|
|
******************************
*** DesignGeek ***
******************************
Tips and techniques for the digital designer
In this issue:
-- Quark 6.5's PSD Import XT Tips
-- Designing on a Laptop? Keyboard Help
-- Photoshop File Browser Tweak Pt. 2
Issue 34, 1/26/05
Written by Anne-Marie "HerGeekness" Concepcion
... for her clients, colleagues, random contacts and interested subscribers
© 2005 Seneca Design & Training, Inc.
==========================
Quark 6.5's PSD Import Tips
==========================
True to their word, Quark released the free PSD Import XTension last month, short on the heels of their 6.5 update, which was available last fall. I've installed it and have been playing with it a bit, it's pretty cool.
The ability to import a Photoshop image into a Quark picture box (without having to save it as a TIFF or EPS first) is great all on its own; on top of that you can turn the image's layers, channels and paths on and off on the fly within Quark, something you can't do in any other program. The same PSD image can be placed multiple times within a Quark file and each instance can show/hide different layers, effectively wringing multiple images out of the same single image file. I've had no problems printing these or exporting them to PDF.
But the XT (seemingly a straight port from alap's ImagePort XT) has some limitations and glitches. If you want to use it, I'm hoping this article will help you out.
-----
Get It
-----
PSD Import XT for Mac OS
http://www.quark.com/service/desktop/downloads/details.jsp?idx=565
PSD Import XT for Windows
http://www.quark.com/service/desktop/downloads/details.jsp?idx=564
The XTension only works with XPress or Passport 6.5 for Mac or Windows. You can get the same functionality in earlier versions of Quark (4.11 to 6.x), you just have to pay $99 for it from the source, alap (the company name stands for "a lowly apprentice production").
Interestingly, alap's web site says ImagePort XT is "QuarkXPress 6.5 Compatible." What's that about? Who would buy it for Quark 6.5 if Quark is giving it away? I looked on alap's site for a feature comparison to see what ImagePort has that PSD Import doesn't, but couldn't find any info.
alap's ImagePort XT 1.4
http://alap.com/products/imgp.html
-----
Quick Orientation
-----
After you drop the XT into Quark's XTensions folder, restart Quark to enable it. You'll know it's working if the Window menu lists "Show PSD Import" along with the other Show commands to open palettes. If you don't see it, make sure the new XT is loaded and active in Utilities -> XTension Manager.
With the XTension loaded, the Get Picture dialog will list PSD files as well as the usual image formats that Quark can import. Woo-hoo! Double-click on a PSD file to import it and check out the PSD Import palette: all the layers, channels and paths that were available in Photoshop are now available in the palette in Quark.
That doesn't mean *everything* you could do to layers, channels and paths in Photoshop can now be done in Quark, though.
For example, while you can toggle the visibility of individual layers (or channels or paths for that matter) in Quark just like in Photoshop, you can't drag layers around in Quark to change their stacking order. That's just one example -- be sure to read the 26-page PSD Import User Guide.pdf that comes with the download to learn just exactly what you can and can't do to PSD files in QuarkXPress.
One biggie the user guide doesn't mention, by the way, is that QuarkVista XT -- the Picture Effects palette that *did* ship with the 6.5 update, the one that can apply all sorts of color adjustments to images and run some image filters -- cannot do a thing to PSD files. So when you import an image, only one of the two palettes will recognize it, never both. Ah well.
-----
Not Seeing Layers?
-----
If you import a layered PSD file and the PSD Import palette only shows one composite layer (but shows all the channels and paths as usual), the problem is that one of your layers has a Photoshop Layer Effect applied, which the XT doesn't support.
If you want to access the layers within Quark, you'll need to open the image in Photoshop, select every layer with a layer effect, and choose Layer -> Create Layer (clear as mud but there ya go). That changes it from a layer effect to an actual, standalone layer containing just the effect (the shadow, or the glow, etc.). Not every layer effect takes kindly to this treatment, but shadows, for example, do well.
