Episode 29: Photo Composition (VIDEO)
In my first InDesigner episode since joining the InDesignSecrets team, this installment is all about building photographic compositions on your InDesign page instead of relying on doing it in Photoshop like we’ve all become used to. Photoshop is great, but under the right circumstances, InDesign can be faster and more flexible. Using three examples, I showcase InDesign’s ability to build layered, seamless compositions that rival the accepted Photoshop approach.
This episode is available in both the standard 672 x 450 format (recommended) as well as in a smaller iPod-compatible format (for the designer on the go with really good eyes).
NOTE: Clicking the link for the iPod version will open up a window full of gibberish in your browser. Instead, Control-click (Mac) or right-click (PC) the iPod link to first download the iPod version to your desktop, then open it with iTunes or your media player of choice. For the full-size version, you can just click and watch right in your browser.
Michael, to avoid the gibberish when I file is encoded in mp4 or m4v, there are two workarounds.
1. In the web server setting, you must add .htaccess file for these two formats : the .htaccess file is a file that will work as an add-on to the current httpd.conf file, which is the config file of an Apache server. This helps to add a few features when you don’t have the right/access to modify the httpd.conf file. An .htaccess can also modify the behavior of the web server when broadcasting the content of a specific folder/subfolder.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Htaccess
The second work around is much simpler : just open in QuickTime Player Pro the .mp4 or .m4v file you obtained after the compression and just Save as… it so it becomes a .mov file. The .mov extension is a generic enveloppe that can hold many other QuickTime format. It is not not because it becomes a .mp4 or .m4v file that it must stay like that, .mov has a generic ability, what’s important is the codec within the file !
These are great techniques! There are many benefits to using InDesign as a photocomposition tool. For example, if you have five 20 MB images, you can composite them quickly in InDesign because it doesn’t have to import all the data (it’s using proxies of the images). In Photoshop, your file would be 100 MB!
Similarly, you can composite both RGB and CMYK images together without worrying about color mode changes (until print time), or even composite images of different resolutions together without having to resample them (again, until print time). So a 200 ppi RGB image can sit on top of a 300 ppi CMYK image. Try that in Photoshop!
Branislav — As far as I know, iTunes won’t sync “.mov” files to the iPod automatically. I’d love to be proven wrong, but the whole appeal of offering an iPod version is that the whole subscription – download – synchronization process is effortless for the user.
David — Those are excellent additions to the topic, and exactly the kind of details that I wish video allowed me the luxury of covering in greater detail. So much gets left out for the sake of brevity. Sadly, the fascinating details get sacrificed for the larger concepts…but thanks to these comments, the discussion can continue in depth.
This episode doesn’t seem to be available yet via my subscription through the iTune store. I usually prefer to use the Refresh button on the Podcasts page in iTunes so I can update all my subscriptions at the same time rather than travelling to different websites.
Michael, ditto to Steve’s comment. I am currently downloading episode 29 through Firefox instead of automatically updating using iTunes. I checked the iTunes store and it just shows that you have 28 episodes. Thanks again for the great work!
> Branislav — As far as I know, iTunes won’t sync “.mov” files
Michael, here’s another workaround. OK, file must be .mp4 or .m4v. Along with the file, in the same folder, add an index.html file that will contain the QuickTime movie. Just open GoLive, drop the movie file on the page and in the Inspector Tab add a few QuickTime features.
When you publish a new vidcast and want to give people access directly to the file, don’t send the URL to the file but to the index.html file instead.
So instead of pointing to : http://www.mywebsite.com/vidcast/ep29/ep29.mp4 (don’t click it’s a dummy link) make people point to http://www.mywebsite.com/vidcast/ep29/index.html
The international (German) version of iTunes also only shows 28 episodes, and InDesignSecrets have no video-podcasts at all.
I’d appreciate if you could fix that quickly. Thanks for sharing all your knowledge with us, Mike!
I tested the “refresh” function in iTunes (formerly the “Update” button) and it immediately downloaded episode 29 just minutes after I uploaded it. However, it’s not doing it the moment. I will double-check the feed to see if I can figure this out. My experience is that iTunes tends to have a delay in the list of available episodes even if the Refresh function works perfectly. I’ll post a comment when I know more.
