Changing layer visibility moves objects?

[turner111]

I have just found that turning layer visibility on and off in a placed Illustrator file causes the remaining visible content to shift...

This is not good.

Using an object in Illustrator having no fill/outline does not work.

Any way to fix / change this?

[rob day · Accepted solution]

When you placed the file what was the Crop to option set to? Make sure it's not Bounding Box (Visible Layers Only).

[turner111]

Thanks - when did that change? I've never had to set that before...

[JKThree]

Thank Rob! Is there a way to change the "crop to:" option AFTER the objects are already placed? I have an entire document with about 25 links and would prefer NOT to have to go back and re-place everything.

[Laubender]

Hi turner111 ,

is this with InDesign CC 2019?

How did you set your preferences for the new feature "Content-Aware Fit" ?

Was that turned on while placing the Illustrator file?

Or is it turned on while changing layer visibility of the placed graphic?

Regards,
Uwe

// EDIT: Rob is right on this.

Crop: Bounding Box ( Visible Layers Only )

is the worst thing to do here.

Content-Aware Fit in preferences enabled when changing layer visibility definitely has an influence.

Even if you placed e.g. with Crop: Media

[turner111]

Hi Uwe - thanks for the note - Yes, I'm using 2019 now. Everything was left as default in regard to Content-Aware Fit, as far as I know.

By the way - where can I find the settings for this? I just looked through prefs but didn't see it. (Would be great if there were a search field in Preferences!)

I placed the Illustrator file without selecting a frame first.

[Laubender]

Hi turner111 ,

just wanted to re-edit my reply 3 to:

Content-Aware Fit in preferences enabled when placing graphics and later changing layer visibility definitely has an influence.

Even if you placed e.g. with Crop: Media

Just tested this with CC 2019 14.0.1.209.

Fortunately Content-Aware Fit is disabled by default in InDesign Preferences.

It's under General. The last item.

Regards,
Uwe

[turner111]

Hi -

Ok, I'm on 14.0.1 and I'm sure Content-Aware Fit came is as enabled by default, because it was on, and I didn't even know where to find it

However, does this mean that the default preferences state of Content-Aware Fit changes fitting functionality for all files placed into that ID file?

What happens if the preference is changed on a working file?

It's a cool option but I'm not clear on what "permanent" effect it may have on a working file.

[Laubender]

I'm still investigating, but I'm sure that Content-Aware Fit is disabled by default.

When installing InDesign CC 2019 I made absolutely sure that I disabled migrating previous settings.

Maybe migrating previous settings can make a difference? Unlikely, but who knows?

First tests are showing:

If 1. Content-Aware Fit is enabled in preferences while placing an AI file with Crop: Media

and later if 2. Content-Aware Fit is still or again enabled in preferences when changing layer visibility on that placed graphic from step 1, the visibile contents will jump around.

Regards,
Uwe

[Laubender]

Here my results in screenshots:

Have an AI file with 3 layers:

Rect-1

Rect-Center

Rect-2

With all the layers just one rectangle is placed.

All 3 rectangles are not leaving the artboard in Illustrator.

Media is a different area vs Select All.

I placed the same graphic with Crop: Media on a page two times.

Difference: With the one on top, Content-Aware Fit in the Preferences was disabled.

With the one on the bottom Content-Aware Fit was enabled:

Duplicated the page two times.

On the left I changed layer visibility of the placed graphics while Content-Aware Fit was disabled.

No big surprise. The graphics did not "move" inside their frames.

On the bottom right page you see something different.

The graphic on the bottom changed in scale and position after I changed layer visibility.

Regards,
Uwe

[turner111]

Thanks Uwe.

I'm finding content-aware fit to be a bit weird (for example, cropping off part of a square image in a square frame) so I'll have to experiment a bit.

Cheers

[Laubender]

Hi,

I'm very glad you asked this question.

The results I see with graphics from Illustrator and PDFs are not the same compared to images that are purely pixel based.

If I inspect the two placed graphics of my sample on page one I hardly can see the difference. But there is one:

Placed when Content-Aware Fit was disabled:

Placed when Content-Aware Fit was enabled:

No difference yet, but here it comes:

vs.

and that:

vs.

I wonder why the algorithm of Content-Aware Fit strikes again when changing Layer Visibility on the one graphic that was placed while Content-Aware Fit was enabled in the Preferences and does nothing on the graphic above when changing Layer Visibility. The Frame Fiiting Options are basically the same. Somehow the frame at the bottom remembers that it was placed while Content-Aware Fit was turned on in Preferences.

I suspect a bug here or a unknown property that was set to the frame or the image.

Looked for it in exported IDMS files but found none.

Regards,
Uwe

[turner111]

Hi Uwe,

I suspect it's a bug, though it feels more like something needs to be "added" to the code rather than something "breaking".

I created an image like yours; I couldn't figure out what it was using to judge how to crop a square image (bitmap) vs. a square vector of the same thing, as it was enlarging the bitmap by about 20% and anchoring it in the lower right.

[Laubender]

Hi,

think, I found the reason for the different behavior. I did not look close enough:

I was wrong in my last reply, the Frame Fitting Options were basically not the same.

The frame where size and position of the contents did not change after changing the Layer View has:

Frame Fitting Options, Fit: "Fit Frame Proportionally" applied to.

Don't ask me why. The default with my InDesign CC 2019 with no document open is Fit: "None".

The frame where size and position of the contents changed has:

Frame Fitting Options, Fit: "None" applied to.

Still, something is very strange with that.

Regards,
Uwe

[JKThree]

"When you placed the file what was the Crop to option set to? Make sure it's not Bounding Box (Visible Layers Only)."

Anyone know - Is there a way to change the "crop to:" option AFTER the objects are already placed? I have an entire document with about 25 links and would prefer NOT to have to go back and re-place everything.