1
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myDataProperties.export strPDFOut
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Any help appreciated.

InDesign Crashes while placing images on document.

Hi All,
I am facing problem and i am stuck at this point.
I download an image in a folder and place it in graphic box using IImportExportFacade's ImportAndLoadPlaceGun method it is working fine, but when i delete placed image from folder then it becomes as missing link after that if I download the same image at same path and try to place in another graphic box using same above API then indesign get crashed.
What is problem Any idea?
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Thanks in advance.
Regards
Tahir.

Does it happen in other files withthe same image(s)? How about in a new user?

White lines appear around placed images in printing.

A native Illustrator document with placed Photoshop (both CS6) images produces whites lines around the placed images when printed. The Illustrator document does not show white lines on screen. Nor does the PDF (Acrobat X Pro) generated from the IA doc show white lines when viewed on screen. When the document goes to press, the printed product show the white lines:
See upper left image and lower right image-note: other images are not affected. Both both are native Photoshop images, placed on a gradient in IA. Perhaps the PDF settings: "Adobe PDF Preset" or "Standard" are not chosen correctly? Why the white lines?

You screenshot shows a modified Illustrator Default preset with Compatability to Acrobat 4. That setting always flattens transparency which is what I would suggest avoiding first.
Note the Warnings summary alerts that transparency will be flattened.
garlic541 wrote:
2.That same initial 'Save Adobe PDF' widow allows for three settings: Adobe PDF Preset (12 choices); Standard (6 choices), and Compatibility (5 choices). Note how the window signals a Warning (Warnings: Saving this file with Compatibilty set to Acrobat 4 (PDF 1.3) requires items with transparency to be flattened.) Could this be a warning that produces the stitch lines in the actual printing?
Yes
garlic541 wrote:
After researching....
Discussion seems to indicate seeing 'stiching lines' on screen; sometimes in the designing application; or in the generated PDF. My instances are visible only in printing-in two of the four images.
1. Transparency. Is this an automatic occurence in generating the PDF? Can I turn it on/off? (The 'Save Adobe PDF' window that allows changes to: General, Compression, Marks & Bleeds,Output,, Advanced.....)
Transparency is part of some design and all Effects. Note that you can change a color by using a tint or by setting it's transparency. Many times a tint will suffice. It looks the same and has the same values.
Your original screenshot apears to use images with clipping paths. (Full disclosure - I should know this, but don't...I expect) clipping paths require/invoke the transparent background to place the images within the colored area.
You cannot get around transparency but flattening converts vector objects to raster objects (when transparency touches/abuts/interacts with raster images).
You should be able to use the Illustrator Default, High Quality Print or PDFX-4 to maintain live transparency
2 very old (2004) Adobe white papers, not too legnthy which I can shed some light. Note - PDFX-4 superceeds all of these.
Transparency in Adobe Applications: A Print Production Guide
A Designer's Guide to Transparency for Print Output

CS6 InDesign - Default display is high-quality. Four placed images are Illustrator files. Three images look the way they should - high-quality. One image looks pixelated. Why?

InDesign CS6 - Default display is high-quality. All four placed images are Illustrator files. Three images look the way they should - high-quality. One image looks pixelated. Why?

Not sure if this will help, but what is your inDesign file's "Transparency Blend Space" set to? It's under the edit menu.
Also, when you are placing your images, are you selecting "Show Import Options" and making any selections there?

Placing images at an exact scale in Indesign CS5?

Hi all,
I'm hoping someone can clue me in here... I've just updated from Indesign CS3 to CS5. I was hoping in the upgrade Indesign would give you an option for placing images in picture frames at an exact scale (like you can in Quark), for instance if you place an empty picture box on the master pages and enter 55% scale you would drop in images on each page of the layout at 55% scale.
In Indesign CS3 the closest I could get to that was to place an "FPO" image in the picture boxes on the master pages at 55% scale, then when I'd replace each FPO on the layout pages with my images they would drop in at 55% scale. It worked pretty well.
With CS5 I'm finding that when I replace an FPO image it will still drop in at the same scale the FPO is at, but ONLY if you load and place one image at a time... if you load, say, twenty images and drop them into the layout replacing the FPO images, they come out as prorortionally fitted to the picture frame... NOT as 55%.
this is a real issue for me as I routinely work on layouts where I need to place 400 and up images at an exact scale...
Anyone know a work around here, or any tips?
Thanks in advance.

