Is there something I'm missing???

[dabob]

I've got a live one, a customer created a 26 page (never mind that the page count wont work for saddle stitching) and gave it to me in one photoshop document with 26 layers (with sub-layers). Is there any easier way to get it into InDesign than using the layer options dialog box? Is there any way to export each major layer as a different file? What am I missing?

 

[Tim-Ellis]

Urrrrghhh..... Sounds horrendous.

I'm away from my mac right now but it might be possible to script a solution in photoshop or script a solution in Indesign to speed up the importing.

I guess you tried importing and photoshop file into acrobat to see if it respects the layers in the resulting pdf?

 

[Dov Isaacs]

I've got a live one, a customer created a 26 page (never mind that the page count wont work for saddle stitching) and gave it to me in one photoshop document with 26 layers (with sub-layers). Is there any easier way to get it into InDesign than using the layer options dialog box? Is there any way to export each major layer as a different file? What am I missing?

This must be a very important customer or a particularly profitable job if you are going to put up with this mishagoss in terms of job creation and submission.

The safest way of handling this may be a script in Photoshop that would create a single layer ZIP-compressed TIFF file or a PDF/X-4 file for each major layer (with all the other layers turned off) and subsequently place each such file into an InDesign page. I would choose PDF over TIFF if any of the content in the Photoshop document has any live text or vector artwork - PDF preserves such content as text or vector yielding higher quality output. I personally would be very wary of directly placing PSD into InDesign (it loses live text and vector with such placement). Note that for just 26 of these pages, it might be faster to do this manually than to create, test, and run a new script!

Urrrrghhh..... I guess you tried importing and photoshop file into acrobat to see if it respects the layers in the resulting pdf?

PDF layers are very different than Photoshop layers. This would not work!


- Dov

 

[WI-Flexo]

Photoshop layer comps.... Create a layer comp of each layer set you want and export layer comps to specific file format or PDF. Not sure if this is a solution for your particular files but is handy to know regardless. Layer comp basics.... Open layer comp window and only show layers you want for file 1. Click the create comp icon at the bottom of the comps window. Hide those layers and show the next ones you want for file 2 and click the create again. When done with all 26 go to export layer comps to files or to PDF. If you don't have to combine any layers and each layer is essentially already good you can skip all that and export layers to PDF also. It is in export layers to files and choose PDF or preferred file type. Anyway hope that helps ya!

 

[Stephen Marsh]

Agreed, Layer Comps are a no brainer (perhaps the client saved them into the PSD and you will get a nice surprise, yeah right) and Photoshop ships with an Export option to save out Layer Comps to PDF or other file types.

Another option would be to take a History snapshot of each layer setup as required, then use a script to save out all history snapshots to file:
https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2034807


Once you have your files, InDesign has Adobe scripts to import such files, or you can just load up a multi-page cursor for manual placement… While there are also third party scripts that provide placement options and other nice features.


Yet another option is to use the PSD import options to define layers to turn on/off with each import – however I personally would not go down this path.


Stephen Marsh

 

[Slammer]

Practice your I-am-terribly-sorry face and send it back with a link to a "how to layout 101"

 

[Joe]

I've got a live one, a customer created a 26 page (never mind that the page count wont work for saddle stitching) and gave it to me in one photoshop document with 26 layers (with sub-layers). Is there any easier way to get it into InDesign than using the layer options dialog box? Is there any way to export each major layer as a different file? What am I missing?

I'll bet this person was so proud of themselves and how damn awesome of a job they did. The only way to teach people like this is to give them an invoice of what this job would have cost if they had did it correctly and another one of what the actual cost is to after having to rescue this mess from the trash heap.

 

[JustinB]

Be careful exporting text from photoshop. If they used any faux effects the text will rasterize on export.

 

[Mark]

Call homeland security and have this design terrorist put away.

 

[Dario]

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/layer-comps.html#export_layer_comps

 

[Graeme NZ]

Just for giggles, make an animated GIF to send to the client for "proofing purposes". Sounds like they've done half of the work for you already

 

[michaelejahn]

wow. just wow. Dov said it best, but I suppose another approach might be to ask "have you done this before ? "

 

[dabob]

wow. just wow. Dov said it best, but I suppose another approach might be to ask "have you done this before ? "

Yes they have and we printed just the way they sent it last year . . . looked like a steaming pile, but apparently they don't care . . at least last year it was one file per page . . .

But that reminds me of a time when I told a designer ( a long long time ago) that illustrator is to ILLUSTRATING not page layout and since he had quark I told him that was the proper tool to use . .. so he made a really big artboard in Illy, big enough to hold 16 pages and then put that file into a 16 page quark document 16 times inside a page size picture box . . . . I called him and told him that was not exactly what I meant . . . some people just won't learn.