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Question

How do you put a white frame around an object and black outline around that white frame?

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
July 6, 2020
4 replies
3953 views

I have a number of photos in a book. I need to put a white frame around each photo and a thin black line around that white frame. I know how to create a line around an object but I wondered if there was a QUICK way to add a white frame all round the object and then add a black line to than white frame without having to draw a box round the object, make it white, send to back of photo, then make sure it's the same width all round and then go to 'stroke' and add the line required.

I've tried looking online and on the forum but can only see instructions to add a single line around an object.

Many thanks

How to

This topic has been closed for replies.

rob day

Community Expert

I am surprised that I can;t just extend the edges of the photo in white as you can in Photoshop.

Before getting into the custom stroke style it might be worth noting that in InDesign every placed image has two parts—the image itself and a parent frame. The stroke gets applied to the parent frame, not the image.

Here the image (red frame) and its parent (blue frame) are not aligned

I can fit the parent frame to the image via Object>Fitting>Fit Frame to Content and then apply a custom stroke to the parent frame—select the parent frame with the black Selection tool, and the image with the white Direct Selection tool.

Below I’ve applied the custom stroke @jmlevy described. The stroke’s weight is .5cm, which includes the gap and stroke defined by the custom stroke style, the alignment is to the outside of the parent frame, and the Gap Color is defined as White. To create the custom style choose Stroke Styles... from the Stroke panel, then New>Type Stripe.

I can select multiple images and applied the custom stroke to all:

W

Wilton PublishingServicesAuthor

Known Participant

Thanks Rob! I will try this method out. I didn't know that the parent frame has the stroke not the actual image. I have so much to learn about Indesign! Thank you for the screenshots so I can understand the process easily - really appreciate that.

BobLevine

Community Expert

The easiest solution to this, IMO would be to set a negative crop in the frame fitting options, add the stroke and create the object style that way.

jmlevy

Community Expert

Hi Bob,

That was my first thought, but impossible to get equal insets without getting uneven image scaling. And worse, it does not honor the 5 mm asked for negative crop.

BobLevine

Community Expert

Good point. Maybe best to handle this with a Photoshop action to add the white border.

Derek Cross

Community Expert

Having set up your frame, create an Object Style, you can then assign a keyboard shorcut to it and easily apply the frame to any image you have.

W

Wilton PublishingServicesAuthor

Known Participant

Thank you for your reply. Does your method assume all photos are the same size? What I was wanting to do was extend the photo edges by 0.5cm and make them white then add a stroke round that frame. It doesn't seem possible to do that in Indesign. Instead it seems like I would have to draw a new frame around every photo and then centralise the photo and it would take far too long as each photo is a different size and not necessarily an exact measurement - for eg 6.3cm x 5.7cm. So I think you are saying I would need to draw a new frame that was 7.3 x 6.7 and centralise the photo in that. I am surprised that I can;t just extend the edges of the photo in white as you can in Photoshop.

Geоrge

Legend

Did you really read what Derek says? Stop to be writer, try to be listener.

You're need to use object style for your images.

Some basics for you -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQNffK24_L8

Remember, never say you can't do something in InDesign, it's always just a question of finding the right workaround to get the job done. © David Blatner

jmlevy

Community Expert

Make the picture frame bigger than the content, apply “paper” for the fill color and apply a black stroke. Center the content in the frame.

You can also create a custom stroke like this:

The stroke has to be very thick: in the exemple above, the stroke is 57 pt

W

Wilton PublishingServicesAuthor

Known Participant

Many thanks for your reply but your method seems very time consuming because all the photos are a different size so each frame (box) I would draw would need to be different. How do I make the frame bigger so it's even size all the way round? Do you mean to draw a box around every photo and centre the photo in that frame? In which case it would take a long time to do because I'd have to measue each photo and then add on frame width, draw the box, put photo in middle and add stroke to the box. What I was hoping to do was to extend the area around the frame a set width on all photos in one go if possible without having to work out measurements and centralise the photo. Putting a thick line around each photo won;' work because that eats into the photo and makes it smaller.

In the end I took every photo into photoshop and added a 0.5cm frame around and then took back into Indesign and added the line around the photo frame. But I was hoping there was a way to just add a white around each photo by extending the photo edge by 0.5cm. If I have misunderstood your method please can you explain to me in more detail how to do this. I don't want to have to spend time measuring each photo to add a frame around it because it would take too long as they are all sorts of sizes.

jmlevy

Community Expert

Putting a thick line around each photo won;' work because that eats into the photo and makes it smaller.

No, you can choose to apply the stroke outside of the frame in the stroke panel.

but your method seems very time consuming because all the photos are a different size so each frame (box) I would draw would need to be different

No time consuming and no need to draw any frame. Just place your pictures: as I explained in my first answer, create a custom stroke style with similar settings as mine (you'll have to make some tries depending the thickness of the black outline you want). Apply this custom stroke to any frame and you'll get the result you want to achieve. In my exemple below, the stroke is 17 pt thick (1pt is equal to 0,352 mm). If you want to be more efficient, follow the method Derek described (object style and keyboard shortcut).

In the screen capture, the red square measures 5 mm

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