Paste in place in the same place on linked images

[Chris P. Bacon]

I tried to paste in place this element from Illustrator into InDesign (a popup warned that it would cause issues so it will be placed as an EPS), but it did not get placed in the right position.

I thought paste in place should paste it in the same place where it was copied from, if it's placed on the same linked image.

It's the same linked image in both Illustrator and InDesign.

But the image got placed where I right clicked for paste in place, not where it originally was on the linked image in Illustrator.

How do I get it pasted into the same place?

[Chris P. Bacon]

Every spread in my magazine will have a PSD part saved, and an AI part saved, because I am moving over things to InDesign frame by frame from other apps, to keep everything live frames.

So all elements will be saved there.

So it will be true that I will copy paste, but I will save the AI and PSD versions for each spread, so I can make changes in those files, and then copy paste them again if necessary.

So it's solved.

[Chris P. Bacon]

Instead of placing from many separate files.

I can create those separate files anytime from the AI files if needed, and only if needed.

[rob day]

It seems it is getting pasted as EPS, so there is no loss of quality.

Try exporting the ID spread with the pasted AI object to PDF/X-4 and inspect the AI object in AcrobatPro. That will tell you if there have been color or resolution quality changes—in AcrobatPro open Output Preview, set the Preview to Object Inspector, and click on the image:

Also, pasted objects get embedded, so if you plan on pasting many hi res spreads, you might run into file size problems—you could end up with a multi-gigabyte file size.

[Eugene Tyson]

Also, pasted objects get embedded, so if you plan on pasting many hi res spreads, you might run into file size problems—you could end up with a multi-gigabyte file size.

By @rob day

Yes this what I was saying earlier - massive file sizes and serious contention for corruption.

[rob day]

Yes, and the OS clipboard format also might come into play—MacOS uses a high quality PDF for the clipboard and I think on Windows it is EPS where there could be color mangement or maybe resolution problems. I can’t check the differences, that’s why I suggested that Chris inspect the pasted objects in an export to AcobatPro.

[Chris P. Bacon]

I'll check this if I decided by this workflow, currently I am trying several methods.

[Chris P. Bacon]

In the meanwhile I lost my ability to paste this selection over to InDesign into the correct place with the "guard" frame as I did it previously, and I checked, locked or hidden objects don't cause the issue. Probably some stacking at the layers?

1. open the same photo linked in InDesign and Illustrator, place them on an identical size document (identical size with the photo)

2. create a shape in Illustrator on the top of the photo, not in the center (off the center) of the photo

3. draw an empty frame on the boundaries of the photo in Illustrator

4. select the empty frame and the shape in Illustrator, and hit Ctrl + C (copy)

5. switch over to InDesign and hit Ctrl + V (paste), try it with both selecting the image before pasting and without selecting it

Will the object be pasted into the same position as in Illustrator?

You don't need to group the  guard frame and the shape. But you can also try grouping them.

It will probably be pasted into the identical place as it is in Illustrator, as EPS

Because that's how it worked for me.

After that I changed stacking a lot at the layers since I did a lot of make envelope distort with top object, and it doesn't work anymore.

Or maybe it stopped working because of some other reason.

Anyone want to make this experiment?

[Peter Spier]

Night be you've moved your view off-center. Ordinary paste is always in the center of the current view.

[Chris P. Bacon]

I am still in "Fit spread in window" view like previously.

[rob day]

Are you doing anything in Illustrator other drawing the enclosed path for the text frame—you are creating a text frame but not setting the actual text in Illustrator?

[Chris P. Bacon]

That is correct, I don't do my body text in Illustrator, only the graphics (mostly just graphical text backgrounds) and the subheadings (those I do with envelope distort and maybe with other effects).

But the body text that belongs to the subheadings will be inserted in InDesign, because I won't have any graphical effects for body text, only very good justification which InDesign can do, so they can adapt optimally to the irregular text boxes.

