Specifying Import Options

If you've ever used a graphics application ‚ for example, an image-editing program like Adobe Photoshop or an illustration program like Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia FreeHand ‚ you're probably aware that when you save a graphics file, you have several options that control such things as file format, image size , color depth, preview quality, and so on. When you save a graphics file, the settings you specify are determined by the way in which the image will be used. For example, you could use Photoshop to save a high-resolution TIFF version of a scanned picture for use in a slick, four- color annual report or a low-resolution GIF version of the same picture for use on the company's Web page. Or you could use Illustrator or FreeHand to create a corporate logo that you'll use in various sizes in many of your printed publications .

If you choose to specify custom import settings when you import a graphics file, the choices you make will depend on the nature of the publication. For example, if it's bound for the Web, there's no need to work with or save pictures using resolutions that exceed a computer monitor's 72-dpi resolution. Along the same lines, if the publication will be printed, the image import settings you specify for a newspaper that will be printed on newsprint on a SWOP (standard web-offset printing) press will be different than those you specify for a four-color magazine printed on coated paper using a sheet-fed press.

If you choose Show Import Options when you place a picture, the options displayed in the resulting dialog boxes depend on the file format of the selected graphic. When you set options for a particular file, the options you specify remain in effect for that file format until you change them. If you don't choose Show Import Options when you place a picture, the most recent settings for the file format of the selected graphic are used.

Import options for bitmap pictures

InDesign gives you two sets of import options for the following types of bitmap images: TIFF, Photoshop, GIF, JPEG, Scitex CT, BMP, and PCX. You get three options for PNG files. There are no import options for PICT or QuickTime movie files. Figure 23-3 shows the three possible panes for bitmap images.

Figure 23-3: InDesign provides the Image and Color panes in the Image Import Options for most bitmap formats; PNG files have a third pane, PNG Settings.

Image pane

This pane lets you apply any embedded Photoshop clipping path and/or alpha channel to the image, for use to mask, or cut out, part of the image. Check the Apply Photoshop Clipping Path option to import the clipping path along with the image; select an alpha channel from the Alpha Channel pop-up menu to import the alpha channel along with the image.

Cross-Reference ‚  

Chapter 25 covers clipping paths in more detail.

Color pane

In the Color pane, you can turn on color management for the image and control how the image is displayed.

Check the Enable Color Management option to enable color management. Using the Profile pop-up menu, choose a color-source profile that matches the color gamut (range) of the device (scanner, digital camera, and so on) or software used to create the file. InDesign will try to translate the colors in the file to the colors that the output device is capable of producing. (These profiles are installed in your operating system by other applications, not InDesign.)

Cross-Reference ‚  

See Chapter 29 for more information about using InDesign's color-management features.

Use the Rendering Intent pop-up menu to determine how InDesign translates the color in the selected graphics file with the gamut of the output device. If the picture is a scanned photograph, choose Perceptual (Images). The other options ‚ Saturation (Graphics), Relative Colorimetric, and Absolute Colorimetric ‚ are appropriate for images that contain mostly areas of solid color, such as Illustrator EPS files that have been opened in Photoshop and saved as TIFFs.

PNG Settings pane

Use this pane ‚ available only if you place a PNG file ‚ to use the transparency information in a PNG file, assuming it has a transparent background. You have two choices for controlling transparency handling: White Background and File-Defined Background. The former forces the transparent portion to display as white in InDesign; the latter uses whatever background color is specified in the PNG file itself.

This pane also lets you adjust the gamma value during import ‚ the gamma is a setting that describes the color range of a device, and to ensure most accurate reproduction, you'd want the gamma setting for the PNG file to be the same as that of your output device (a printer or monitor). It is meant to correct for the file being created on a specific type of monitor. The reason is that Mac monitors tend to display colors more bluishly than Windows monitors , so colors created on each platform that look the same on-screen will differ slightly in print. However, to use this feature, you need to know the gamma setting for the final output device. Otherwise, leave it alone.

Import options for vector file formats

If you're importing vector files, the Import Options check box will result in one of several dialog boxes appearing, depending on what the vector file type is. If you import Illustrator or EPS files, you'll get the EPS Import Options dialog box; if you import PDF files, you'll get the Place PDF dialog box. (Both are shown in Figure 23-4.) There are no import options for Windows Metafile pictures.

Figure 23-4: The EPS Import Options and Place PDF dialog boxes.

EPS Import Options dialog box

If you use an Open Prepress Interface-based proxy workflow ‚ that is, if an OPI-based service provider supplies you with low-resolution versions of graphics files that will eventually be replaced by high-resolution files during output ‚ check Read Embedded OPI Image Links if you want InDesign rather than your service provider to perform image replacement during output. You should also check this box if you import graphics files that contain OPI comments for other imported graphics files; for example, an EPS file that contains OPI information for an embedded TIFF picture. Don't check this box if you don't use an OPI-based workflow or if you want your service provider to handle image replacement during output. When Read Embedded OPI Image Links is not checked, InDesign retains OPI comments but doesn't use them. When you print (or export) the document, the proxy image and the link information is sent.

Also use this pane to import any Photoshop clipping paths embedded in images that are in the EPS file. Check the Apply Photoshop Clipping Path option to enable this.

Finally, use this pane to control how the EPS file appears on-screen in InDesign. If you select Use TIFF or PICT Preview, InDesign will use the low-resolution proxy image embedded in the EPS file for display on-screen and print the picture using the embedded high-resolution PostScript instructions. If you select Rasterize the PostScript, InDesign will convert the PostScript file into a bitmap image during import. There's rarely a reason to rasterize an imported EPS file.

Place PDF dialog box

When you use the Place command to import a PDF file and you choose to Show Options, the Place PDF file dialog box, shown in Figure 23-4, is displayed. It provides several controls for specifying how the file is imported:

• Use the controls below the preview image to select the page you want to place (you can place only one page at a time). You can enter a page number in the field or use the arrows to scroll to page.

• Select one of the cropping options from the Crop To pop-up menu. If you choose Content, the page's bounding box or a rectangle that encloses all items, including page marks, is used to build the graphics frame. Choosing Art places the area defined by the file's creator, if any, as placeable artwork. For example, the person who created the file might have designated a particular graphic as placeable artwork. Choosing Crop places the area displayed and printed by Adobe Acrobat. Choosing Trim places the picture in an area equal to the final, trimmed piece. Choosing Bleed places the page area plus any specified bleed area. Choosing Media places an area defined by the paper size specified for the PDF document, including page marks.

• Click Transparent Background if you want the white areas of the PDF page to be transparent. Uncheck this option if you want to preserve the page's opaque white background.

  Note ‚  

  Some PDF files are protected with passwords or have printing, text editing, and other content-access functions disabled. If a PDF file is password-protected, you'll be prompted to enter the required password; do so and click OK. Note that some PDF files have a second password, called a Permissions Password, that you'll also need to open it.

  If the selected file was saved with any security restrictions (no text editing, no printing, and so on), you can't place any pages of the file into InDesign. Ask the person who produced the file for an unrestricted copy.