Sg2.9
Illustrator – Indesign connec...
Recent RSS
Illustrator – Indesign connection
From:  Alessandro
Date:  28. March 2008, 17:07

Hi?
this is a wish list but is also a question...

is there a way to share documents made by scriptographer in illustrator directly in indesign? I'm working on a grid-script on scriptographer and I'm questioning to myself if it possible to export that file and automaticly import it in indesign as guides...

any help?
thanks in advance!

Re: Illustrator – Indesign connection
From:  pqbdesign
Date:  28. March 2008, 19:41

I've heard that the PageMaker Plugin Pack for InDesign allows for importing editable .ai files. Would that help?

Re: Illustrator – Indesign connection
From:  Alessandro
Date:  29. March 2008, 16:34

I can't find anything about that. do you have the url please?

Re: Illustrator – Indesign connection
From:  pqbdesign
Date:  29. March 2008, 22:49

http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/pm_ind.html

After some digging, I think I found a better solution. InDesign ships with a script: AddGuides (Window>Automation>Scripts>Samples). This allows you to create guides around any selected object, and any of its sides/centers.

If you were to set your SG script to create objects which define the guides' placement, pasting those objects into InDesign is supported natively...

Re: Illustrator – Indesign connection
From:  Alessandro
Date:  31. March 2008, 12:55

thank you!
you've got the point: now I'm trying to transform all my artwork into guides...
I don't know how to do that...

...can you help me please?

Re: Illustrator – Indesign connection
From:  pqbdesign
Date:  31. March 2008, 21:07

In Illustrator, it's simple; for a selected path, set the guide property to true.

for example:

var p=null;

p = activeDocument.getSelectedItems();
for (var i = 0; i < p.length; i++) {
p[i].guide=true;
}

this will turn all selected paths into guides.

Re: Illustrator – Indesign connection
From:  Alessandro
Date:  3. April 2008, 13:54

thank you!

I'll try it immediately!

Re: Illustrator – Indesign connection
From:  Alessandro
Date:  3. April 2008, 14:17

uhm, I can't make work your code...
it seems like nothing became a guide...

Re: Illustrator – Indesign connection
Date:  4. April 2008, 18:50

it works for me.. did you select the paths, click the script and press on the 'play' button?

Re: Illustrator – Indesign connection
From:  pqbdesign
Date:  4. April 2008, 19:54

Hmm... It seems to work just fine on every machine I've try.
Keep in mind, this only flips the boolean 'guide' value for a path, making it follow the Guide commands, such as Hide Guides, Lock ... etc. It will not make the path 'infinite' as a ruler guide appears.
If that's what you're after, you can transform the path to a huge length (227 inches on the x/y axis) so it appears to be a regular guide, or you can change the guide's starting and ending points with a text editor:
Each guide in a CS3 .ai file has three lines describing the starting point (X,Y,m), ending point (X,Y,L), and termination/path-type ((N) *). In a 10"x10" document, the following will describe a horizontal line at 5":

  • 7831 360 m

8552 360 L
(N) *

The specific X values here are the most important - a guide MUST have a starting point at -7831, and an ending point at 8552 in order to be treated as an 'infinite' line. The same applies for vertical guides, but in the Y coordinate. As well, (N)* terminates a guide, while N ends a regular path.
If you create all of your new guides with the same X/Y positions you can easily search and replace the right values to fool Illustrator into thinking it's full of regular ruler-guides.

Scripts
08.08.14, 15:24
15.05.14, 14:23
02.03.14, 19:16
18.11.13, 14:48
22.03.13, 03:05
22.02.13, 15:45
Posts
10.01.17, 16:37
19.02.16, 06:03
19.02.16, 06:00
17.01.16, 11:00
12.01.16, 13:10
25.11.15, 08:19
Script of the Moment
Mosaic Staple Raster 24.03.10