Then save the changes to your Photoshop file and update the image in QuarkXPress to see all the layers. Did I say update the PSD image?
-----
Updating PSD Images
-----
Normally, PSD images update just like other images, once you follow the two-step process explained (that's putting it kindly -- it's one of the most obtuse bit of technical writing I've ever seen) in the User Guide. The issue is that QuarkXPress and PSD Import XT use different methods to preview modified PSD files, so you have to use two different ways to update them.
1) Click the Stop icon in the PSD Import palette's status bar at the bottom -- apparently that forces the PSD Import cache to update; and
2) Go to Utilities -> Usage -> Pictures and update the image as usual, so Quark knows about it, too.
I'm able to get this to work about three out of five times on my Mac running 10.3.7. Maybe it's just me, but I'm often left with an updated image but a completely blank PSD Import palette, even though the the status area shows a green light and Picture Usage lists Status: OK for it.
The user guide says if you're having trouble with PSD image previews, try clearing the PSD Import Cache in the PSD Import Preferences dialog. (Don't bother looking in Quark Preferences for this. That would be too easy. Choose PSD Import from the bottom of the Utilities menu to access its preferences.) I've found that if nothing else works (and it's just an occasional glitch) clicking the Clear Cache button here and restarting Quark forces the PSD images to refresh and the palette to fill up with all the image's layers, channels and paths again.
You can clear the cache manually by deleting the contents of the PSD Cache folder here:
Macs: /User/Library/Preferences/PSD Import Cache/
PCs: \Program Files\QuarkXPress 6.5\XTensions\PSD Import Cache\
-----
Transparency Good News and Bad News
-----
The Good News: You can import PSD images that have a transparent background.
The Bad News: QuarkXPress doesn't support transparency, no way, no how, so it fills transparent areas with solid white pixels.
So while you can get some cool layer interaction effects by using the Opacity slider and Blend modes for individual layers, nothing in the image will interact with any text, colors or images behind the image itself. Areas with no pixel data (transparent areas) fill with white and knock out stuff behind it. You will always have a square-cut image.
Solution? Put transparent PSD images in Quark on a white background, I guess. (Any color car you want as long as it's white...)
-----
Create Production Plates
-----
Because you can turn channels on and off in the PSD Import palette, you can add one or more alpha channels or spot channels to your PSD image in Photoshop, import it into Quark, and then selectively turn them on right before you print. In this way you can create varnish plates, embossing or custom die cut plates that will output when you turn on separations in the Print dialog. The User Guide does a pretty good job of explaining this, so check it out.
-----
Printing Issues
-----
You don't need the PSD Import XT loaded in order to open a QuarkXPress file that contains imported PSD images. For this reason, Collect For Output doesn't list it as a required XTension.
But when you print the file from a copy of Quark without the XTension, the PSDs print out as low-res previews. If you're turning the file over to someone else for proofing or final printing, make sure they know they'll need to download and install the free XT from Quark's site before outputting your file.
Also, if your PSD file contains live text layers, Collect for Output doesn't collect those fonts. You'll have to check type layers in your PSDs carefully and manually add those fonts to the Collect for Output folder. Or, you could rasterize the font layers in the PSD files and update the images in the Quark file as one of your final preflighting steps.
On the other hand, if you're creating press-ready PDFs from your copy of Quark (which does have the XT loaded), there's no need to worry. The PDF will contain all the high res data used in the PSD images, and the fonts will get rasterized in the process, just as if you flattened the PSD file yourself. You can turn those PDFs over to your vendor and they shouldn't have a problem, assuming everything else about the PDF is okay.
-----
Waiting for v7
-----
The rumor mills say that QuarkXPress v7 will be released in 2005 and that it will support transparency. It will be interesting to see how Quark (or alap?) updates the PSD Import XT in concert with v7's new capabilities. In the meantime, I'm hoping Quark will put some engineering time into smoothing the XT's rough edges for us 6.5 users.
|| top ||
==========================
Designing on a Laptop? Keyboard Help
==========================
A couple years ago I got rid of my studio's last remaining desktop Mac. We're now an all-laptop (PowerBooks and iBooks) studio. Okay, there's one Dell Dimensions box still hulking in a corner, but that's next up for replacement with a slick little PC laptop.
