making solid layout/grid?

[NM MSDK]

Hi everyone!

I just downloaded InDesign!

For my work i am making work-manuals kind of in LEGO-style. I render out 3D-images in an 3D program, then i edit those images out in PhotoShop and then my next step will be making a book in InDesign.

First i did that all within PhotoShop, but the people there told me that PS is not really the tool for that, and that InDesign would make it a lot cleaner. So i already have a layout from my previous booklets, but now i have to make that whitin InDesign.

This is the layout, does anyone maybe have an informational video on youtube? because i would not really know where to start looking? Or maybe its not that hard as it seems to me and does someone know how to make this within a few easy steps?

Thanks already!

-Nick

[Mike Witherell · Accepted solution]

Recreate those squares and rectangles in InDesign using the Rectangle Frame Tool and build them on a Parent page. The parent provides all the rectangles to each actual page, kinda like a template. In advance, convert any frame that needs to be a textframe into a textframe by either clicking it with the Type tool, or choosing it and choosing Object > Content > Text. Now you can move to the actual pages and begin to File > Place the picture content into the big boxes, and File > Place the word.docx text into the textframe rectangles. Where some text is the same in each small box, simply build it in the parent page and it will be on all the pages in common. Also, consider taking some instruction from an Adobe Certified Instructor.

[Conrad_C · Accepted solution]

How did you built it in Photoshop, using the pixel tools or the vector-based shape tools?

Because if you used the vector tools (line, shapes) in Photoshop, then it would work that way with similar tools in InDesign or Illustrator which are both vector-based.

For example, if in Photoshop you used the Rectangle shape tool (not the Rectangular Marquee tool) to build that layout using vector rectangles, then it’s the same in InDesign: Drag the Rectangle tool, set its Stroke color to black with the stroke width you want, and set its Fill color to white or none.

If you want to put graphics inside any rectangle, either draw it using the Frame tool instead as Mike Witherill suggested, or convert the rectangle to a graphics frame by choosing Object > Content > Graphic (or Text if you want to type in it).

One reason this would be nicer to do in InDesign is because of Object Styles. Before drawing, I would set up an Object Style with the stroke and fill settings I want for all the rectangles or frames, and then as I draw I would make sure all of those objects have that Object Style applied. The benefit comes if I ever want to change the appearance of all rectangles throughout the book. By simply editing the Object Style, all rectangles tagged with that style will update at once.

For the text, if you took advantage of paragraph styles and character styles in Photoshop, InDesign has those too.

Because you are making a book, if there are any layouts you reuse on multiple pages, draw the layout on a parent page, then apply the parent page to any book pages that need to use that layout. Similar to styles, by editing the parent page, those changes will update any pages based on that, saving a lot of revision time and making it easy to keep the book consistent throughout.

[NM MSDK]

Thanks man!

But i read somewhere that InDesign uses "interactive" images. For example that when i use an PhotoShop doc and ill edit that, that it will update automatically in InDesign. But those persons suggested that i use File -> Place, but if i convert my regulair square to a grapic square will it also keep its "interactive" properties?

Thanks!

[Conrad_C · Accepted solution]

I’m not familiar with the term “interactive image” being used that way; usually “interactive” means an image you can click on as a button that makes other things happen. In InDesign, all the File > Place command does is link back to the actual image file using a file path; in other words, it does not make its own copy of the image to store inside the InDesign document. That means the Place command works exactly the same way as an image on a web page, or a video imported into a pro video editor…in all of those cases, the document does not contain a copy of the media file but links back to the actual file, showing only a placeholder in the document. Not embedding a copy saves a lot of storage space, and makes updates easy (edit the original file, and it’s updated in all pages or documents linking to it).

The way I answered your question was assuming you were talking about just the empty black rectangles. Those can be drawn as graphics in InDesign, and you would use Object Styles with those. If you are talking about photos or other graphics that you want to place inside the frames, then those would not need Object Styles, but they will, as you say, “keep its ‘interactive’ properties.” For example, after you place a Photoshop document into an InDesign graphics frame, at any time you can choose Edit > Edit Original, and that will pop that graphic open in Photoshop. If you edit that in Photoshop and save it, the instance in the InDesign document will update.

What’s shown in the demo below (sped up 2x to minimize the GIF animation file size):

1. Using the Rectangle tool to draw graphics frames. (Actually, I drew one and kept duplicating it.)

2. New frames are not the correct style, so I open the Object Styles panel and apply my pre-defined “Graphics frame” style, and all selected frames are instantly corrected. 

3.I switch to Adobe Bridge where several images are selected, and I start dragging them. Without releasing the drag, I switch back to InDesign and the pointer is loaded with the images. (This works because drag and drop to InDesign is a shortcut for File > Place. If you were in the Place dialog box, you could select multiple images.)  

4. In InDesign, watching which image is active in the Place pointer, I click the loaded pointer in a frame to load that image into it, and repeat for other frames.  

5. The images were not properly fitting the frames, so I edited the Object Style for the frame, adjusting Frame Fitting Options so that all frames use the Fill Frame Proportionally option. 

6. I decide that one image needs further editing, so I select it and choose Edit > Edit Original. The source image file is popped open in Photoshop. 

So given some experience with InDesign and some advance planning, building each page can go very quickly, as shown.

Not shown: The numerous features InDesign has for managing automatic page numbers, parent pages, management of spreads and facing pages, etc. to make book building far faster and easier than it ever would be in Photoshop alone. 

[NM MSDK]

Thank you very much!

My apologies, with the term "interactive" images i meant linked images.

I thought that linked images or plainly said "images that chane when you edit them" only could be achieved after following a few select steps, but appeareantly this is the standard from what i understand now.

Thanks for clearing that up!

Also thanks so much for the informational GIF, that awnsered all my questions within a single GIF!

Amazing, and thank you so much!

-Nick

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Do you plan/want the 3D to be interactive for the end user? 

[NM MSDK]

No, i render 3D scenes with multiple views, these views are 2D, those rendered images get edited in PS and then placed in InDesign.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Just as an aside, you can import 3D images into a PDF in Acrobat Pro and the viewers would be able to interact with them. You can set a poster frame too in case someone prints the PDF. Of course, the viewers would (most likely) need Acrobat Reader.

[NM MSDK]

That is indeed a fun and handy fact!

[NM MSDK · Accepted solution]

Before all these amazing people responded, i had already achieved it, but with a huge workaround.

I am originally an engineer by trade, so i took the engineering way to achieve it.

First i measured the size of all squares within the frame. Then i calculated the exact middle coordinates of each square. Then i placed the squares and set the stroke to 0. Then i calculated the exact X and Y coordinates of the middle of the square as opposed to the absolute 0 X-Y. And then i filled in those coordinates. And then finally when all "skeletons" of the frame parts where into the desired place, i adjusted the stroke to what i wanted them to be.

(It was only after i had everything into place when i figured out that if your stroke is 0 the square's snap into place).

It works, but as i said, probably a huge workaround.

-Nick