QuarkXPress Integration with Adobe Creative Suite 3
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Using PSD files

Bringing the PSD files into QuarkXPress is the same as any other image. Create a picture box and then use File > Import Picture.

To access the special features of PSD, choose Window > PSD Import.

You’ll instantly see thumbnails of the layers along with their names.

Layer opacity and blend modes

You can toggle the visibility of each layer by clicking on the eyeball icon, but, unique to QuarkXPress, you can do more: you can set the opacity and blending mode of each layer.

For example, you’ve created a layer in Photoshop to give your image an antiqued look, but when you put it in your layout it seems swamped by the surrounding colors. One option might be to reduce the opacity of that layer by clicking on it and entering a new opacity level. Another approach might be to try out a more subtle blending mode like “Soft Light.” The beauty is that you see all of these changes right in the context of your page, and you’re not changing the original file. After all, who knows how the effect would look in a totally different layout.

Figure 1 Using the PSD Import palette.

In the world of graphics non-destructive means that your original image data remains intact even as you apply effects. PSD Import in QuarkXPress is always non-destructive in that QuarkXPress never changes your source PSD file. So if you change the blending modes, spot colors, and visible layers on a page in a layout, your original master PSD is left intact. This gives you the flexibility to use the same image with different looks in different picture boxes.

Channel control

Most PSDs have either three (RGB) or four (CMYK) channels, but of course you can add many more. There are two main uses of channels in publishing environments: alpha channels and spot channels.

Alpha channels

Alpha channels are a way of masking off areas of an image, but unlike a clipping path they can be soft edged and partially transparent. Images such as TIFFs and PNGs can have alpha channels too, you’ll find control for these in the regular measurements palette rather than in the PSD Import palette.

QuarkXPress has some very cool alpha channel features. You can pick any channel in an image as your alpha channel, even if you originally intended to use it for some other purpose. Also, you can use QuarkXPress picture effects to blur the edges of your channel non-destructively if you find that it looks too hard­edged on a particular page or at a particular scale. You can also switch between alpha channels without having to re-import the image.

Spot channels

If you want to add an extra ink or plate to your images, you can set up a channel to do that in Photoshop. For example, maybe you intend to varnish part of an image, or you want to use a spot color within your image.

Naming the spot color plate is probably the biggest challenge. For instance, if you have chosen PANTONE 123 in your image to match the PANTONE 123 in your catalogue, and then your client decides on a different color, you have to go back to Photoshop and change that channel name; or if you have to use the same graphic in multiple projects with different spot colors you’ll need multiple PSDs. However, QuarkXPress PSD Import solves these problems.

QuarkXPress can re­map any channel right in the PSD Import palette — non­destructively. So click on the channels divider of the PSD Import Palette; double click on the channel in question, and you can pick any color from your project’s color palette, ensuring consistency.

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