As far as I know, you can't set scaling for a empty frame. You can use a placholder image and scale that, and if you turn off relink preserves dimensions relinking to a new image would preserve the scaling, but only if you do it one at a time through the links panel. Using the Place command and replacing theimages will not preserve the scaling, so through the interface there isn't much help.
On the other hand, I think this could be scripted. If you need all the images to be the same scale it should just be a matter of looping through the document images and setting the scale. If none of the scripters are taking notice here, ask over in the scriping forum.

Can an image in the slideshow widgets be moved around inside the bounding box as can be in a normal image placed into Muse (double clicking on a placed image gives the functionality to move the image around - as per Indesign functionality)

Can an image in the slideshow widgets be moved around inside the bounding box as can be in a normal image placed into Muse (double clicking on a placed image gives the functionality to move the image around - as per Indesign functionality)

Can an image in the slideshow widgets be moved around inside the bounding box as can be in a normal image placed into Muse (double clicking on a placed image gives the functionality to move the image around - as per Indesign functionality)

Placing Images (Screen Caps) for Callouts - Best Practice?

Illustrator CS6, Windows 7
I'm placing screen captures (screen images from software) in my artwork files to add callouts and create illustrations for a user manual.
The machine I'm capturing on has a screen resolution set at 1920 x 1080 (required for software). I'm using Snagit and capturing the screens, saving files, then placing in Illustrator. I've been using images minimum 300 dpi and never upsizing in Illustrator. Still I think my results could be better.
In the past I've used .jpg as my export filetype for placing into Illustrator. But, recent reads of postings in this community lead me to believe my practice might be flawed.
Question: What is considered best practice for placing images from screen capture (or any source) in Illustrator? What file type from capture will get me the clearest and most adaptable results?
My Illustrator file color mode is CMYK and my other art and callouts supporting the screen cap are working great.
I'm creating the artwork for import to Framemaker and creating a PDF for online and print.

What I mean is; what is the user looking at, and what are you training on?
For example, if the application involves medical imaging, and part of your documentation covers something like evaluating medical images in the application, that would probably be a far more color-critical scenario than an application in which the user just views and manipulates data.
Generally, you don't need anything like 300 PPI for screen captures in software documentation. The whole intent is for the image to look like the screen you are documenting, which is something like 72 or 96 PPI at actual size. You might downscale a screen capture as much as 50%, but at that size, the reader is viewing the application's text (including menus, etc.) at half the size as viewed in the application, which is assumed to be sized for comfortable reading. Sharpness is good. You don't want the images to become blurred in pursuit of completely needless "resolution."
Also generally speaking, software screenshots are not usually color-critical. Placing (even pasting from SnagIt) directly into the page layout app is usually just fine. PostScript knows how to separate RGB images. Such things have been done since long before anyone sweated blood over "color management." Assuming your application interface is not using garish color (which would be poor interface design; it's tiring), I dare say the conversion of RGB screenshots to CMYK at the imagesetter or press would be fine.
How is the manual going to be printed? Unless you're talking about a large press runs, nowadays software documentation (subject to frequent updates) is often printed on on-demand presses (think glorified digital color copiers), not sheetfed presses. With software documentation, you're not usually talking coffee-table collector's books. (The exception would be something like a book on color-correction in Photoshop; thus my first question.)
I routinely paste screenshots from SnagIt directly into InDesign pages to document software applications, and add the callouts in InDesign. Only when I need some special graphics (swooping arrows, etc.) do I assemble the callouts to the screenshots in Illustrator; and even when I do that, I also typically paste the SnagIt captures directly in to AI.
Keeping your callouts native to the page layout program also better facilitates language translation, when you have to outsource that.
JET

