Extend images with Generative Expand

[HARSHIKA_VERMA]

Hello Everyone, Happy MAX!

Generative Expand seamlessly extends your image, filling empty frames with content that blends perfectly with the original!

Try it in the app Work with a sample file and learn how to use Generative Expand.

Open InDesign

Note:

Before you proceed, ensure you're connected to the internet, as Generative Expand requires cloud processing. Generative Expand is not available in mainland China.

Automate complex edits by extending images beyond borders

Leverage Generative Expand to automatically fill missing areas when resizing images, analyze surrounding pixels for seamless background or object extensions, save time, and enhance compositions with cohesive expansions.

Tips and tricks

• Once you select an expanded variation, the Contextual Task Bar and panel will change to Text to Image as the text frame has no empty space.
• If there is some empty space in the image frame, you can use the Text to Image panel drop-down to switch to Generative Expand.
• For an effective text prompt, stick with simple and direct language. Use three to eight words, including a description, character, color, scene, and more. Don’t worry about adding commands like add or remove. Instead, use simple phrases like sunrise behind mountains, a man with headphones, or an ice cream parlor. Learn more about writing effective prompts.

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[Mike Witherell]

My first idea when I read this post would be an AI moment where InDesign sees images that are up against the edge of the page, but not properly set to bleed. It would AI adjust the frame to the bleed edge. More AI: it would extend image area to match the bleed distance.

[reproo2773183]

Large Megapixel images come back with the long edge at 4000pixels, they come back as the whole image regardless of crop. Was expecting to only get new pixels, but actually the whole image has reduced in quality.

Pre - cropping and limiting the final long edge to 2048pixels or less gives far superior results.

This is not a practical workaround in InDesign, for big images you are best off using Photoshop expanding a bit at a time.

[Daniel Kramer]

Great to see this in InDesign

[Michael Ambroise]

Many thanks !

[Greg Wells]

i'm not actually seeing the contextual task bar when I try this. and it shows it's active in the windows menu. 😞

[creative explorer]

This is pretty cool...I just wish when text is used in the artwork, it is in English. I had 3 different images, and only one had English in it, while the other two seem gibberish

[jane-e]

I just wish when text is used in the artwork, it is in English.

By @creative explorer

See the answer from Professor Peter Bentley in this article at PetaPixel here:

 https://petapixel.com/2024/03/06/why-ai-image-generators-struggle-to-get-text-right/

Jane

[headTrix Training]

so cool!

[photoretouchpro]

Indesign Generative Expand (Beta) appears to work with RGB JPEGs/PNGs and will convert to RGB if a CMYK JPEG is used. TIFs and PSDs will show the Expand function grayed out. There is no link path for the generated image so I cannot find it to copy to the work folder. The generated image should be stored where the original image is. I have been wanting this feature for a very long time and am glad to be able to start using it.

[Nicktendo28]

AI is coming along and fast. Exciting new things!

[jany38741646xcrv]

Amazing post, very helpful.

[J E L]

I see how this could be useful in some situations. The generated image does not appear to be editable from within InDesign through the Links panel (edit in Photoshop) and the original image is not preserved within the app as a separate layer or link.

[reproo2773183]

Gen AI images are Embedded in the InDesign Document.

Links Panel, Right Click, Copy Link(s) to... , Save

You'll then be able to Edit as normal.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Generative Expand seems to be listed in the »Text to Image (Beta)«-Panel here (19.5 on MacOS 14.5), but inactive.

Could this be due to the phased roll-out or should it be generally available now? 

[Sherry @ Lacy & Par]

Anyone else having issues where the generated image has the appearance of lower resolution than the rest of the photo? The edge of the original photo is clearly detectible, and the generated image is blurrier on mine.

(good distinction, reproo2773183; I've edited my comment for clarity.)

[reproo2773183]

Yes, it can have the appearance of  considerably lower resolution or smudgy, it isn't lower resolution than the rest of the returned image, but the whole image can be noticably lower than you started with.

You can get much better results if you pre-crop and scale the original image so that the AI returned image is 2048pixels or less on the long edge. But since this is meant to be a time saver and avoid the round-trip to Photoshop I'm not sure how practical or worthwhile this is.

[Colin Flashman]

Mike Rankin at CreativePro has published an article that does highlight some current behaviours with this new tool that are worth knowing before diving head-long into using this technique: https://creativepro.com/why-you-should-use-generative-expand-in-photoshop-not-indesign/

In short, it highlights several issues:

• File Management: Original Link and File Name Lost
• Potential Color Management Problems
• Changes in Resolution, Scaling, and Metadata
• Captions Lost
• File Format Changes, Unknown Quality
• Content Credentials Unavailable

Hopefully these issues are resolved in due course, as the feature (at the time of writing) has been recently introduced.

[enricaraviola]

hi, my indesign italian version is 19.5. Is it always true this statement? tks for yout answer

"Currently, Generative Expand is only available in the InDesign versions of English International and English North America."