This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Using Photoshop layer comps in InDesign
In this exercise you will learn how to create and save a layer comp in Photoshop and how to take advantage of it in InDesign.
Inspecting the Photoshop document
Launch Photoshop and open donuts.psd from the Lesson03/Imports folder.
This is a fairly complex Photoshop document that holds a combination of different layers. The design will be used in InDesign to create multiple versions of a poster campaign promoting different flavors of donuts.
The current combination of layers shows the blueberry-flavored donut with colored sprinkles. Depending on the combination of layers used we can create a chocolate version with white sprinkles, a strawberry version, or an apple version. All of this will be achieved using layer comps.
Choose Window > Layer Comps.
The Layer Comps panel shows only a layer comp named Last Document State. This is the default setting when no custom layer comps are created. We’ll start out by creating the apple version first.
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Creating the first two layer comps
In the Layers panel in Photoshop, hide the blueberry layer and make the apple layer visible.
In the Layer Comps panel, click the plus icon in the lower-right corner to create a new layer comp.
Name the new layer comp apple.
Next, we need to choose which layer features we want to capture or ignore in the layer comp for this specific combination of layers.
The layer comp captures the status of all layers in the document, not just the currently selected layer.
In the New Layer Comp dialog box, make sure that Visibility and Appearance (Layer Style) are selected and that Position and Layer Comp Selection For Smart Objects are unselected.
In the Comment field, enter apple donut - colored sprinkles.
Click OK to save the layer comp.
In the Layers panel, hide the apple layer to reveal the strawberry layer underneath.
Create another layer comp by clicking the plus icon in the Layer Comps panel.
Name the new layer comp strawberry.
In the dialog box, make sure that Visibility and Appearance (Layer Style) are selected and that Position and Layer Comp Selection For Smart Objects are unselected, and enter strawberry donut - colored sprinkles in the Comment field. Then click OK to save the second layer comp, and leave the document open.
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Creating the last layer comp
In the Layers panel in Photoshop, show the chocolate topping layer.
Show the brown bg layer to change the background.
Hide the mixed sprinkles layer, and view the white sprinkles layer.
Note that the drop shadow of the donuts doesn’t look right on some parts of the brown background. This is because the drop shadow—which is applied to the strawberry layer (which acts as the base layer)—is set to a blending mode that worked better on a colored background. We need to update the layer style applied to that layer.
Click the arrow to the right of the fx icon to display the layer effects on the layer style applied to the strawberry layer.
Double-click the name of the Drop Shadow effect to open the Layer Style dialog box.
In the Layer Style dialog box, change the Blend Mode setting from Overlay to Multiply to better blend the shadow with the background. Click OK to close the dialog box.
Create a new layer comp by clicking the plus icon in the Layer Comps panel.
Name the new layer comp chocolate. Make sure Visibility and Appearance (Layer Style) are selected (since we altered their settings, we need to make sure they will be recorded into the layer comp). Position and Layer Comp Selection For Smart Objects should remain unselected.
In the Comment field, enter chocolate donut - white sprinkles - brown background and click OK to close the dialog box.
Try out your three different layer comps by clicking the box to the left of the name of each layer comp, very similar to the eye icon of regular layers.
Choose File > Save As, and save your document as donuts-layercomps.psd.
Keep the file open.
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Using Photoshop layer comps in InDesign
Launch InDesign and open L03-poster-start.indd from the Lesson03 folder.
Choose File > Save As, and save the file as L03-posterWorking.indd.
Select the gray graphics frame using the Selection tool
.Choose File > Place.
Navigate to your newly saved donuts-layercomps.psd and select it.
Select Show Import Options at the bottom of the dialog box.
Click Open.
In the Image Import Options dialog box, click the Layers tab.
From the Layer Comp menu, choose apple. Notice that the comments we entered in Photoshop are also shown in InDesign to help us identify the chosen version.
Click OK to place the file.
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Switching to a different layer comp in InDesign
Next, we’ll create an alternative version for the poster design.
In InDesign, choose Window > Pages to view the Pages panel.
Click the page 1 thumbnail to select it, then right-click the thumbnail and choose Duplicate Spread to create a copy of it. This second page will hold the alternative poster design.
Navigate to page 2 by double-clicking its thumbnail in the Pages panel.
Select the donut image, then right-click and choose Object Layer Options.
From the Layer Comp menu, choose chocolate and click OK.
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Updating a layer comp in Photoshop
The following steps explain how to update an existing layer comp in Photoshop. In this scenario we want to update the existing apple donut to a blueberry version.
Return to Photoshop and open donuts-layercomps.psd.
In the Layer Comps panel, apply the apple layer comp.
In the Layers panel, hide the apple layer and show the blueberry layer.
Notice that making changes to an active layer comp will make that layer comp icon jump to the Last Document State position, because the layer combination no longer matches what was originally saved.
In the Layer Comps panel, double-click the apple layer comp to see its options.
In the Layer Comp Options dialog box change the name of the layer comp to blueberry. In the Comment field, replace the word “apple” with blueberry.
Click OK to close the Layer Comp Options dialog box.
In the Layer Comps panel, click the Update Layer Comp button at the bottom of the panel to refresh the currently selected layer comp with the current layer settings. Note that the active layer comp icon moves to the blueberry layer comp.
Save your document.
Return to InDesign.
Updating a layer comp within a placed PSD file in InDesign might update your InDesign document, depending on which layer comp is visible within the InDesign document.
Update the links of all placed images by Option-clicking/Alt-clicking the Update Link button in the Links panel.
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Converting layer comps to Photoshop documents
When you find that a specific layer comp is satisfactory, it’s likely that you’ll want to export that version in a separate Photoshop document.
In Photoshop, open donuts-layercomps.psd.
In the Layer Comps panel, select the layer comp(s) you want to export.
Choose File > Export > Layer Comps To Files.
In the Layer Comps To Files dialog box, select Selected Layer Comps Only to export only your selected layer comps rather than all of them.
Choose a destination folder and click Run.
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