6 Replies Latest reply: Oct 4, 2014 4:04 AM by WWWiggers RSS

    InDesign Vectors to Fireworks

    Riffraff3055 Community Member
    Riffraff3055 Oct 23, 2008 10:23 AM
      This seems to be a rare problem as my searches for the key topics involved comes up relatively empty. I am hoping someone has a suggestion for a workflow.

      Here's the problem:
      My boss is a print designer. As such he still uses InDesign to design and mock up the websites we are creating. I tried but I cannot break him of this habit. He then gives me the InDesign file and leaves it to me to produce a website from it. For over a year I have been redrawing the vector art in Fireworks before slicing it and creating the website. Copying a vector from InDesign and pasting into Fireworks brings the file in as a bitmap. I read quite a few workflow suggestions for getting vectors from Illustrator by exporting as an EPS and bringing that into Fireworks. Now all I need to do is get the vectors from InDesign into Illustrator. Even though going from InDesign to Illustrator and then to Fireworks would be a pain in the *** it still isn't as frustrating as having to recreate every piece of vector art from scratch to get the job done. Any suggestions?

      Thanks,
      Patrick
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        • 1. InDesign Vectors to Fireworks
          heathrowe CommunityMVP
          heathrowe Oct 23, 2008 1:11 PM (in response to Riffraff3055)
          Ouch thats a rough work flow to have to go through.

          I just did a test (Indesign CS3 > FW CS4).

          Opend a sample Indesign Template, File > Export (the only thing I changed here was instead of all pages, I narrowed to a single page, left everything else as is - as I never used it)

          Fw : File > Import, choose the .eps file saved from Indesign. Everything came in perfect - editable type/ vectors etc.

          The only thing is Fw imports .eps as a 'Grouped' Layer. Ungroup this Layer to get all the individual components (type/vector) to work with, and your ready to go. Hide/remove elements no need then copy/paste to your original FW mockup.

          What versions are you using?

          h
          • 2. Re: InDesign Vectors to Fireworks
            Riffraff3055 Community Member
            Riffraff3055 Oct 23, 2008 1:27 PM (in response to heathrowe)
            Thanks for your response, Heath. I am currently all CS3 but if making this work means getting Fireworks CS4 I'm sure I could work that out with the boss.

            I have tried exporting an eps from InDesign and it seems to flattens the file during the export. When I import the .eps into Fireworks it comes in as a bitmap. It feels like I am missing something somewhere in the process, possibly something in the eps export settings? Forgive my ignorance on the subject. Never been here before, ya know?

            Patrick
            • 3. InDesign Vectors to Fireworks
              heathrowe CommunityMVP
              heathrowe Oct 23, 2008 3:31 PM (in response to Riffraff3055)
              Your welcome.

              And yes CS4 improves on the .eps/.ai workflow and treats them the same way now. In CS4, .eps Import/Open comes in as a Group. Ungroup and you have all the type/vectors and bitmaps if any.

              Having said that, and since your current workflow is (CS3)Indesign/Illustrator/Fireworks, you can still get the same results. I still have my CS3 intact, so I was able to test this.

              See below.

              - Export to .eps from Indesign.
              - Open .eps in Illustrator CS3, then Save as .ai.
              - Then import .ai file into Fw CS3. You will get a different dialog than the one you are use to when you imported .eps. Accept the defaults, and click on canvas to Place. Ungroup the Layer and you are good to go.

              Note: Since your going from color managed (Indesign) to non-color managed (Fw) when you export to .eps (Indesign) change the color mode to RGB. Fw only handles 8-bit RGB.

              Hope this helps.
              It's still your tedious workflow, but at least you can get all the same objects in there - Editable text and paths, and you won't have to recreate it.

              h
              • 4. Re: InDesign Vectors to Fireworks
                Riffraff3055 Community Member
                Riffraff3055 Oct 24, 2008 8:25 AM (in response to heathrowe)
                Fantastic! This is still tedious but so much better than my previous workflow. Thanks very much for your help, Darrell.

                Quick question, we have Fireworks CS4 Beta but the suggested EPS > Fireworks conversion doesn't seem to work correctly. Is that something that might not be working in the beta? I will probably talk the boss into getting Fireworks CS4 for me anyway but thought I would ask.

                Thanks again,
                Patrick
                • 5. Re: InDesign Vectors to Fireworks
                  heathrowe CommunityMVP
                  heathrowe Oct 24, 2008 9:43 AM (in response to Riffraff3055)
                  Your welcome

                  It's possible when the public Beta was release it never had that feature implemented, though I am not 100% certain, since it was quite awile ago.

                  h
                  • 6. Re: InDesign Vectors to Fireworks
                    WWWiggers Community Member
                    WWWiggers Oct 4, 2014 4:04 AM (in response to Riffraff3055)

                    Hi Guys,

                     

                    This has been helpful for me even with the latest versions of the software (CS6 + ID CC).

                     

                    The only problem now is how to go from Fireworks to Indesign while preserving vectors.. any ideas?