Advanced Object Styles In Adobe InDesign CC

Hi there, in this tutorial we're going to take Object Styles to the next level. I'm excited, you should be excited, because we're going to do something like this. We're going to bring in a couple of images, dump them on a page, select them, and say, become the right size, even fit. Great if you need to have the exact same size images. Every single time you can create a great style. It gets even better, watch this. Now I have an image, I'm just going to dump it on a page anywhere. I wish it would go into the exact right spot. Ah, hang on, there we go. Perfect. Right position, right size, I can set a Style to make things go wherever I want, to be the right size, kind of, mostly. Let's go and learn how to do that now in InDesign.

So Object Styles are really basic. You've probably done one before, let's quickly recover those. So, 'Rectangle tool', I'm going to draw something but I'd like it to have a Fill of 'green'. Remember, our 'X' key brings the Fill to the front. Then Stroke to the front, and it's going to be 'white'. I'm going to make it nice and thick. I want to use that as a Style, so it happens over and over again. Let's go to 'Window', 'Styles', 'Object Styles'. With it selected, with my Black Arrow here I'm going to say, you my friend are a new 'Object Style'. This is going to be called my 'Green Box'. Cool thing about that is, later on when I grab my Rectangle tool, and it goes back to the default, I can click on 'Green Box', and it matches the Style. So that is basic Object Styles. Let's look at some of the more advanced usage.

We're going to bring in an image. We're going to go to '04 Interactive', and grab one of these ones. So grab any of these, except for the Chair because that's already in the background. I'm going to grab this one, 'Image 4'. Now, I'm going to just place it by clicking once. I hit my 'W' key, so I can see the whole thing. I'm going to resize it, and let's say we spend a bit of time going, “Okay, this is how big all the images are going to appear in this Catalog.” So what I'd like to do is be able to kind of set this as a size, as the default as well. It's kind of new for the new version of InDesign. I want it to have a Stroke around the outside, for no good reason, but with it selected, I'm going to create a new 'Object Style'. Double click it, and this is going to be my 'image'. What's not on by default is, down the bottom here, well actually, at the top here, it looks like it's on, it's called 'Size and Position', but it's set to 'None'. So let's look at 'Size', and let's adjust the 'Height & Width'. All right, let's click 'OK'.

It's going to kind of work. It's got a little, but it's actually worth learning because it's quite useful. So that's the exact size, I want all my images to be now. So I've got a new page, I want another image, I want to bring it in. 'File', 'Place', and I'm going to bring in the 'Kitchen' this time, click it. It becomes really very big. I want it to be that size, with the Stroke. Watch this, I click on 'Image' and it almost works. It makes the Frame the right size. It makes the line around the outside, so it made the size right. Just hasn’t fit the image in. So you can kind of fix it. You can go into 'Image', and say actually I would like the Style to also do down the bottom here, 'Frame Fitting Option'. Now I want to say, I want you to 'Fit Content to Frame', please. Can you see, it adjusts over here. So I've turned it on, turned on 'Auto-Fit'. 'Fit Content to Frame', awesome, so it's going to remember it. Not quite.

So I'm going to bring in my third option, 'Floating'. Same thing, nice and big. I click on this, and it still doesn't work, don't know why, it seems Auto-fit, and I told the Object Style to do it, so weird little thing is, you just turn it off, turn it back on, and it works. So it's not a deal breaker, it works, but you just got to turn this on and off. Feels like a bug, it's been in there for ages but I think it's totally worth it. So I've got these images here. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with him, I'm just going to actually undo. I'm going to move you over here, and you, over here, Ah! So stylish, Dan.

The other option you can do with Object Styles is moving the position and size. This is going to be really handy for a logo. I'm going to bring in a Logo, it's going to be in my 'Exercise Files'. There is 'Option 4'. I'm totally not using Option 4, I'm going to bring in Option 1. I'm going to click and drag it to get it to be the right size. I adjust it, and I get it perfect. And let's say that I want this in this particular spot all the time. I've got a Corporate Spec Menu, and they say it needs to be these many centimeters from the side and these many millimeters from the top and you get it all perfect, right? And you'd like to set that as a Style. You can, let's create a new Style, with it selected 'Object Style 1', this one's going to be my 'Logo' Style. And in here, where it says 'Size and Position' we're going to do 'Size'. 'Height & Width'. But we're also going to do Position, x and y. Turn the Fitting on as well, 'Frame Fitting', turn it on. Fit 'Content Proportionately' even though it doesn't work. Click 'OK'.

Now let's say we've got a new document, or in our case, just a new page. I can go, dump my logo in. It's 'Option 1'. Click once in the page, and then, magically, click on 'Logo'. Gets into the right position. The Frame that's inside kind of works. Remember, just turn this on and off, and it works. So, that can be super handy. Maybe 'Tease & Cease' down the bottom, or 'Logo Placement'. You might have something that kind of happens the same on every document, and you might find that useful. The only trouble is that it uses the Left Hand Edge as a reference. So if your viewed document became Landscape now, it ended up in the same place, and it will be all this white area over here. It's actually using the measurement from over here. So I can't figure out a way of fixing that. If you do, drop me a comment, I'd love to know, because it's been baffling me. You might also find, when you're doing it, in the future, that this Auto-fit thing just works, you don't have to turn it on and off.

One last thing to do with Object Frames is, this is a strange one, you might not use it, you might do. So I'm going to bring in an image, and let's bring in from my 'Interactive' again, let's grab any of these images. I bring it through, and yes, looks good that way. I'm going to do some stuff to it, I'm going to add my terrible Drop Shadow. I'm also going to go there, and do a 'Bevel and Emboss'. It's terrible, I know. Terrible. But say you've liked this, and you want to bring in images. Instead of bringing them in, and having to apply styles from them you can create this crazy style, called the Place Gun Frame. What you need to do is, with your Style selected, make a new Object Style, and with it, double click it to name it. And you just need to call it this, you got to call it 'Place Gun Frame'. It has to be spelt that way, it has to use Title case.

So I've pulled this style, our Bevel and Emboss, and Drop Shadow. We've made a Style called Place Gun Frame. Why this is good? It means that later on I can come into here, place something else, Chair, and I'm going to drag it out, and look, it's got those Styles applied to it. You might do something just more simple. Might be a Stroke around the outside that you always have to do. It's just a weird little feature that-- yes, you have to call it Place Gun Frame. What you'll also might do is close everything down and add your Place Gun Frame style. If I close this down now, save it, and I close it now, if I open up my 'Essentials' and go to my 'Object Styles', and create an Object Style, now it's going to be there forever. I agree, that one's probably a little random but cool kind of trick, I felt that was. Do I ever use it? No, if I'm honest. I don't have Bevel and Emboss drop shadows but you might be doing something long and repetitive, and it's worth remembering, and you'd be like, "Hey, I can use that trick." I hope you do, either way, let's move on to the next video.