A wireless network along with multiple LCD monitors and wireless keyboards and mice scattered around the place make long work sessions a pleasure, but many times -- in the summer on the deck, in between appointments in a coffee shop -- I've found myself laying out a website with just my laptop's keyboard and built-in 15" screen to work with.
One big pain in the butt is the abbreviated keyboard ... to fit it into a laptop case, manufacturers sacrifice niceties like dedicated keypads for quick number entry, forward-delete keys, and many others that we take for granted on normal-size keyboards.
If you're on a Mac laptop, you may not know that you *do* have a forward delete (it deletes the character to the right of the cursor). It's fn-delete: Hold down the fn key at the lower left, and press the normal delete key on the upper right. I can't believe I went for months without knowing this.
But at least Mac laptops have both a Return and an Enter key -- many PC laptops don't, they just have one Enter key that's supposed to do double-duty.
A few times this month I've read posts from HP laptop users asking why they keep getting text overset icons in InDesign frames when they want to start a new paragraph. These particular models, apparently, communicate to InDesign that a tap on the keyboard's lone Enter key is the same as a number pad's Enter key -- which is InDesign's default shortcut for the Insert Column Break command -- and not a Paragraph Return.
So InDesign thinks the user wants subsequent text to start at the top of the next column. If the text frame has just one column, it pushes the text to the top of the next threaded frame. No frame threaded to the current one? You get an overset text icon.
These users might want to modify the command's keyboard shortcut in InDesign. Go to Edit -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> Product Area: Type Menu and look for the "Insert Break Character: Column Break" entry. Delete the existing default (Enter) and use the Type menu to insert the break character when needed, or replace the Enter shortcut with a different keystroke combination.
It's likely, though, that other software with dedicated Enter key uses will encounter similar glitches, and they might not let you modify its shortcuts.
In this case, PC laptop users should check out SharpKeys 1.1, a donation-ware solution that lets you remap what a key "does" to another key. For example, you could turn a seldom-used right-hand side Ctrl key into a Tab key, so you have a Tab on both sides of the keyboard.
A user on the Adobe InDesign Windows forum said she solved her HP laptop's Enter key problem with InDesign (and other programs), by using SharpKeys to map NUM ENTER to SPECIAL ENTER.
SharpKeys 1.1 is here:
http://www.randyrants.com/2004/03/sharpkeys_11_of.html
A similar keyboard remapping solution exists for Mac OS X users, DoubleCommand:
http://mac.softpedia.com/get/System-Utilities/DoubleCommand.shtml
|| top ||
==========================
Photoshop File Browser Tweak Pt. II
==========================
I mentioned in my last issue that I've been spending some quality time with Photoshop CS's File Browser, trying to get it to work how I want it to work instead of how it works by default. My first tweak -- creating one keyboard shortcut that would open and close the Browser regardless of what was open/active in Photoshop -- was detailed in that issue:
http://senecadesign.com/designgeek/dgarchives/designgeek33.php
Here's another tweak that I've found immensely useful: Getting the Browser to just show me folders with pictures in them instead of every folder in my entire dang hard drive.
-----
Taming the Folders Section
-----
The Photoshop CS File Browser window (File -> Browse) is divvied up into four areas of information. The chunk at the upper left corner, Folders, shows all the folders on your hard drive in a Windows Explorer-like hierarchy of collapsed and expanded directories.
You're supposed to use this area to find the folder containing the images you want to browse through. When you select a folder, its contents are displayed in the right half of the Browser window, and any images Photoshop can read are displayed there as large thumbnails.
On a Mac running OS X, the top-level folder is Desktop. If you twirl open the Desktop folder to expand it, you see an alpha list of files and folders of all the stuff on your desktop, including another folder, the name of your hard drive. You have to scroll down to find it, twirl it open, then twirl the Users folder open, then twirl your Home directory open, to get to your actual working folders. My User folder contains at least 50 folders, and buried in there are biggies like Client Projects and Archives and In-House, each of which contains a bazillion folders themselves.
