Have you ever wondered why the graphics you place in InDesign CS are always low resolution? Have you ever wished that you could change it on the fly or permanently so the graphics always are placed at a high resolution?

This post is a simple explanation of why InDesign CS does this, how you can change it on the fly and how you can change it so all graphics placed are at high resolution.

The Why

The fact that InDesign CS shows the placed graphic as a low resolution file is actually quite a smart feature. The reason is, InDesign CS helps you conserve your computer’s memory this way. High resolution graphics take more memory to manipulate. Even a simple click and drag move takes more memory when the file is at a high resolution. By defaulting to a low resolution display, InDesign CS is making it easier on your computer and easier for you. It is true that minor detailed manipulations are not possible at the low resolution display but for the most part, this is a very smart and very important feature. Along with conserving memory, the low resolution default setting allows your computer to place graphics faster. The low resolution files don’t take as long to load. You may not notice the importance of low resolution display and conserved memory with small 1 or 2 page documents but once you get into larger multi-paged documents, this feature is a true blessing. It will allow you to more from page to page faster and keep your overall work flow at a good pace. With all of that said, there are ways to change the display so that the placed graphics are high resolution. This can be done a few different ways…

Changing Display Performance On The Fly

You can change the display resolution of the placed graphic by right clicking (option-click; Mac) and selecting the Display Performance option at the bottom of the pop up menu. You will see a pop out that shows Optimized Display, Typical Display and High Resolution Display.

In order to have your graphic at the highest resolution and look the cleanest, you will need to select the High Resolution Display.

Once this is selected you will see the image change from the low resolution graphic to a high resolution graphic. Just like this image of a cat does. A word of caution…If the graphic is very large then the change make take a few seconds to occur. The speed of the change does depend on your computers memory and processor speed.

You can make this change on the fly to only one image or to a bunch of separate images within the document. If you want the change to occur to several images, you select each of them until you have them all selected and then use the right-click (option-click; Mac) method talked about above.

You are able to change the graphics back to a low resolution display by using the same process but instead choosing the Typical Display option. This will cause your images to change back to the lower resolution.

to be continued… (Using Display Performance Preferences)

Bookmarking:

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 26th, 2006 at 3:43 pm and is filed under Printing, Graphic Design, Tips & Tutorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.