invert image in InDesign CS6

[madameblossom]

How can I invert (make a negative image) a Tiff (or JPG) image within Indesign CS6?

This can be done in Photoshop, but I don't want to keep swapping applications or have to make and save a new (negative) image in Photoshop and then import into Indesign.

This was so easy in Quark years ago!

Thanks!

[Jongware]

Set the fill color of the rectangle holding your image to Black, and the fill color of the image itself (select with the white arrow) to Paper.

This will only work on grayscale and black-and-white images; then again, those are the only logical candidates to make negative.

In case "it is not working": there is a difference between a full color image containing only gray pixels and a real grayscale image. The former cannot be changed in ID, the latter can.

[madameblossom]

Thanks, but can't get it to work. I imagine using a Fill etc doesn't give the result that an 'invert' command does in Photoshop.

Quark may be long gone in common usage, but it did have some better functions than InDesign!

[Doc Maik]

Objection! It is not the task of a layout tool to process digital images. If you invert the original in PS, you don't even need to place it.

[White Vanilla]

I want to do that too. But I cannot figure it out. 

I have an PNG which only uses the color black. But, now I want to change the background color to black and invert the image. However, when selecting the image with the white arrow I do not have the option to change it to paper. What can I do?

From Adobe Illustrator I can export PNG's, JPG's, Tiff's.

[rob day]

What can I do?

It has to be a grayscale. Open the PNG in Photoshop, convert Image>Mode to Grayscale, and make sure to flatten. Save As PSD.

[White Vanilla]

That is unfortuate, I thought it maybe could be done with Illustrator files or PNG's/TIFF's from Illustrator. Or might that be possible after all?

[rob day]

TIFF should work—its Export dialog lets you choose Grayscale as the Color Model and they export flattened:

[White Vanilla]

When I export the TIFF-file the background becomes white when doing grayscale. Is that what should happen?

I expected it to be transparent.

So, what I want is a file that I can change the color of in InDesign and is also transparent by itself.

[BobLevine]

You cannot colorize a transparent TIF

[rob day]

Then you would have to open the AI TIFF (or the PNG and skip AI) at a high resolution in Photoshop and convert it to Bitmap Mode (Black and White). Here I’ve opened an AI file at 1000ppi and converted it to Bitmap Mode:

Placed in ID, the frame has a white fill:

The frame set to [None] and the Bitmap set to Blue: