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• • October 11, 2012 at 10:33 pm #63336
    Tom Pardy

    Member

    In Photoshop, if I add a layer to a greyscale image, change the image mode to RGB or CMYK and then fill the new layer with a colour, by changing the blend mode of that new layer to screen, I can give that greyscale image a tint (similar to sepia but not necessarily of that traditional orange-brown colour).

    Is the same (or a similar) thing possible in InDesign?

    From time to time I have a document that includes a number of greyscale images to which I would like to give a tint. Up until now I have located each of the graphics, added a colour layer in Photoshop, saved them under a different title and then changed the linkage within InDesign to the new “tinted” file. Very tedious. It would be so much more efficient if I could do something within InDesign.

    Or is this something to put on a wish list for future manifestations?

  • October 12, 2012 at 12:58 am #63338
    Tim Hughes

    Member

    A quick answer to your question is no.

    Are you working in CMYK or RGB?

    The blending modes are highly affected by the colour model you are working in, and it doesn't work the same way as in photoshop, and if you are producing print material from Indesign and working in 4 colour then it won't work the way you are hoping. The Blending modes are more akin to Illustrator than Photoshop.

  • October 12, 2012 at 4:21 am #63339
    Bob Rubey

    Member

    Perhaps not in the same manner, but you can apply color to grayscale TIFFs within InDesign. You just need to change to the Direct Selection Tool to do so.

  • October 13, 2012 at 7:55 pm #63351
    Tom Pardy

    Member

    Thank you, both Tim and Bob, for your replies.

    Mostly I work in RGB because the vast bulk of stuff I produce is printed on an inkjet printer and there is nothing to be gained by working in CMYK for an inkjet — indeed, because the monitor is always in RGB, colours are only an approximation so there is some loss. The only time I use CMYK is if I am producing something to go to a commercial (usually web offset) printer.

    The use of the Direct Selection Tool (whose name I can never remember so I call it simply “the white arrow”) is the hint I needed. It works a treat with greyscale images and also, of course, with b&w bitmaps. What a pity it doesn’t work with Illustrator files. I use these fairly frequently and, if ever I need to convert one that is in black and white to colour, I still need to go back to the original .ai file and change the stroke and fill colour of every single item in the image. Is there a quicker way to do that? Is there some way to do it in InDesign?

    I have been using InDesign since version 2.0 and I am still learning!

  • October 14, 2012 at 4:01 am #63352
    Bob Rubey

    Member

    Furry,

    I was all ready to reply no, then I remembered something. You can copy from Illustrator and paste into InDesign (or vice versa) and the result is an editable image, color and points. There will be no link info of course, so if you need to remember the file name, you may want to stick a note on a non-printing layer or use the Articles panel. You'll also lose AI's ability to find strokes and fills globally.

    I'm not a big fan of copying and pasting between applications, so I tend to forget that.

    There's some preferences you'll need to check, and Mr. Blatner posted that info in September 2011: https://creativepro.com/cop…..-versa.php

    BTW, the grayscale/b&w bitmap color technique also works on Scitex CTs (.sct), but it's an old format few people use anymore, methinks.

    Bob

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