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• • June 14, 2020 at 2:12 pm #1255167
    N Carroll

    Participant

    Half-page-sized text frame with Paper fill atop a full-bleed 300-ppi grayscale TIFF. If I change the blend mode of the text-frame fill or text, the entire background image changes, not just in areas beneath the text frame.

    Last I checked, blend modes only should affect areas directly beneath the item to which they’re applied. That’s certainly how they work in AI and PS. What am I missing here in ID? This is basically useless.

    Observed in ID CS3 and CS4 (most-current versions to which I have access).

    [ETA: Same phenomenon occurs even if the fill of the text frame is set to none.]

  • June 14, 2020 at 11:04 pm #1255172
    Niels JÌürgen Pedersen

    Participant

    InDesign only shows a preview og the images. If you add blend mode, InDesign imports the whole image, to make the blend image.
    PhotoShop works only with full-res images, unlike InDesign.

    So what you see is normal.

  • June 15, 2020 at 12:27 am #1255182
    N Carroll

    Participant

    That’s…weird. Makes it really difficult to preview a spread when effects appear to apply beyond frame bounds.

    Guess I’ll have to render out a PDF to see what’s really going on.

  • June 15, 2020 at 7:24 am #1255212
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Classic InDesign issue. Here you go:
    https://indesignsecrets.com/my-grayscale-images-and-colors-changed-suddenly.php

  • June 15, 2020 at 7:39 am #1255232
    N Carroll

    Participant

    Um. Yeah, OK.

    Wait, what?

    I mean, seriously, that’s not particularly useful.

    What’s the point of being able to make a text-frame fill partially transparent _so the background image shows through unaltered_ if the act of applying transparency to the text frame alters the appearance of the background image?

    My head hurts.

  • June 15, 2020 at 7:47 am #1255262
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    it’s a feature-not-a-bug… :-)
    The point is that by applying transparency, InDesign actually displays the page more accurately.
    With no transparency on the spread, try turning on View > Overprint Preview. You will likely also see the image change. Overprint preview = “a bit more accurate.”

  • June 15, 2020 at 9:03 am #1255292
    N Carroll

    Participant

    Forgive me if I’m betraying a high level of cranial density here, David, but why would _the entire page change_ if the transparency feature applies only to a frame that occupies a small portion of the overall page area, and thus should affect only the area directly beneath said frame?

  • June 15, 2020 at 9:24 am #1255302
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Most of the time InDesign displays a rough preview of what the page will look like. But when you add transparency, it needs to show a higher-quality preview. That preview changes everything on the spread. So yes, you’re only affecting the transparency area, but InDesign is showing you are more accurate view of the whole spread. You can avoid this odd discrepancy if you just work with Overprint Preview turned on all the time.

  • June 15, 2020 at 11:17 am #1255332
    N Carroll

    Participant

    I usually leave Overprint Preview on, but you can’t view bleeds and text threading that way. At some point, I’ve got to turn it off to do final-prep due diligence.

    Thanks for the demystification!

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