So it would drive me MAD trying to locate a folder of pictures buried on my hard drive somewhere. I would end up only using the Browser when I had to; instead I preferred using the regular File -> Open dialog, which is resizeable and lets me search for folders in Column view.
What I discovered (amazing what you can learn if you just take a moment to explore) is that there's another "top level" directory in the Folders area (right below the one labelled Desktop on a Mac) called Favorites. I never noticed it before because when the hard drive folder's are expanded, it takes too long to scroll all the way down to the bottom, where the Favorites folder lives.
While you're in the File Browser, navigating through your hard drive's folders, you can select one and make it a File Browser Favorite. For example, buried on my hard drive is a folder containing family pictures from my digital camera. I selected this Family Pix folder in the File Browser and chose Add Folder to Favorites from the contextual menu (right-click or Control-click). You could also get to the Add Folder to Favorites command from the Browser's own little menu bar -- it's in the File menu.
I took about 10 minutes one day in the File Browser and made Favorites out of the six or seven folders on my hard drive I'd most likely want to use in the Browser -- obvious ones like my user account's default Pictures folder, not so obvious ones like the folder containing my web site's gifs and jpegs, and major category ones like the Client Projects folder.
Then I scrolled all the way up to the top of the Folders section of the File Browser and twirled the top-level Desktop folder closed so all the contents collapsed and it just took up one line. This revealed the Favorites entry below it, which I twirled open, revealing the six or seven favorite folders I had added, with plenty of room to add more favorites if I so choose.
Photoshop CS remembers the state of your Folders section in the File Browser every time you open it. So now, when I open the File Browser, I have immediate access to the folders I'm likely to want to browse through. I can just click on one, and its contents appears in the thumbnails section on the right. No more endless clicking and scrolling in that tiny little section of the window (remember, I'm on a laptop).
Try it, you'll like it!
|| top ||
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
BRING HERGEEKNESS ON-SITE
Do you like what you read in DesignGeek? Find anything useful? Bring me in for a session or two of hands-on software training for your workgroup; here in Chicago or any other city near an airport, and you can have me all to yourself. LOL .... I don't charge an arm and a leg, and you'll find we usually go far beyond teaching which dialog does what. I pay attention to your particular projects and workflow, and teach how you can best use the software to get it done easily, accurately and efficiently.
To learn more, or hear what other clients have to say, contact me or fill out the no-obligation "Request a Training Quote' form on Seneca's site:
http://www.senecadesign.com/training/request.html
Recent training clients in Chicago and throughout the U.S. include Loyola Press (InDesign, InCopy); Unity Christian Publishing (InCopy); High School District 214 (InDesign); Marquette University (InDesign); Gensler (InDesign); Think Design Group (InDesign, InCopy); Republic Windows & Doors (OS X, Quark 6, Illustrator CS); and Cadence Design Systems (OS X, Quark 6, Acrobat).
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
|| top ||
--------------------------------
DesignGeek is a free bimonthly publication written by Anne-Marie "HerGeekness" Concepcion, a cross-media designer and authorized Adobe and Quark training provider. She owns Seneca Design & Training, Inc. in Chicago, Illinois (http://www.senecadesign.com/).
To subscribe to DesignGeek or read archived issues, go to its home on Seneca's site:
http://www.senecadesign.com/designgeek/
To unsubscribe, follow the link at the bottom of this page.
Contact Seneca by phone at 312-946-1100 or e-mail at info@senecadesign.com
Copyright 2005 by Seneca Design & Training, Inc.
Please forward without cutting. Please contact Seneca for reprint permissions. We don't guarantee accuracy of articles. Company or product names mentioned in DesignGeek may be registered trademarks, we use the names in an editorial fashion with no intention of infringement.
--------------------------------
If you had received this by e-mail instead of reading it on my web site, your unsubscribe link would appear right here.
|
|
