Psd or Tiff 1

[Mechel]

I'm working with Windows XP, Photoshop 7 and ID 2.0, my question is I'm in the process of printing a book, and the book cover is full color and was created in PS. My question is, when I save the atrwork in PS as a Tiff and import it in ID it's alot darker than the original artwork, can I import it in ID as a PSD? Am I loosing out on something if I save it as any other format sharpness, etc.?

Thanx Mechel

 

[jimoblak]

The sharpest image will come from PSD if you have used un-rasterized shapes and text in your image.

You appear to have color management settings askew. Images should not change in quality when placed in InDesign.

- - picklefish - -
Why is everyone in this forum responding to me as picklefish?

 

[Mechel]

Thanx jimoblak/
What about if I rasterize the text?

And what do you mean by saying that 'You appear to have color management settings askew.'

Thanx again

 

[jimoblak]

If you rasterize the text, you can save the file in any number of formats - but you lose some editing capabilities. The preferred bitmap formats for printed publications are PSD, TIFF, and EPS. When placed in InDesign, vector text and art in the PSD file will be rasterized.

The manuals for both Photoshop and InDesign will have detailed instructions for configuring 'color management'. Check the index for this topic. This is a huge matter that cannot be simplified in this forum response.

- - picklefish - -
Why is everyone in this forum responding to me as picklefish?

 

[tad1952]

The printers I deal with prefer a placed tif or eps rather than a PSD file.

In ID, if you view your image at full resolution, it should look exactly the same as it does in Photoshop. Once the image has been placed, select it and then go to Object/Display Performance/High Quality Display. You will see a difference in colour & resolution as it changes from screen preview to photoshop quality. High Quality tends to slow things down if you have a lot of images or several large ones, so it's faster to leave the overall settings at Typical and view separate images on the fly at the higher setting.

Also keep in mind that the quality of the type in a PS image will only be as good as the resolution you save it at. So don't make the mistake of saving the image at a low resolution in order to make the file size smaller. The type will start to look ragged.

I rarely set my type up in Photoshop - only if I cannot create the desired effect in InDesign. I prefer to set it up in ID so that I know it will be editable and uneffected by the resolution of my PS image. The feathering, transparency, drop shadows, outlines, etc. in ID are so easy to use that I can do almost anything right in ID. And if there are any type changes to be made, I don't have to go back to PS to do it.

 

[jimoblak]

Just curious tad1952 (because I have heard about this aversion to PSD before) - - do your printers explain why they do not prefer PSD?

I do not see how someone can make full use of InDesign's transparency features if printers restrict you to 1bit clipping paths in TIFF/EPS and prohibit the 8bit edge feathering available in PSD files.

InDesign should process whatever image formats you place when it exports PDF or EPS or PS. The RIP should never know what image formats you used since you are only sending PDF/EPS/PS. Do you know of certain RIPs that choke on placed PSDs? I have been out of the print shop for a couple years so I am not too familiar with the current crop of RIPs.

- - picklefish - -
Why is everyone in this forum responding to me as picklefish?

 

[tad1952]

Aha jimoblak. You have made a good point - for bookwork or other such projects, a psd file will work just fine.

The bulk of the files I set up are for museum or trade show murals. I am working with images that are only 125 dpi at final size, but a flattened tif as large as 1 GB is commonplace. Our RIP will only process eps or tiff files and InDesign can take a long time to export large eps files. By building a background collage in PS and flattening it there, I can keep the file size down, the transfer time down, the RIP time down, and the archiving size reasonable.

I'm working on an 800 MHz G4, 10.2.8, 768 MB RAM, with over 5 GB available hard drive space on the OSX partition (way more on the others), so speed and space are not really a problem.

SOOOO, just because you asked (and to satisfy my own curiosity), I have taken one of my files and set it up 3 different ways.

3-panel mural - 80"x88" (I consider this to be a fairly small size).
Vector logo.
Type with drop shadows below, glow above, vignetted outline.
Full bleed image in background.
3 large close-cut images.

Version 1
ID file size 2.2 mb
PS image size 402 mb eps
- close-cut images on layers, feathered & flattened
ID eps size 162.5 mb
Time for ID to make eps - 5 minutes with eps

Version 2
ID file size 5.8 mb
PS Image size 797.7 mb psd file
- psd file with feathered close cut images on layers
ID eps size 329 mb
Time for ID to make eps - 5 minutes

Version 3
ID file size 11.2 mb
PS Images 354.7 mb total (background image plus 3 closecut images imported into ID and feathered)
ID eps size 432 mb
Time for ID to make eps - 27 minutes

You are right jimoblak - I am not fully utilizing InDesign with I build the file & flatten it in PS, but until InDesign can whip up the eps in record time, I will probably continue doing it this way on larger projects.

 

[jimoblak]

Okay, tad - now you've got me intrigued...

There is of course a price to pay with a larger PSD file than a flattened TIFF with your extra large format projects.

But I'm curious over your choice of InDesign over Illustrator to compose these large projects. Is this a personal preference (I would probably choose the same since I'm used to doing more work in InDesign than Illustrator) or is there a technical limitation with Illustrator?

- - picklefish - -
Why is everyone in this forum responding to me as picklefish?

 

[tad1952]

I love InDesign. It does everything I want it to & more - without a fight! It has a great Flightcheck and a wonderful colour palette. And it handles type so professionally! I could go on and on - I can't say enough good things about it.

I have built lots of graphics panels using the feathering & drop shadows from InDesign because it just works better in some cases than Photoshop and you don't have to create a new layer for every item you place.

I've just never felt as comfortable with Illustrator - not to mention the fact that once upon a time you couldn't print directly from Illustrator and it doesn't do multiple pages (I do some book work as well).

I was fortunate enough to be able to Beta test InDesign and give Adobe my input. It was the first time I actually experienced someone listening to the people who were going to use a program and incorporating their wish lists into it. I was hooked and have never looked back. Nothing's perfect, but they're working on it.

 

[styleBunny]

Hi yall, I too am having a problem when importing my flattened PSD files as tifs, into ID2.0, they get a lot darker.

As a test I printed my tiff from Photoshop and the colours are as expected when I print the layout from Indesign, it prints very much darker.

I know there is more to it but both my psd and tiff files are both CMYK.

I know its a colour managment issue, but I'm a total newb. when it comes to such things, can anyone point me to a good starting place.

Cheers
paul.

 

[jimoblak]

Color management is well covered in the manual. You should review your settings for both Photoshop and InDesign.

- - picklefish - -
Why is everyone in this forum responding to me as picklefish?

 

[styleBunny]

yes, i have applied CMS in ID, (it had been disabled) so i get a more accurate preview and print out of my document. Though there is till slight differences.

I created an ICC profile, using adobe gamma, which i use in photoshop, but i dont seem to be able to access that profile for InDesign. I will kepp trying tho.

cheers
p.