Skip to main content
P
PenniSummer
Known Participant
August 28, 2009
Question

Need to change an object color to another...help

  • August 28, 2009
  • 4 replies
  • 39544 views

Am working in InDesign. I am making a biz card and put a jpg in with a dropped out background. Made background transparent.  It the color  blue made by a crayon slach.    I want to change that color to a green. I want to do this in InDesign as I already went to so much trouble figuring out how to do transparency.

Basicly,  can I change the image  color in InDesign ?

  Many thanks, Penni

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    4 replies

    Peter Spier
    Peter Spier
    Community Expert
    August 29, 2009

    I did finally come up with a method for coloring transparent RGB images. I set the image frame fill to Paper, then added a second frame above, filled with color, and set the blend mode to Hue. The result isn't particualrly predictable (and does not match the color applied to the upper frame or particularly resemble what happens when you apply color dirctly to a grayscale), since it depends on both the color of the new frame and the underlying color, but the areas that were showing white in the image, or paper in the background, remain colorless.

    Interesting effect, certainly, but not a technique I would employ to try to change the color of a logo, I think.

    P
    Printer_Rick
    Inspiring
    August 29, 2009

    Peter,

    This will achieve what the OP wants. Blue transparent image made green in InDesign.

    OP please bear in mind JPEG can't be transparent. That part of your original post still confuses me.

    Please forgive the extremely low resolution of the image. I have trouble getting files uploaded in the forums. I also stripped ICC profiles to try to get the file size down.

    The red box behind just shows the transparency of the image. The blue image colored green can be placed over anything with transparency intact.

    Peter, while you're at it, take the AI and copy paste into InDesign. Tell me what you think. It's what I tried to upload the other day but it didn't go through.

    Mike_Ornellas
    Mike_Ornellas
    Participating Frequently
    August 29, 2009

    I suspect any behavior change might have something to with handling of transparency, but I'm not sure what change you are talking about.

    Try it Peter.  Take the same files and do the same effect in CS2.  You will see a more realistic colorized or expected result in CS2 vs. a newer build.

    I also suspect a bug in the current CS4 build that allows colorization of some file formats that should not happen, but does when more then one file format resides on a single page.

    Peter Spier
    Peter Spier
    Community Expert
    August 28, 2009

    I'm curious what you mean by "made the background transparent" since by definition a jpeg can't have a transparent background.

    Mike_Ornellas
    Mike_Ornellas
    Participating Frequently
    August 28, 2009

    InDesign is able to colorize NON-Transparent gryascale or bitmap mode raster files only. Since JPEG doesn't support ransparency, it would be possible to add color to a grayscale JPEG in ID, but your file is not grayscale, so there is no way to change the color other than using an image editor such as Photoshop.

    I seem to be able to colorize transparent objects in In design.

    Picture 1.png

    Peter Spier
    Peter Spier
    Community Expert
    August 28, 2009

    InDesign is able to colorize NON-Transparent gryascale or bitmap mode raster files only. Since JPEG doesn't support ransparency, it would be possible to add color to a grayscale JPEG in ID, but your file is not grayscale, so there is no way to change the color other than using an image editor such as Photoshop. If you decide to do that, save the edited image as either a TIFF or native PSD to avoid any more image degradation froom further JPEG compression.

    If you edit and relink you shouldn't see any changes in the effects you've applied inside ID.

    Jongware
    Jongware
    Community Expert
    August 28, 2009
    .. NON-Transparent gryascale or bitmap mode ..

    I missed that bit. You are right, to use both the image needs to be a monochrome bitmap (with that you can set the background white to transparent and the foreground black to a color of your like). Only use this if you can produce a high resolution version (higher than 300 dpi -- at least 600 dpi, and better still 1200 dpi).

    If the edges of the image are rather good defined, you could try adding a clipping path to a grayscale version -- that combo oughta work well.

    S
    Stos53
    New Participant
    August 28, 2009

    Hi Penni,

    I don't think InDesign has any image editing functions. If you edit your image in photoshop you can change the color, remove the background and then save it as PNG, TIFF or other format that will preserve transparency.

    Good luck,

    -Mike

    Jongware
    Jongware
    Community Expert
    August 28, 2009

    Alternatively, if you want to be able to change the color in InDesign, save the image as a grayscale one. Then you can change its 'black' component to any other color with InDesign. Use the white arrow to select the image frame 'contents' -- ID should report it's 100% black -- and then just select another color.

    If the image is now green and you convert it to gray, it will become a shade of gray -- adjust brightness & contrast (or levels) so it's as dark as possible in Photoshop. That will guarantee the color in ID is 100% of the color you select.

    P
    PenniSummerAuthor
    Known Participant
    August 29, 2009

    Yet another Genius

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices