Organizing 100 2x2 photos in a large poster - can I make a table? 1

[wingvictory]

Hello, I have asked to edit an A1 poster for work with all our staff photos (approx. 100) on it arranged by department. Up till now it is been copied from Word and printed by some bodge job so I would like to start fresh with AI. I've used AI quite a lot but nothing so corporate or complex.

Can I make a table to constrain all the elements to make it neat and crisp or just guides? There are many photos I will probably have to change the size in PS first to make them uniform unless I can tell the boxes in a table to force them all the same - like a table in a webpage (I did this in Hotmetal years ago.)

All the best, Denise

 

[moriaorc]

I really don't know much about the table option, but if I were assigned this project, I would use Photoshop for all of it. (I'm using CS not CS2, so I'm not sure if this info is different for doing this through Bridge.) Go to File>Brouse, then navigate to the folder containing all of the pictures you need. Then go to Automate>Contact Sheet II. This brings up a dialog were you can spec the document size, resolution, and the "grid" to place your pictures on. You can even use the file name as a caption. I've used this lots of times for various projects. One word of warning; for this many pictures at the size you are suggesting, the file size will be very large, and larger if you choose a high resolution.

 

[Eggles]

I'd use InDesign, not Illustrator. You can set up a table in ID and insert photos into table cells by using the Type Tool.