Pattern trouble - Illustrator to InDesign

[Provazi]

Hello,

I have an EPS pattern:

I wish to isolate the pattern from the white background in Illustrator and apply it to a page in InDesign (I also wish to be able to change its size). Additionally, I want the flexibility to change the pattern's color within InDesign itself (the idea is to change the pattern color as it's part of a collection.)

I tried isolating the background by ungrouping the image and manually removing each background element (I'm still new to Illustrator, and I think I might be doing something wrong)... However, when I try to place it in InDesign, I can't change the color (the entire image's color is altered.)

Could someone let me know what I might be doing wrong? Thank you!

[Monika Gause]

If you want to be able to change the color in InDesign you would need to copy the elements in Illustrator, then switch to InDesign and Paste.

This has drawbacks:

1. You can only copy and paste 500 objects.

2. InDesign will slow down.

What you want to do, is place the AI file and change the color in Illustrator.

[Provazi]

Hey Monika,

I actually copied the elements in Illustrator and switched to InDesign and pasted it - this is what I do when I want to change the object's color in InDesign.

But the thing is, when I change its color in InDesign, this happens:

The background color changes, not the pattern color itself.

I also receive this message when I paste the pattern in InDesign:

I believe there is an easier way to do it... It seems so simple.

Thank you anyway.

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

The message tells you that there are more than 500 paths and therefore they get pasted as an EPS and are not editable. As I said: place the AI file and then edit the color in Illustrator.

[Provazi]

Thank you, Monika. I thought there was a workaround to do it all in InDesign.

[Monika Gause]

You do not want to do that, because InDesign doesn't like too many paths on a page.

Switching to Illustrator is just holding down Alt and then double clicking the placed artwork on the page.

[Ton Frederiks]

If the EPS pattern is vector and a real pattern, you can double click the pattern in the Swatches panel to remove a background when it opens in the Pattern maker. You can also create color variations there.