Expert: Glen Demers - 11/3/2010

Question
QUESTION: I have two Photoshop eps images that I have changed color on. When I place
them in an inDesign document they are supposed to barely touch,  but the box
of the front one cuts off part of the back one. What am I doing wrong


ANSWER: Hi Howard,

If you're trying to place two boxes close together and one suddenly jumps to it's own position, then you have a "snap-to" setting turned on. Go to View>Grids & Guides and make sure Snap to Guides and Snap to Document Grid are both unchecked. This should allow you to move the boxes smoothly into position.

If you are using a rule or stroke around your picture box, then you may want to align it to the inside of the box. On the Stroke Palette, this is the middle icon to the right of Align Stroke:. This way, you can have a large stroke without it increasing the size of your box.

Hope this helps,
Glen Demers
Prepress Technician, Best Printing Online
www.bestprintingonline.com

For more InDesign tips please visit our help pages here: http://www.bestprintingonline.com/indesign.htm

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I am not using boxes around the two eps. When I select one a blue box
surrounds it and when I move it next to the other one the box overlaps the 2nd
one and cuts off the part of the image that it overlaps. I can send either one to
the back but cannot keep both in front. In the stroke palette clicking none does
nothing.

ANSWER: You have two tools in InDesign for selecting and moving objects. The solid cursor allows you to select the frame or box that contains the picture, a blue outline appears with boxes in the corners.

When you are using the open cursor, the one just below the black cursor in the toolbar, clicking on a picture will make a brown outline appear around it. This tool lets you move the image around inside the frame.

Every time you place a graphic in InDesign it comes in with a frame around it. The two tools allow you to work on the frame or graphic independently.

Hope this helps,
Glen Demers
Prepress Technician, Best Printing Online
www.bestprintingonline.com

For more InDesign tips please visit our help pages here: http://www.bestprintingonline.com/indesign.htm

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I can have two text frames overlap  and if I click none in the swatch palette the
frames can overlap and i still see both images. When I do this with the eps
frames one covers the other. They are not transparent. The none feature does
not do anything

Answer
The .eps frames should act the same way, with the frame selected, you can set the fill and stroke to none in the swatches palette, and the frames will be transparent.

It could be that the white background is part of the .eps image. You can go to Object>Clipping Path>Options and use Detect Edges to let InDesign create a clipping path around your image.

Hope this helps,
Glen Demers
Prepress Technician, Best Printing Online
www.bestprintingonline.com

For more InDesign tips please visit our help pages here: http://www.bestprintingonline.com/indesign.htm