But replicating the same body text boxes with the same shape in InDesign that will be a challenge, because the subheading and the body text are 2 shapes that are made with a horizontal cut from one single "subhead text chunk" shape. So I should be able to move over the path for the body text to InDesign and make it a text box with the exact same shape, as it is in Illustrator. 

[Chris P. Bacon]

What I am trying to do is to drop the text / image grid layout and try to incorporate text seamlessly (one subhead and its text at a time) into large spread-wide images. Now with Super Zoom and Super Resolution any image can be printed on a spread size.

[Chris P. Bacon]

I will loose part of the images, but mostly only the uniform parts of images only, and I can cover some perts of such a large image if there is not enough place, with a background color that is the closest color match with the background below it, or even with some subtle textures. So I only keep the essential parts of the images, there should be enough place for text.

[rob day]

You might be able to do it by placing the AI file and assigning a Text Wrap set to Select Subject with Invert:

[Chris P. Bacon]

Amazing!

Thanks!

I will try it soon and report back.

[Chris P. Bacon]

This is what I export as AI, look at the frames:

And this is what I get when placed in InDesign:

This above is what I get when placed in InDesign.

My body text frame is number 3 from the top before the AI export, but I only get 1 rectangualr frame in InDesign.

I copied and pasted the selection into a new Ai file, and I placed that into InDesign.

[rob day]

Here’s my example ID and placed AI file:

https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/58234899-61a2-4c9c-68b0-b2e8b204b396

Select the placed .ai file and look at the Text Wrap panel

[Chris P. Bacon]

Creepy thing happening, I am exporting this content that does not have any image in it, but my exported SVG contains also the background image and all other shapes and frames.

There is no image in this file.

What are your clipboard handling settings in InDesign and in Illustrator?

I experienced with those settings but still cannot get my freeform paths over to InDesign from Illustrator, no matter that I place or paste.

[rob day]

What are your clipboard handling settings in InDesign and in Illustrator?

I’m not exporting or pasting anything—the text wrap is set to detect a shape in the placed .ai file.

For a spread with a lot of competing shapes, you would likely need to duplicate the placed spread and use Object Layer Options to isolate the desired shape for the wrap, so it could get complex. In this example I’ve cloned the placed .ai file, hidden all the layers except for the desired shap, and set the text wrap. Then the clone has all of the layers turned on with no text wrap:

Here’s the updated example:

https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/58234899-61a2-4c9c-68b0-b2e8b204b396

Not good for ebooks.

I doubt any of this will translate well into an ebook

[Chris P. Bacon]

I see, I didn't get to replicate what you did, but I might have found a better solution, see below.

Now I have the exact (freehand shaped) paths in illustrator as text boxes in InDesign.

[Chris P. Bacon]

Freehand paths and shapes pasted into InDesign, some of them filled with text in InDesign:

It seems that the key was my clipboard handling settings and that I needed to ignore text wrap for the text frame when it was selected with the directs election tool in InDesign, and the text shape was brought over as a shape with fill not as a text shape, I made it a text shape in InDesign by clicking it with the text tool, I don't remember how I removed the fill of it. But I could remove it.

[Chris P. Bacon]

Will it work for ebooks?

[Chris P. Bacon]

Now I only need to find out how to lock their position in their original place when pasting them over the same linked image.

[Chris P. Bacon]

I can even smooth the active freehand text shape path in InDesign.

[Chris P. Bacon]

These are my graphics that need to be moved from Illustrator to InDesign, and where the red frame or path is, that is where I want my body text in InDesign.

The difficulty is to get the red path as an identical form text frame over into InDesign, additionally it also needs to be properly aligned with the other objects, because I cannot use alignment tools in InDesign to recreate this exact alignment.

However the subhead created with envelope distort will come into InDesign as outline, not even as outline in fact, so it will not come as text, that means it will not be searchable.

Not good for ebooks.

But interlinking would work because I could trigger a scroll to the subhead, I guess I can select it as an area to trigger a scroll to, in interlinking, in InDesign, is that right?