Overlay graphics in InDesign to compare them
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- Written by robinfredericf
- Category: JS inDesign
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You designed a page layout, a Photoshop photomontage or an imposition, using a provided document (ai/pdf or indd document, jpg/tiff/psd image, etc.) and now you are asked without any explanation to update (or redo) your work with a new version of the source document sent back to you, of course you will obey but you are too curious and you would like to detect what really are the differences between the previous and the new file.
Reedit the import options of any placed graphic
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- Written by robinfredericf
- Category: JS inDesign
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When you place a graphic (pdf or indd page, jpg/tif/psd/png image) you can set a number of options in the import options dialog. Once the file is placed, some options can be modified (object layer options for pdf/indd/psd, photoshop clipping path selection…) but some others parameters set in the import options dialog box are frozen (imported page number, "crop to" option for pdf/indd pages, profile and rendering intent for RGB images), unless you browse back to the file to place it again.
Columns calculator
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- Written by robinfredericf
- Category: JS inDesign
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You have a text frame of a given width (for example 277 mm) and you want to split it to several columns (of equal width) separated by gutters, you can do it easily in the "Text Frame Options" dialog.
- If you want 2, 4, 5 or 8 columns, you will easily get column and gutter widths multiples of 0.25 or 0.1 by selecting "Columns: Fixed Number", by changing the "Number" and "Gutter" fields without touching the "Width" field (ex: 5 columns, gutters 4 mm → width 52.2 mm).
- But for other numbers of columns such as 3, 6, 7, 9, 11… You will get unpleasant values (ex: 7 columns, gutters 4 mm → width 36.143 mm).
This script will enable you in the second case to find simpler values: you select your text frame and launch the script, and it will suggest you all possible column and gutter widths multiples of a given increment (by default, the cursor key increment of your document view preferences). This enables you to discover round values you'd never thought about: for example you can split your 277 mm text frame to seven 37 mm columns separated by 3 mm gutters.
Fit a text to an outline
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- Written by robinfredericf
- Category: JS Illustrator
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Someone provided you with a file (such as ai, pdf, eps) and you are now asked to edit a text line in it using Illustrator, but unfortunately this text has been converted to outlines 
If you have ever been through this before, you know that you have to cope with some difficulties to get to it : identify the font, get it (legally !) and load it, if this font is not already in your system or font manager, and finally recreate the text with exactly the same typeface size and horizontal scale.
This simple script without any dialog box nor option will help you to accomplish the last step by enabling you to fit exactly the text to the bounds of a vector object. For example you type and format with the needed font the first letter of the text you want to recreate, you select both the text and the corresponding outline and the script fits the text to the outline.
If you actually used the same font as the original, you will be able to check by zooming in up to 6400% the perfect superposition of the character on the outline, if not — this generally means that you didn't use exactly the same font version (for example you will never succeed to fit the Adobe Futura to your outline if the font originally used was Futura BT).
If the whole line has the same character attributes (same font, same weight, same typeface size, etc.) all you have to do now is to type the other letters and modify if needed the kerning method and letter/word spacing to get a satisfying superposition of the whole recreated text line on the reference outline. The script can also fit a text including several characters to a selection of several vector objects, but the result will not be satisfying if the kerning and justification are not appropriate. If you have several fonts and styles in the same line, then you will have to recreate it in several parts that you will be able to merge using this other script https://www.wundes.com/JS4AI/#joinTextFrames.js or a similar script that i wrote myself, that should give better results and that i will also upload soon [PS: a promise made is a debt unpaid].
Tested from CS5 to CC2015.
Note: the script is intended for outlines converted from horizontal text, possibly extended or condensed, but not rotated nor deformed such as sheared to make false italic. In the case of simple rotation if you manage to estimate the rotation angle of the vector object you should get a correct result if you apply the same rotation to the text sample before launching the script, in the case of skewing, the angle is excessively complex to estimate if the deformation was combined with a non-uniform scale (extended or condensed).
This functionality is now integrated into the «Text Rebuild Tools» extension for Illustrator CC+
