"tilt" an image down/away

if its just an image, why not use PS to 3d postcard the image... then place the PSD file in InDesign. Answering another point which seems to have been missed...

And what's the best format to place in InDesign? Seems .jpg is losing depth of the black.

Depends on resolution etc: But placing JPG is fine (always check effective PPI) if thats fine but the JPG is RGB, placing it into ID and exporting to CMYK PDF, sometimes there is a color shift (duller colours etc) ... but if you are placing the JPG in ID and looking at the image as is: then you are looking at a Proxy of the linked file and is not an accurate err... render.You can adjust the display performance of images to display better in InDesign too...

G

Another way to get a perspective effect is to use one of the Warp effects.

Select the object or group you want to transform, then in the Appearance panel select one of the Warp effects from the pop-up at the bottom of the panel. The trick is to make sure the warp itself is set to 0 but change the Vertical Distortion.

One advantage of using this method is that the effect can be changed at any time by clicking on the effect in the Appearance panel. Also if you need to edit the contents then the effect can be temporarily disabled by toggling the visibility of the effect in the Appearance panel.

There is no Symbol surface mapping in 3D Rotate; it is not necessary. Simply select the grouped artwork and apply 3D Rotate.

For InDesign import, either Save As... a PDF, or save as native AI with the PDF compatibility option on. InDesign cannot import native AI content. It imports the PDF version of the content of an AI file (if any).

JET

Two ways but in both cases make the image a symbol first.

A. place the symbol on the canvas and select it. then use the Free Trnsform tool

to apply the perspective transform.

You do that by clicking a corner anchor with the tools cursor, it looks like you are going resize the symbol but when you then hold downthe command

optio shift key and drag it will give you a perspective transform. Read the help files.

the you make a rectangle and use the 3D Effect to rotate art nd map the symbol to the surface. Read the help files

redpointone,

If you have CS5, you can use the perspective grid. If not, you may use the Free Transform Tool on the Bounding Box, dragging on of the upper corners inward while holding (when you have just started dragging) Ctrl+Alt+Shift/Cmd+Option+Shift.

No reason to use anything but AI in InDesign.