Need help diagnosing cause of printing issue w/ image distortion

Hello, I'm looking for some expert advice for my print issue with image distortion (see above) on my files once setup and proofed by my printer.
I have a large PSD background file out of photoshop (CMYK, 170mb psd) that is being placed into an InDesign document. No preflight errors, all correct SWOP cmyk settings, and I keep having issues where images distort on my printers proofs - they seem unable to explain the issue and can't offer any other suggestions beyond ("just try resaving/uploading again" which of course has an added fee with each upload...).
The files are all fine on our end: on-screen, on our cmyk proofs, and our saved PDFs/packaged files. But everytime our printer opens these they seem to have these distorted image problems - scrambled images (almost as if there was a ghosted transparent image in the distorted area), strange lines (see above, and color distortion (usually greens and pinks, see above).
Is this an issue with my settings/file formats? Maybe the issue lies on our printers end? I'll keep checking this throughout the day and provide quick answers to anyone who can help me get to the bottom of this.
Adobe forums have been a huge help in years past so I decided this was by best bet for a resolution from those who know more than myself (or my printer), thanks for taking the time to help!
- Ian

Hello, I'm looking for some expert advice for my print issue with image distortion (see above) on my files once setup and proofed by my printer.
I have a large PSD background file out of photoshop (CMYK, 170mb psd) that is being placed into an InDesign document. No preflight errors, all correct SWOP cmyk settings, and I keep having issues where images distort on my printers proofs - they seem unable to explain the issue and can't offer any other suggestions beyond ("just try resaving/uploading again" which of course has an added fee with each upload...).
The files are all fine on our end: on-screen, on our cmyk proofs, and our saved PDFs/packaged files. But everytime our printer opens these they seem to have these distorted image problems - scrambled images (almost as if there was a ghosted transparent image in the distorted area), strange lines (see above, and color distortion (usually greens and pinks, see above).
Is this an issue with my settings/file formats? Maybe the issue lies on our printers end? I'll keep checking this throughout the day and provide quick answers to anyone who can help me get to the bottom of this.
Adobe forums have been a huge help in years past so I decided this was by best bet for a resolution from those who know more than myself (or my printer), thanks for taking the time to help!
- Ian

Help with placing images - why do they appear at 150% and look bad?

Hi there,
Relative newbie here.
I have my display performace in InDesign set to high. Whether I 'place' an image or simply drag it onto the page, and regardless of what image file format I use (tif, png, jpg, whatever), when placed, the images appear about 50% bigger than the source, and low-ish quality. I'm forced then to try to resize them manually so they look good on-screen and when printed.
Why when I place images do they not appear at 100%?
Is there a way to resize images other than grabbing the re-size handles and hoping for the best?
Many thanks.

OK, if the scale says 100% with the direct select tool, that's what you have. Note that using the regular select tool (the black arrow) will ALWAYS show 100% in the scale fields unless you have set your prefs to "adjust scaling percentage," so that's why you use the direct select tool to check. You can also selct the image with either tool and look at the Info Palette. at 100% the actual and effective ppi listed will be the same. What resolution is currently listed in the Info Palette?
I asked about click vs, click and drag because in CS4 when you drag a frame it always scales the image to fit. This is not true in CS3.
Screen captures are typically 72 ppi at the size they are captured. 72 ppi is low for most print work, but for screen captures nobody really expects much in terms of quality. You really are placing, right, not dragging from Photoshop into ID, which is the equivalent of pasting? Pasting an image gives you only the screen preview in CS3. I'm not sure you'd see a difference with a screen grab, though, since the preview would also be 72 ppi.
If the image is really too large on the page you can scale in ID by holding the Ctrl + Shift keys while dragging a handle. You must press the keys before clicking the mouse in Windows becasue there is a bug. You can also use the Scale tool, or enter a new scale value in the scaling fields. You can use actual dimensions in those fields if you include the units, by the way.
In Photoshop you can scale the image using Image > Image Size... If you uncheck the "resample image" box the resolutiuon will change in inverse proportion to the size, so reducing the size will increase the resolution, but there will be no differnce in quality over scaling in ID.

