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Question

Photoshop to indesign - am I worrying too much?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
May 1, 2019
7 replies
817 views

I am publishing an artbook. A5 pages with text, maximum font size 14.

I designed the files in Photoshop 12 and have downloaded free trial of indesign cs6, as I have been told the text is sharper in indesign. I can't open the Photoshop files. Probably created in too old a version of PS?

I have faffed around for weeks now with various compatibility issues and just want to get on with it. Is it really going to make that much of a difference if I upload the files in PS?

Thank you.

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T

Test Screen Name

Legend

But it doesn't seem possible that you will learn how to do this and do a successful job in the 7 days of a free trial. Then, if you did, what is your plan for when you need to make a revision or correction? You can't get another free trial so you'll need to subscribe.

jennifer64Author

Participating Frequently

You'd be amazed! what can be achieved in a week, if there's no funds to pay for expensive software. I feel I'm conquering it, thanks to all the help I've received. It was pretty much all designed in Photoshop, so not a lot to do. However, you are right, there are issues. I was working in RGB and had to convert to CMYK and the images now look bleached and not at all as rich as when I designed them. (Most are very dark images, with a lot of black). I need to sort this, and to learn how to do crop marks and I'll be well away. So...you may be right. I may not do it in a week. Perhaps I should just move on to a quill and ink :-)

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S

SJRiegel

Legend

jennifer64 wrote
I may not do it in a week.

What you can do is get a one-month subscription for your current project. It costs more per month than the annual plan, but it has the advantage of being able to cancel without penalty.

Be sure to choose Monthly Plan if you are not sure you want to keep it for a full year.

M

Migintosh

Legend

jennifer64 wrote
…I have been told the text is sharper in indesign. I can't open the Photoshop files.

As noted above, text will be better, but only if it's still live text in the Photoshop file (not converted to pixels), and only if you save as PDF and place into InDesign. That said, the reason to do type in InDesign instead of Photoshop is because InDesign was created to combine images made in other programs with type generated locally in InDesign. InDesign has a more robust set of controls over type than Photoshop, so you can do what you need without having to resort to "typewriter" tricks (like double returns, spaces to set margin indents, etc.).

jennifer64Author

Participating Frequently

So in future, I do the text from scratch in InDesign?

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S

SJRiegel

Legend

jennifer64 wrote
So in future, I do the text from scratch in InDesign?

Yes -- InDesign is made for document layout, and has far better text-handling tools than either Photoshop or Illustrator.

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

A free trial of CS6 isn't appropriate as you can no longer buy it. I suggest a free trial of InDesign CC 2019, but remember free trials are not for commercial work.

jennifer64Author

Participating Frequently

No, I meant InDesign free trial. And personally...I am yet to find an artist who has cracked the 'commercial' side of selling artbooks :-)

Derek Cross

Community Expert

Which version of InDesign do you have and which operating system?

Frans v.d. Geest

Community Expert

You can not Open PSD files in InDesign, you can place them on a page in InDesign. The part about text being sharper only applies when the text is created in InDesign itself. If you want sharp text from your Photoshop document, save those as PDF X, text will remain vector so sharp. Image formats as PSD, TIFF, etc renders text as bitmap.

Derek Cross

Community Expert

Are you publishing the book as a printed book or as a digital book (or both formats)?

P.S. 14pt sounds a rather large type size for an A5 book.

jennifer64Author

Participating Frequently

As a printed book.

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L

Laubender

Community Expert

Hi jennifer64 ,

if you want to get vector output with e.g. text from PhotoShop files using an InDesign layout do not place the PhotoShop psd files.

Instead save the psd files to PDF using a PDF/X-4 preset from PhotoShop and place the PDFs. Otherwise the text is rendered in pixels.

You said you designed the files with PhotoShop version 12, that's CS5 I guess, but currently you cannot open them with a newer version of PhotoShop? Did I get that right? That would be rather strange.

Regards,
Uwe

jennifer64Author

Participating Frequently

Yes it is, CS5. So I can save the PDFs and place them. I wasn't sure if I needed to place them at an earlier stage. I don't know InDesign so am trying to pick it up on the hoof.Thanks for this.

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jennifer64Author

Participating Frequently

This is helpful - thank you. I've worked out where to find that preset. Is there anything I need to know about the compression?

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