Yes, I think it’s an iTunes glitch. The transition to v7 of iTunes may be gumming up the works temporarily. If it persists we’ll certainly investigate.
In the meantime, other podcatcher software (bloglines.com, myyahoo, mygoogle etc.) are able to find both feeds fine.
In iTunes 7.0, when I click refresh now nothing is downloaded (there are only 28 episodes in my list). A little exclamation point appears to the left of “theInDesigner” at the top of its list of episodes. When I click on it, I get this warning: ” ‘theinDesigner’ does not seem to be a valid Podcast URL.”
I suspect that this is some kind of iTunes 7 glitch.
Talk about a bumpy debut!
OK…I think I found a small problem in the feed, which I fixed. I just clicked “Refresh” and it’s now downloading Episode 29. If anyone else can confirm that this is working, that would be great.
My experience with iTunes has been that there’s typically up to a 24-hour delay between the actual availability of the podcast, and its name showing up in the list on the podcast page of the Music Store. But if you have your preferences to check for new episodes, that always finds it faster.
Hopefully, we can open up a string of comments that ISN’T about technical difficulties when Episode 30 makes it up there.
Thank you, Michael, it works! I’m downloading the episode 29.
Thanks. It’s downloading now from iTunes for me too.
I never bother with itunes. I download the file from the link with a download manager. It’s safer for me to do so if my computer crashes or my internet goes down.
Now about the episode, without any technical problems discussions, your examples are superb as usual, it really helping me think a lot more creative when i see your designs, and the lighting tricks and the use of indesign instead of photoshop when it’s not really needed is great.
Hope to practice these techniques because they are super tips
Outofspacero
glitches aside, just wanted to say thanks for your VidTute. I’m a newbie to Indesign and the world of page layout in general. Being a corporate marketing manager, I’m responsible for out portfolio of creative assets. Mr Murphy please keep your vidcasts coming and too all of you at this site, please don’t ever forget about us newbies. Having listened to Dave and Anna Marie’s podcasts as well, I can’t tell you how even the most of mundane concepts is like gold to me. Please continue to keep us “preschoolers” in mind!
Michael regarding episode #29, the only critique I have is in regards to part 3 (scuse me while i fake the sky). As you were navigating about, you were doing so so fast – understandably so – but i would have liked to have been able to follow along with your navigation more. I guess that is what “replay” is for.
thanks again and don’t stop! I’m learning much.
Any suggestions for finding “Page Layout 101″ type books regarding time honored principles that everyone should know? I’m more of a photographer/film producer/photoshop guru than anything and like I said, typography and layout is a new world but one i want to learn well.
thanks again,
Mike
(the indesign sponge)
Mike (great name, by the way),
Duly noted on the speed of my examples. They are deliberately kept at a brisk pace for several reasons, not the least of which is that the viewer can always stop, go back and review.
As for “Page Layout 101″, I’m a big fan of Jim Krause’s “Index” series of books (Layout Index, Color Index, Idea Index and Design Basics Index). They’re an essential reference. I keep a set both at work and at home.
yes mike is a great name
. thanks for the Jim Krause books. I’ll be checking up on those.
[...] Photocompositing in InDesign: Mike’s latest videocast is on one of our favorite techniques [...]
Thanks so much Michael. Great videocast. I’m looking forward to viewing others.
#29 is excellent; a wonderful “recipe” set of lessons that simplify, using InD, an otherwise complicated and time-consuming PS procedure. I’d like to see more of these for web viewing (non-Pod-casts that is).
Hi’ya! Noticed you had an iPod version of the 29th episode. Great!
I was wondering if there will be a separate subscription url for iTunes to subscribe to the ipod and desktop versions separately?
Many thanks for this incredible resource!
ak
ak — We’re looking into the best way to provide both. It seems iTunes 7 may have solved the problem, since it no longer restricts iPod-compatible video to 320×240 resolution. One videocast subscription my work for both options. More news to come as this gets finalized on our end…