InDesign only showing part of the image

I'm doing a job for a client in InDesign CS5. I have not worked in CS5 before, so don't know if this is a bug or if I'm doing something wrong.
It seems to happen randomly and I have checked the preferences and tried using different settings for the Display Performance. I've even tried viewing the job with Overprint Preview switched on.
When placing images only a part of the image shows. When I output to PDF or Print the file then the entire image shows. This makes it very hard to do layouts, especially in cases where I need to crop an image.
In InDesign it looks like this:
When I output to PDF (this is a low res output, just to demonstrate my point) the entire image shows:
In InDesign it looks like this:
When I output to PDF:
The machine I'm ding this job on is an iMac, 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4GB 800MHZ DDR2 SDRAM. It is running Mac OSX 10.6.4. And InDesign is on version 7.0.2.

mafeiteng wrote:
I'm doing a job for a client in InDesign CS5. I have not worked in CS5 before, so don't know if this is a bug or if I'm doing something wrong.
It seems to happen randomly and I have checked the preferences and tried using different settings for the Display Performance. I've even tried viewing the job with Overprint Preview switched on.
When placing images only a part of the image shows. When I output to PDF or Print the file then the entire image shows. This makes it very hard to do layouts, especially in cases where I need to crop an image.
In InDesign it looks like this:
When I output to PDF (this is a low res output, just to demonstrate my point) the entire image shows:
In InDesign it looks like this:
When I output to PDF:
The machine I'm ding this job on is an iMac, 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4GB 800MHZ DDR2 SDRAM. It is running Mac OSX 10.6.4. And InDesign is on version 7.0.2.
If I understand things correctly, you're placing client-supplied images into a new InDesign file that you're creating, so the only part of the workflow that you haven't created is the graphics. This logically leaves the container file innocent.
The question becomes "what's up with either the hardware or the graphics?" If the problem persists with the same graphic files and a new container file on a different user account on the same computer, it's possible that hardware is the villain. If it doesn't persist on a different computer, it's likely the hardware. If it does persist on a different computer, in a new container file, it's likely something in the graphics files.
It's not clear if the graphics card in your iMac is one of the models whose video RAM is "dedicated," that is, it doesn't share video RAM with the main RAM, or if it does share VRAM. If it shares RAM, it's possible that 4GB isn't sufficient to display all the open applications and their demands. If this is the cause, it's a hardware issue (insufficient RAM.)
Because the graphics print and convert to PDF without the problem, it would seem that the graphics are innocent, but perhaps something in the processing of these outputs causes the problem to disappear. For example, perhaps there's some flattening involved. Perhaps there's a clipping path or channel mask of some kind involved that affects the InDesign display? (Just fishing.)
Have you tried opening the graphics in their creating application and saving them to new names? Any difference in the behavior when those graphics are freshly-placed in InDesign, or when their links are updated?
Have you tried placing PDFs of the graphics? If they appear properly, can you crop them to achieve your requirements and hope the problem goes away after the deadline passes<G>?
HTH
Regards,
Peter
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices

Placed images in Illy CS5

When I place images in Illustrator CS5,
I usually do it with RGB jpegs or RGB Psd (photoshop images)
while my document in illustrator is in CMYK mode
Then When my file is ready to be send for print
I save AS PDF (option Press Quality is Checked)
My question is the following:
Do I need to convert the placed photoshop images
into CMYK and/or any other particular format (tiff or else)
AND THEN SAVE IT as PDF
Or when saved as PDF the program automatically does for me???
I used to be a FREEHAND user and with Freehand we had to convert the images in CMYK (tif)
and then REPLACE THEM with the new ones before sending the file to a print shop
So far In illustrator I haven,t been converting my images into CMYK
and had no problems with my printed jobs (leaving all placed files as are - RGB)
IS THIS THE RIGHT WAY ...ANY OTHER CLUES AS TO WHAT TO DO
THANK YOU VERY MUCH
GYPAS

Thanks Monica
I think that color management issues are a thing I need to dig into a little more.
As I have mentioned so Far I Have not had ANY problems with the printed outcome
even if I left the placed images in RGB formats
The reason that suits me at least is that I save time this way (not having to convert the placed files in CMYK)
AND THEN REPLACE THEM.
Also I keep my Hard drive not so full since I dont keep CMYK files that take up more memory and space.
BUT THE QUESTION CONTINUES....
Is it better to EMBED the images upon placement. Does Illy treat them any different???
Thanks again for your valuable input
Keep up the good work
A.

My InDesign program is printing my placed images lighter than illustrator.

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