Vector images

[iamdaveb]

So I have a small business and make ads, flyers, banners etc.

I am an old photoshop user trying to leap over the ID curve. You would think they would be more similar...

So I need to create vector images as the businesses I use to create an ad with often request them. So I moved from PS to ID

When I use an image from photoshop etc., how do I use it in ID and it be vectored? I've tried placing them from my folders or a PS file but they don't seem vectored.

What am I missing?

While I'm at it, why doesn't adobe include the PS tools into indesign and let you do all your work in one program? Seems I'm still going to need to use PS to edit images (magic wand to pull out things, crop etc) before placing them into ID. Sure would be nice not to have to hop back and forth between programs.

Thanks for your time and help,

Dave

[Jongware]

What you are missing is that InDesign is not a vector drawing tool. It is meant for text and page layout (which, incidentally, also answers your question re: editing photos inside InDesign).

You probably should take a look at Illustrator instead. Note that you seem to be under oops overestimating the current state of software: even with that, you cannot drop in any bitmap image and expect it to be imported as a perfect vector image.

[rob day]

How to edit artwork in Illustrator using Image Trace

[Bill Silbert]

InDesign is a vector based program. Resolution is never an issue. Photoshop is a raster program. Images from Photoshop can contain vector elements such as live text and imported "smart" objects. But images from Photoshop will still always be recognized as raster even when imported into InDesign. The only possible way to make a Photoshop Image become a vector object is to use the Image Trace feature in Illustrator. Using one of a supplied set of presets the quality of the tracing can vary from very good to awful put will never be exactly what the raster image was originally. If you're trying to make a Photoshop raster image translate exactly into vector then that just is not possible.

[iamdaveb]

Thanks for the input.

Am I understanding correctly then that placing an image into ID either from a PSD from PS or a basic JPG I may have will look better than in PS when sent to a printer, but not be vectored?

How do I make an image vectored other than the image trace in Illustrator?

I don't do a lot of image editing, just basic tweaks in size, pulling out parts of an image kind of thing. I own a local business and do ads for it on social media, flyers for direct mail, newspaper inserts sort, and keeping our website up to date sort of thing.

[rob day]

Am I understanding correctly then that placing an image into ID either from a PSD from PS or a basic JPG I may have will look better than in PS when sent to a printer, but not be vectored?

It sounds like you might not understand the difference between a bitmap image and a vector drawing. Can you show us a screen capture of a typical image you are trying to convert into a drawing?

[iamdaveb]

Right, I have a bunch of images I use from time to time and they are mainly jpg. I pop an image into PS and now AI or ID and arrange things as an ad. Attached is an image I'm trying to use on a banner currently and having trouble with the printer. I attempted an AI file and that wasn't working well.

[Bill Silbert]

Alright. I think what your printer is saying is that a logo of this sort should have been drawn in illustrator (a vector program) from the beginning. Illustrator has all the tools and features necessary to draw something like this. The advantage of doing it as vector is that it can be used at any size, large or small, without any loss of quality. Doing something like this which is for all intents and purposes line art in Photoshop limits its usage sizewise. For somebody knowledgable in Illustrator this would not be a difficult logo to create. If you've never used Illustrator then I can suggest going to Linda.com or some other training site and taking a course in it.

[iamdaveb]

So with the toolbox of jpgs I have, what is the correct method and software to place them into to make an ad? If I place it into ID am I up the creek from the start?

[John Mensinger]

iamdaveb  wrote

So with the toolbox of jpgs I have, what is the correct method and software to place them into to make an ad? If I place it into ID am I up the creek from the start?

It depends on the size and resolution of each, and, on a case-by-case basis, what their "effective" resolution will be if/when you scale them on the InDesign page. In terms of output quality, if there is sufficient resolution for the chosen print method, there is no reason not to just use them.

[Bill Silbert]

Constructing a page layout in InDesign is the absolutely correct way to go. That is what the program was created for. Within InDesign jpegs, tifs, pngs and/or psds can be placed and will be linked to their original files. Your printer should tell you what "Effective" resolution is required (what the resolution is at the size that you're using it) and you will need to make sure that your images are high resolution enough to meet the requirements. Any Illustrator art that you use can also be linked to the original .ai files but can be used at any size without loss of quality.

The reality of what you seem to be asking though is for a simple answer to putting together professional quality layouts. The best advice I can give is to take some training courses as I suggested before (please forgive my earlier misspelling). Lynda.com has excellent courses but they are not free. Adobe.com also has many free training videos and there are also many to be found on You Tube.

[jane-e]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Bill+Silbert  wrote

If you've never used Illustrator then I can suggest going to Linda.com or some other training site and taking a course in it.

As much as I hesitate to make corrections, the web address is lynda.com, in case linda.com goes to something else!

(The advice remains excellent!)

[Bill Silbert]

OOPs!

[rob day]

The sample art you posted is 1641x1537 pixels, so it could be scaled to 5" in InDesign and maintain a 300ppi effective resolution. Ideally art like this should be originated in a vector drawing application. I doubt that trying to auto trace something like this would have any benefit over the high res bitmap version you have. If you didn't create the art it would be worth trying to track down the original vector drawing version.

[iamdaveb]

What should my basic workflow be?

I assume I would design the ad in ID, but to tweak images, that should be done in Illustrator or PS?

[John Mensinger]

iamdaveb  wrote

What should my basic workflow be?

The 3 applications are designed to work together.

1. Illustrator: Vector graphics creation and editing. (Has raster-based effects and image import/export capabilities, but limited image editing scope. Artboards are resolution-independent; support vector graphics, raster images, and text.)
2. Photoshop: Raster image creation and editing. (Single-canvas subject to one resolution; best used for photos, as the name implies.)
3. InDesign: Page layout app for producing documents and screen-destined layouts in which text, vector graphics, and raster images are commingled. Placed elements retain their native color space and resolution, as applicable.)

Personally, I prefer to keep strict divisions between these functions; Illustrator and Photoshop are rarely, if ever, used for final product; only for production/treatment of graphics and images destined for InDesign layouts.

[iamdaveb]

OK thanks for the help folks. 1 more thing I'd like to understand. If I have an image or am making an image in PS, should I place the image into ID using the jpg saved version or the main .PSD version? Is there much of a difference? Thinking out loud, I guess a good bit would depend on the quality of jpg I choose to save it as.

[Jongware]

You are correct about the JPEG quality. But InDesign accepts native PSDs as well! Even better, this preserves any transparency, and you can enable and disable any clipping paths and layers right from within InDesign. You can't do neither of these 3 if you save as JPEG and use that.