An Introduction to 'In Design'

Alan Rolfe, University of West London, Ealing, London

Getting images on to a page

In-Design is capable of importing graphics in a wide range of formats (see the 'Help' system for a list). The most important thing to remember is that the image (graphic) should exist as a file on your system - copying-and-pasting from, say, a web site is not recommended.

To import (place) a graphic in an existing document, you can:

1. place it into the document actual size (and scale it later if necessary) OR
2. place and scale it at the same time, OR
3. place it into an existing empty frame.

Actual size placement

Choose 'File/Place' and in the dialogue box select the graphics file you wish to import. There is a preview box to help you pick the right file:

Click 'Open' and you will get a loaded-graphics icon and a small preview of the image. Then just click on the page at the top-left of where you want the image to be. See below for details of how to resize the image.

Place-and-scale

Choose 'File/Place' and select your required image. When you get the loaded-graphics icon click-and-drag on to the page to define the area in which you want the image to appear. See below for how to correct mismatches between the image size and the frame size.

Place into an existing frame

Before placing the graphic, draw a frame using the rectangular frame tool . Select the frame using the Selection Tool if it's not already selected. It should look like this:

Choose 'File/Place' and select the required graphic file. The image will appear immediately inside the frame. See below for how to match the sizes of image and frame.

Matching image and frame sizes

Whichever way you import an image you can end up with the graphic not matching the size of the frame.

It might look like this:

or like this:

To correct this, right-click (PC) or Ctrl-click (MAC) on the image and select 'Fitting' from the drop-down menu. Then choose the option you want:

• Fit Content to Frame will resize the image to exactly fit the frame. Some squashing or stretching may occur.
• Fit Frame to Content will alter the frame size to exactly fit the image.
• Centre Content will centre the image within the frame.
• Fit Content Proportionally will scale the image to fit the frame without squashing or stretching it (i.e. the aspect ratio is kept the same). Some white space may be left at the side or below the image.

Scaling images

To alter the size/shape of a frame, use the Selection Tool to click-and-drag one one of the side or corner handles of the frame. Hold down the 'Shift' key to preserve the aspect ratio. By default, altering the frame size will not change the size of the image. To resize the image with the frame, hold down the 'Ctrl' key whilst dragging the handle. Thus, to resize the image and frame together whilst maintaining the aspect ratio, hold down 'Ctrl' and 'Shift'.

Maintained by Alan Rolfe

© Copyright UWL 2011

Last updated July 6, 2011