Taking Advantage of Native Photoshop Support in InDesign
Remember clipping paths and EPS files? Clipping paths have been available in Photoshop since its earliest versions. Back then it was the only way to get your images into another application and for it to know how you wanted your image cut out or clipped. InDesign has since revolutionized and virtually ended the need for clipping paths. Not only does InDesign import native Photoshop documents (.psd), it will honor all the layer transparency information. If you’re new to print publishing this may not seem like big deal to you, but if you’ve ever had to contend with creating and managing clipping paths in the past, you know how huge this is.
InDesign’s support of native Photoshop documents also eliminates the need to export out an EPS file or any other historically import-friendly formats. This saves huge amounts of disk space, time, and headaches since you now have just one document to keep up with: the source Photoshop document.
Lastly, if you need to edit a placed Photoshop document within InDesign, just Option/Alt double-click the image. (This is true for any placed element). Photoshop will come to front with the document open. Make any necessary changes and then save the Photoshop document. When you return to InDesign, you’ll see the changes to the linked Photoshop document have already been updated. There are still some good uses for clipping paths, although I really can’t think of many.
Recent Comments