Picture object frames randomly...

I am teaching myself how to use InDesign to create a PDF for printing a photobook via Blurb.com.

I am dragging and dropping PSD's onto the pages to create picture objects.?At first I noticed that certain older PSD's would not display at all after dropping, so I would open them in Photoshop CS3, resave them, and then they would drag and drop and show up in the InDesign document properly.

Now I am on about my 8th page and all of a sudden certain objects are just disappearing.?I can still see them in my ''links'' list, and if I say ''go to link'' it highlights the cyan box around where I know the graphic SHOULD be, but you can't see it.?If I open the original, re-save it (no modifications) it will then display in InDesign properly.?But after closing and re-opening the IDD file, it will be gone again, along with random other object frame graphics on random pages.

What is going on here???

Picture object frames randomly...

Ok, if I zoom WAY out certain of the frames which have disappeared will become visible again.?As soon as I start zooming in they start disappearing.?This sucks.

Picture object frames randomly...

Ok, apologies for the multiple self-replies, but the edit button is not taking me to an edit page, it is taking me to some other index.

My first guess was that this is a performance problem, but I have an i7 with 6GB memory, and even if I put it in simple viewing mode where all objects become grey squares, the disappearing ones are still not visible.

I haven't heard this before, either, and I would normally agree this is a performance issue, or possibly a video driver. Try tuning off Video hardware acceleration and see if it changes.

Also, try exporting to .inx, open that, and resave as a new .indd.

Are the images 8-bit or 16-bit?

Thanks for the reply.

I proved it was not hardware or software related (thought it might have to do with Win7 on my desktop) by putting it on my laptop which has Vista and a different video card, and it was acting exactly the same there (different items were randomly disappearing, but it was still happenn

From another forum somewhere, I found the same suggestion about exporting .inx and re-importing .idd, and that worked!?Still not sure what caused it.

I'm not sure if the images are 8-bit or 16-bit... I'm a bit of a graphics newbie.?They were JPEG's taken from my Canon XTi and saved as PSD's with default settings.?They are sRGB... which is a whole other can of worms because some of them seem to be displaying with the colors toned down in my IDD, and I wonder if that has to do with my using a Blurb.com template which is CMYK or something... this is another thing I am a bit of a newbie about.

.inx is a stripped-down, bare essentials file that often removes minor glitches that were not serious enough to keep the file from opening altogether. No guarantees, but often effective with single files that behave oddly.

Saving a 16-bit image is a deliberate process, and as far as I know, jpeg doesn ot support 16-bits per channel, so I think you'd know if they were. There's no reason to go from 8 to 16 that makes a lot of sense since it won't enlarge the number of colors in the image, but I've seen cases where 16 bit images didn't preview correctly in ID. There's no reason, either, to go to print with a 16-bit image, if that's the ultimate destination.

A number of things could be affecting the color, including a different color space assigned in ID, but my first guess would be that you've used transparency or a blending mode or something else that is causing the page to be flattened, and the flattening space is set to CMYK (and in overprint preview, your bright, out of gamut,?RGB colors would wash out on screen no matter what as the program is trying to show you what the document will look like in print).

Thanks again Peter.?It definitely has something to do with the Blurb template, because if I start a new generic idd file, then my sRGB images appear properly, but if I use the template they appear washed out.?Checking the ''color settings'' for each file, they appear the same.?Where is this ''flattening space'' setting you refer to??I am just trying to locate which setting is different between their template and mine that causes this to happen, don't actually plan on changing it since it's there for a reason, just trying to understand.?Thanks.

Edit %26gt; Transparency flattening space

Overprint preview is under the view menu.

You can't tell what color spaces are in use in?the document by checking color settings -- that tells you what the default settings for new documents will be. You?can asign other profiles after a doc has been created.

Instead try Edit %26gt; Convert Profiles... and note what the current source space is set to.

The source space seems the same for both a file that I create from scratch and from one using the Blurb template.?It lists both RGB and CMYK spaces in each case.

I have found one difference though.?If I go to File %26gt; Package %26gt; Print Settings... the one from the Blurb template has some differences, most notably Printing To: Printer and Color: Composite CMYK (and , while a file from scratch has Printing To: Prepress File and Color: Composite RGB).

Now, if I print the blank template one to a PS file once, then it seems the package settings appear the same as in the Blurb template one.?But, the colors still appear vibrant (RGB style) on the screen.

It is merely a curiosity at this point, but I'm wondering how the Blurb template file manages to make RGB graphics appear CMYK while on the screen.?I've been through every single setting in the whole file and compared it to a blank template and can't find a difference.

I don't seem to be able to download the templates without doing a big registration rigamarole, but here's some basics.

Your photos will probably not print in the book as you see them on screen. However, Blurb does seem to indicate that they work in sRGB. They also have a link to a custom CMYK profile (it eventually leads to Bonsai Photography - Home where you can download an HP Profile).

It wouldn't surprise me if the template actually has that profile assigned as the CMYK working space, but it's easy enough to verify by Edit %26gt; Convert to Profile... and taking note of what profiles are listed in the source section at the top. The HP profile is named HP5000SemimatteExp05.icc. If that profile is not listed, it might make sense to assign it, not here, but in Edit %26gt; Assign Profiles. You don't want to convert your existing document because that will change the color numbers in your native objects and type to give you the same appearance in the new profile. Assigning the new profile will preserve the numbers and interpret them in the new space, which is what you want.

IF that profile is actually the right one (and from the profile properties it looks like a canned profile for the HP Indigo 5000 digital press on their semimatte paper, and Blurb indicates they print on the Indigo) , and IF you have a properly claibrated and profiled monitor, and IF you turn on overprint preview (View %26gt; Overprint Preview), then you can have some confidence that what you see on screen will be close to the printed output.

Thanks again for the continues replies... I have a few posts on the Blurb forums and no replies yet.

In the Blurb template, if I click ''Convert to Profile,'' under Source Space there are TWO lines:

RGB Profile: Working RGB - sRGB IEC61966-2.1

CMYK Profile: working CMYK - U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2

Now, if I start my own file (no template), the source space reads exactly the same.

I do have a color profiled monitor, and the ''toned down'' colors that I see in the Blurb template are exactly what I see if I take my sRGB PSD's and convert them to CMYK in Photoshop.?So I think that IDD is trying to show me what I will see when it prints.

Viewing ''overprint preview'' (what does that mean?) in the Blurb template doesn't seem to change anything.?Viewing ''proof colors'' seems to mute my colors even more than they already are.

However, in a ''no template'' file... viewing overprint preview DOES make the file look exactly like the Blurb file already looks (i.e. like a CMYK conversion in Photoshop).

Here is the template hosted on my site:

http://www.matthoover.com/Pages_Std-Landscape.indd

Both you and Blurb are using the North American General Purpose color settings file, I expect.

Having no experience with Blurb, I hesitate to get too into telling you what to do, but the US Web Coated (SWOP) v2 profile descibes a web (that's the printer's term for a large roll of paper) fed press that runs at high speed and uses relatively restrained ink coverage to allow for drying. This kind of press is generally not capable of producing as saturated color as a sheetfed press or a digital device (I've never run on an Indigo, so I don't know what the capabilities are). If the HP profile has less gamut compression (do you understand gamut?), you'll be doing yourself a favor, in my opinion, by using that profile instead. Once your colors are desaturated, a CMYK to C'M'Y'K' conversion won't bring the saturation back, so you want to convert correctly the first time.

I'm really at a loss as to why you'd see different colors in the template and your own file. Try turning off the instructions layer in the template.