Inverting colors of a placed pdf

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
July 1, 2024
4 replies
1291 views

Hi there,

I was wondering if there is a way to invert the pages and text colors of a placed multi-page pdf once it's in InDesign? In the past, I've literally had to select "Edit With" then "Photoshop" for every individual page in order to invert and add a textured background, before saving and then dropping it back in place of the page. Is this the only way to do it?

**For context, I'm not seasoned in this program yet and have never used a word document rather than a pdf, so I realize there might be more functionality for a docx than a pdf. Problem is, I use one main program to format the bulk of my books, then transfer to InDesign after generated to create additional formatting the other program does not offer.

How to

This topic has been closed for replies.

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

Just a very general observation that may be completely off-target: it sounds as if you have a very complex workflow that might have some simpler path. It's easy to have a project or process advance, one step at a time, until it's several slightly random steps to an end goal. I'd wonder if you could back up and achieve your (evolved) goal with a simpler workflow and processes.

Maybe not. But sometimes work put into streamlining a process is more productive than finding better ways to do each step.

rob day

Community Expert

it sounds as if you have a very complex workflow

Staying in InDesign would make things a lot easier—it’s not exactly intuitive, but with RGB transparency the Difference mode with white underneath does produce the exact same output values as an Invert in Photoshop:

rob day

Community Expert

Hi @deegarciawithBWD , Also, the Difference Blending mode has no affect on a transparent page (a fill set to [None]). So for it to work with a placed PDF where the page background might be transparent, you will need to set the Object to Difference and make a rectangle filled with white behind that covers the page. Here the placed PDF page on the right is set to Difference and there is another rectangle set to 255|255|255 RGB behind. I’ve attached my example

InvertExample.zip

rob day

Community Expert

You can do it by setting your Transparency Blend Space to RGB, and with the container frame set to 255|255|255, set the placed PDF or Graphic to Difference: