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grhanka
Participating Frequently
February 24, 2018
Answered

Liquid layout object-based resize failing for oversized, cropped images

  • February 24, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 1615 views

When I use liquid layout to increase the page size, oversized images (cropped to screen size) don't always resize properly.

I am using object-based, autofit, resize-with-page, pin to left and top edge. When I create an alternate layout, small images scale perfectly, but it fails for images that extend invisibly beyond the page (ie, imaged cropped to the page size.) They come out the wrong size or location.

The images span two pages (Ie., they cover the spread.)  When I use the page tool to preview, it shows them resizing correctly.

I have tried pinning all four sides, and I have tried setting the same liquid layout options for the image contents. Neither worked. Any ideas?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Erica Gamet

    I find that sometimes grouping objects together gets me better results. Without seeing the actual INDD file, I don't know that I have specific answers for you. But sometimes I've put anchor (not anchored) objects (just blank frames placed strategically) and grouped them with what needs to scale. But only if I'm going to be making an alternate layout frequently from it...sometimes it's quicker to use Alternate Layouts and just manually tweak from there. Still a HUGE timesaver!

    2 replies

    G
    grhankaAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    February 28, 2018

    I think I found a real solution. For me, liquid layout fails only on images that span more than a single page. The solution is to replace a single, multi-page image with two copies of itself, each cropped to the size of its own page.  Set the liquid layout rules to object-based, auto-fit, resize height and width, pin top and left. Indesign now rescales correctly when I create an alternate layout with a different page size, and exports seamless two-page spreads to PDF and Epub. Image updates are easy, because both halves of the image are still linked to the original.

    Here is a procedure that takes 30 seconds per image:

    (1) Select the image

    (2) Clear liquid-layout auto-fit.

    (3) Copy to clipboard. (CTRL-C)

    (4) Crop to page size. (Set the image width to the page size.)

    (5) Paste the copy in place. (CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-V)

    (6) Crop the copy to the other page. (Move the reference point, then set the image width to the page size.)

    (7) Set liquid-layout auto-fit for both copies.

    Steve Werner
    Community Expert
    Steve WernerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 24, 2018

    The Liquid Layout feature was never intended to automatically handle all situations. It was intended as a starting point for designers to reduce the amount of work when they need to create multiple layouts with different sizes and aspect ratios.

    It's never been an entirely successful feature.

    G
    grhankaAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    February 24, 2018

    Rats. Not the answer I was hoping for.

    At least Liquid Layout works okay for images that don't span both pages of a spread, and I guess that's something.

    Erica Gamet
    Erica GametCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    February 28, 2018

    I find that sometimes grouping objects together gets me better results. Without seeing the actual INDD file, I don't know that I have specific answers for you. But sometimes I've put anchor (not anchored) objects (just blank frames placed strategically) and grouped them with what needs to scale. But only if I'm going to be making an alternate layout frequently from it...sometimes it's quicker to use Alternate Layouts and just manually tweak from there. Still a HUGE timesaver!

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