Creating Editable Form with Clipping Masked Images for Shapes

[larryk24650752]

We have a request from a customer to make hundreds of cut-out shapes using their photos.  Each photo is unique but they will all fit into the same template with the same shape (think stadium cut-outs).  I'm hoping to create a simple form we can distribute to end-users to upload their photos and text, almost like a PDF form. The customer would insert their photo and the shape would show what their photo would look like cut-out.

The only problem is we can't figure out how to make a PDF form with a clipping mask (or some other solution) that shows the shape their photo will be cut-out or clipped.  A finished sample shown.

Any ideas to help?  Acrobat was my first thought but maybe there is a better solution.  The solution needs to be simple and easy for all levels of competency to use.

Thanks in advance for taking a look and considering options.

[Document Geek]

PDF forms can't contain clipping paths. They have to be rectangular. 

You can however, make a regular PDF with the gray area as a separate layer on top of the photo. Then in Acrobat, simply replace the photo using the edit tool. But that's all manual.

Honestly, it would be easiest for you if you use InDesign. Make a compound shape and put it on the master page. Then add as many pages as you need (being sure to apply the master page you just made) and then place all your images into that frame on each page. Be sure to do a test with several images, as you may need to adjust your frame fitting options.

If the images are named properly, you might even be able to use live captions so that the image ID, or student name or other identifying information shows up below the images somewhere. Then you can export PDFs as needed, as a single PDF or as separate pages. 

But InDesign would definetely be a better option that Acrobat. Once your master page is set up, it will be one click per image, as opposed to five in Acrobat.