Change Vector Art Color In InDesign

[Chopper9]

Does anyone know the proper format to save a file in Illustrator, so when I place or import that same file into InDesign, I can change the colors of it?

Example... I have a black and white vector logo I want to use in InDesign. But when I place it... it has a white background and I cannot change the color of the background or the black or logo itself to match the colors in my layout.

I have tried to export about 10 different file types out of Illustrator with no luck.

Thanks in advance.

 

[eugenetyson]

Copy and paste the artwork into your file.

If it's just black and white you would need to export it to a tiff or something to colour it in InDesign, but you lose the vector-ability.

What you should really do is make different versions of it in Illustrator, the colour you want and import the correct colour where necessary.

If you copy and paste the artwork it should retain all the vectors and you can select them individually and change the colours of them.

Best bet is to have the colours as spot colours and call them something significant, then the swatch shows up in InDesign and you can colour it anything you like then.

 

[eugenetyson]

The tiff has to be grayscale.

 

[jmgalvin]

If you're getting a white background of the AI when placed in ID, that white is in the AI. To check this, choose Show Transparency Grid from AI View menu. If you still see the white background then, change to no color. If the white won't go away, it's likely that the logo is rasterized or partially rasterized.

You have to be careful with some of this stuff if you inherited the logo from someone else. Very often you find that it got rasterized somewhere - before you got it. Over the years I've gotten any number of EPS files that got rasterized somewhere or had some raster info in them. Then you end up with the white background. The most common cause is clients that have the logo, and don't know graphics, open the thing. They don't have a vector app and end up opening it in a raster app, like photoshop. Then they go to close it, get the Save Changes window and click Yes. Bang! It's now a raster.

Using OSX 10.3.9 & 10.4.11 on a G4, G5 & Intel Macbook

 

[Chopper9]

Thanks for the replies guys and gals. I appreciate it.

I was hoping to avoid the copy/paste method because when you are dealing with alot of logos (as I am) its a pain to open them in illustrator, just to drag them to indesign.