Framing Images - Cross

[Merlin]

I am framing images in my document and some appear as I want them and others have a black diagonal cross over them. What does this mean?

[Dan C]

Hi Merlin

Could you please provide a screenshot showing the issue you've described? Many thanks in advance!

[Merlin]

@Dan CPlease find attached an example. The left and centre images have a frame cross, and the right does not, but they are all in frames. The difference is the left and centre images are multiple individual images in a group layer, in a frame; but the right one is four images assigned directly to a frame layer. So my question is, is the intentional and what does it mean? Is it a warning or just informational?

[GarryP]

It looks like you might have your group – which includes a picture frame – inside another picture frame (see first attached image), or you may have one picture frame inside another picture frame (see second attached image).

[Merlin]

@GarryP Thanks Garry. I think you've found an example of when the cross appears but it is not what I have done in my file. I think the cross appears if you have more than one layer stacked in the frame. For example if you have four images at the same level in the frame no cross appears. If you have a shape layer then the cross does appear. The cross does not print, so I am wondering what its function is. To warn you are using a frame?

[walt.farrell]

25 minutes ago, Merlin said:

The cross does not print, so I am wondering what its function is. To warn you are using a frame?

Empty Picture Frames have a cross to distinguish them from Rectangles.

If you Place an image into a Picture Frame, the cross will disappear.

If you properly drag an image into the Picture Frame in the Layers panel, the cross will disappear.

If you have an image in a Picture Frame, and the cross is still there, you haven't put the image into the Picture Frame using one of the proper techniques. In turn, that means that some Picture Frame functions probably won't work right.

If you can share your file, or show the Layers panel, we may be able to tell what you did and suggest a correction.

[Merlin]

@walt.farrell Thanks Walt. A typical example is attached, showing a single image in a frame and the associated layers.

[GarryP]

You get this probably because there is no image associated with the Picture Frame.
You have a Rounded Rectangle ‘inside’ the Picture Frame, and you have an Artboard ‘inside’ that, but there is probably no image inside the Picture Frame.
A Picture Frame layer is supposed to have an image associated with it rather than it being a container for other things, one of which may have an image in it. A Picture Frame can have other things inside it, that’s fine, but they exist primarily to have images associated with them.
This is a strange way of organising your layers, especially artboards. I’m not saying it’s wrong, just that I’ve never done things this way myself.
I’ve attached an image showing how I would have organised things. I’m not saying that you have to do it this way, only that this is the way I would have done it. Note how the image is associated with the picture frame layer.
The Help will tell you more about how Picture Frames work.

[Merlin]

Thank you Garry. To clarify, the Artboard was created in Designer as a rectangle playing card template for playing cards and does not have rounded corners because the machines cut the rounded corners when printing playing cards. I exported the Artboard as an image for Publisher, so it is actually a PNG image not an Artboard.

i included the rounded rectangle feature to round the corners of the image to make it look like a playing card in my document.

But I thank you for your comments. I will keep experimenting. I have noticed the appearance of the little grey frame in the layers panel when things are done correctly but I wonder if the software is a little unforgiving if someone has a specific need that isn’t exactly what the programmers expect.

Although I always use help before posting on here I sometimes don’t understand what help is saying.

[GarryP]

Ah, yes, sorry, I got the name of the layer mixed up with it’s type.
Thanks for making that clear.
I think the bottom line here is that you need to have an image associated with a Picture Frame (not just an image layer inside the Picture Frame layer) otherwise you will get the black cross. (I’m using the word “associated” but I don’t know if that’s the official word.)