Create a frame from a picture

[mzreik98]

Hello, I am new to indesign and I took a simple course on udemy to understand the basics and I think I'm ready to work on Indesign now. I am trying to create and Architecture Portfolio. I did the cover page on photoshop before learning indesign but now I need to have the same language from the cover page on some other pages.

I want to create a frame out of the shape you see below, I tried doing it with the pen tool by clicking on the edge of each shape you see but It is going to take time and it is not a 100% accurate. Is there a way to create a frame out of these shapes? I have the picture as png where instead of the white parts it's actually transparent.

[Derek Cross]

Not entirely sure what you are trying to achieve, but re format, don't save as PNG, save as a native PSD file (in Photoshop) and Place that in InDesign and add the text there.

[mzreik98]

What I am trying to do is that I need the same boundaries or shape, and just replace the picture, I want to do it multiple times. I did something right now is that I managed to trace the shape on illustrator and have the shape, now I just want to import that shape into indesign and place the picture on the shape. Is there a way to do that?

[rob day · Accepted solution]

Draw your boxes and then make them into a compound path—Select All, Object>Paths>Make Compound Path. With the compund path selected place your image. In general .PSD is a better image format than .PNG.

[Derek Cross]

Keep you images in RGB colour mode.

Will the final output of your portfolio from InDesign be digital or printed?

[Laubender · Accepted solution]

In effect you see a couple of rectangles that are rotated and cut.

You can do this easily in InDesign.

After you rotated the rectangles draw a rectangle for every "cut" you want to do, position it on top of a rotated rectangle, select both and use the pathfinder tools to subtract the shape on top from the one in the back.

All tools and techniques you need explained here:

Step and repeat

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/grouping-locking-duplicating-objects.html

Compound shapes and pathfinder options:

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/compound-paths-shapes.html

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Depending on how you created your Photoshop file, another option is to place the photos in Photoshop. Place the one PSD file in InDesign and use layer control to show the layer your want.