Inspiring

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Import from Illustrator looks terrible in InDesign

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When I place graphic files in InDesign it looks terrible. Normally it works perfect. What is wrong?

I tried to change from Mac to PC, but that did not help

Barb BinderCorrect answer

Community Expert

Effective PPI are 23

Bingo. For print, you want to resolution to be at lease 200 ppi, although the precise number depends on the output device. The files are very very low res and that accounts for the pixelation.

You can place native .ai files from Illustrator into InDesign and not have to deal with resolution at all. That's my recommendation.

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

N

Naima26152819r8el

Participant

For me, the quality was great when I imported my vector file into inDesign, but would pixelate when I would try to export as PDF. I realized that when saving the document, I could change the compression of the images. So I changed it to JPEG2000(Losless) and increased my resolution to 300ppi and that worked for me 🙂 Hope this helps!

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lindam78074167

Participant

I am having the same issue. I purchased a vector .ai file from Adobe and it looks aweful. I did a test print and it prints terribly as well. I am placing the .ai file in InDesign, not pasting it. All of my setting are set to high quality and it doesn't change how the image looks or prints at all. This is for use on a 16' x 4' banner so it will be very large. I have NEVER had this issue before with a .ai file looking like a small jpg when placed. I checked the options when placing the file and it shows no PPI as it should because it's a vector file, but still the file is poor quality. I have re-downloaded the file. no change. I converted it to SVG and that showed up blank. I have several different .ai vector files (I opened them in Illustrator to be sure I was downloading a non-vector file saved as .ai and it is vector when opened in Illustrator. I have wasted hours on this and nothing helps.

I recently updated my operating system to Monterey and updated InDesign to 17.4. These updates were done to solve another problem with InDesign and it did fix that problem. My settings were not reset to default after the download.

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R

ralstond_mx

Participant

InDesign 17.4 Preferences > Display Performance > Adjust View Settings > Vector Graphics: Slider all the way to the right (High Resolution)

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nilleg57851248Author

Inspiring

Thank You all for all your good support.

What a relief

Wish you all a wonderful and inspiring week

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Mike Witherell

Community Expert

Try these steps in this order:

1. Close the file

2. Open InDesign preferences > Display performance

3. Set both Typicals to High Quality

4. Uncheck Preserve Object Level Display Settings

5. Click OK

6. Re-open your file

7. Sometimes InDesign stubbornly ignores these global settings and a right-click of the problem graphic might reveal something under Display Performance.

Further advice:

Don't copy n paste from Illy; it is better to PLACE an Illustrator .ai file. If you feel you must copynpaste, go to Illy preferences > File Handling > Clipboard. Turn off Include SVG Code. Turn ON AICB and either preserve paths or preserve appearance and overprints, if you are making more complex drawing.

Don't use the aged, creaky EPS filetype anymore. It cannot transparency blend mode. It cannot support live effects like drop shadows. Save stuff as .AI or .PDF from Illustrator.

Oh, and make sure your links are good in the Links panel.

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Mike Witherell

nilleg57851248Author

Inspiring

Hurrayyy

It was the handling/clipboard thing

Thank you for so many good advises :-D

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Barb Binder

Community Expert

Select one of the images, and check the Effective PPI in the Links panel. What does it say?

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~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

nilleg57851248Author

Inspiring

Actuall PPI are 72

Effective PPI are 23

Dimensions are 97 x 113

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Mike Witherell

Community Expert

So that means the exports were at 72ppi, and then the art was scaled up in size on the ID page, thus lowering the effective ppi to a crude 23 ppi. How are you exporting these pngs and jpgs from Illustrator? Why are you not keeping the artwork in a vector format like a native .ai file or a PDF file format?

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Mike Witherell

Eternal Warrior

Inspiring

Are you using High Quality display settings?

Right click and choose display performance as below:

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Eternal Warrior

Inspiring

In short > because you could have hundreds or even thousands of graphics/images in an InDesign document unless you specifically tell it to.. InDesign will display everything by default on "typical display settings" or occasionally on Fast display...

This essentially is a thumbnail or pre-render of the actual graphic displayed at a much lower resolution and quality than the original - giving you that blocky effect that you can see.

If however graphics are still blocky on high-quality display settings then this normally means that the original image/graphic is much too small to be scaled to the size you have set it in Indesign (i.e. width/height taken on X size of X spread).

Best,

EW

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nilleg57851248Author

Inspiring

It is now at high, but the result is the same

This illustration is in A4 Size and I import it smaller to Indesign

I think is so strange( fruuustrating) , because it never have been a problem earlier.

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