Importing png into InDesign results in color distortion of the png

[ashimg23377171]

I have icons in my PowerPoint that I wish to use in my InDesign document.

So I save the icon as a png.

And now in InDesign, i a create a rectangular frame. And using Frame Fitting Options, I select 'Fit content to frame.'  And then, using File -> Place, I plug the image into InDesign, but the colors are all distorted. I am not sure I understand why this is so. Any guidance is truly appreciated.

Regards

[Laubender]

I would open the exported png file in PhotoShop to check quality.
If resolution is not sufficient scale up the icon in PowerPoint and export again.

Regards,
Uwe

[ashimg23377171]

the quality is fine.... it's just that the transparency is turning to black when I place the png in InDesign.. I'm not sure how to fix that

[Jongware]

Show a screenshot of your swatches panel with this image selected.

[Laubender · Accepted solution]

Ok. Then open the file in PhotoShop and resave to PNG.
Or save a PSD file with transparency and place that with InDesign.

Regards,
Uwe

[ashimg23377171]

Laubender:

That worked:  "Then open the file in PhotoShop and resave to PNG."

Thanks v much,

But may I know the reason why this worked.

[Laubender]

Sorry. I have no technical details on this:

It seems that PowerPoint exported a kind of PNG where transparency will be handled in a different way than PhotoShop does. And obviously InDesign is not able to handle it quite right…

Regards,
Uwe

[Laubender]

Hm…
It could be, that 8Bit + Transparency (PowerPoint export) vs 24Bit + Transparency (PhotoShop save) makes the difference here. Cannot test this right now…

Regards,
Uwe

[ashimg23377171]

thanks

[Willi Adelberger]

If you can get these pics as vector files you should save them as AI or PDF/X4 and use those instead. It would result in a superior quality. It seems to me easy to remake them in Illustrator.

[Laubender]

Hi Willi,

do you know a method to export vector graphics out of PowerPoint?
Other than perhaps saving a pptx file to PDF and work on with that in e.g. Illustrator?

Hm…
It might be a difference if one is on a Mac or a Windows PC.

Regards,
Uwe

[Jongware]

Don't use PowerPoint for serious artwork. Seriously.

Here are the results of a series of experiments. I exported this shape in PowerPoint to a variety of formats and tested what happened in InDesign.

Top: PNG. This is according to pngcheck a proper 8-bit PNG with palette transparency:

File: ..\..\Pictures\arrows.png (3603 bytes)

  chunk IHDR at offset 0x0000c, length 13

    182 x 176 image, 8-bit palette, interlaced

  chunk sRGB at offset 0x00025, length 1

    rendering intent = perceptual

  chunk gAMA at offset 0x00032, length 4: 0.45455

  chunk PLTE at offset 0x00042, length 399: 133 palette entries

  chunk tRNS at offset 0x001dd, length 133: 133 transparency entries

  chunk pHYs at offset 0x0026e, length 9: 5905x5905 pixels/meter (150 dpi)

  chunk IDAT at offset 0x00283, length 2940

    zlib: deflated, 32K window, fast compression

    rows per pass: 22, 22, 22, 44, 44, 88, 88

  chunk IEND at offset 0x00e0b, length 0

No errors detected in ..\..\Pictures\arrows.png (8 chunks, 88.8% compression).

... but InDesign does not recognize this kind of transparency, even though it appears checked when showing Import Options!

As per Uwe's suggestion, resaving the file with Photoshop can fix it. Photoshop does recognize the transparent bits, but you must remember to convert the image to another color model, because otherwise it gets saved with that same 8-bit transparent palette again.

Saving as PNG must be the worst possible method of getting an image out of PowerPoint. Apart from the transparency problem, the vector information is lost, the resolution is fixed to 150 dpi, and the palette is limited to 256 entries (or even 255, because one entry is taken by the useless Transparent color).

So: second attempt: copy, paste. This does not result in editable vector shapes – it gets copied as a single WMF. However, it's not too bad because at least the vector information is preserved.

Third attempt: Save as PDF. Alas, PowerPoint includes the white 'presentation' background by default, and there seems to be no option to turn it off. Crop options don't work; InDesign does not recognize the inside piece as separate artwork and so you get the entire presentation background as size of the image.

Fourth attempt: from within PowerPoint Save as PDF, then using Touchup to remove the stupid white background rectangle. That also makes "Crop to Bounding Box" work again.

Fifth attempt: from within PowerPoint Save as WMF. InDesign really doesn't like Microsoft's file formats; this is what it says on attempting to import that WMF:

... so I chose "No" here.

Sixth attempt: copy, paste into Illustrator. Very good result; the object is grouped but otherwise fully editable. Save as AI and it's as good as any vector file.

Seventh and final attempt: copy, paste into Illustrator. Copy that in turn and paste into InDesign. (Included because copy/paste from within PowerPoint results in an uneditable WMF.)  Also a very good result, as again it's a fully editable vector image.

[Laubender]

Hi Jongware,

thank you very much for the tests!

Just did one test on my old Mac OSX 10.6.8 with an rather old PowerPoint.
The only way to get vector shapes out from an artwork in PowerPoint is to "print/export to PDF", open the PDF and edit with e.g. Adobe Illustrator. Copy/paste to Illustrator will result in a bitmap image on the Illustrator side.

Regards,
Uwe