Publisher doesn't seem to import True Picture Frames from IDML files

[Affinity-Inspiration]

I have a few imports IDML documents, with picture frames, or seeming so, but they appear to actually be images, not picture frames.

I have to replace them with AP picture frames to get them to work properly.

Just wondered about this.

I've attached an afpub doc with three imported picture frames, and one I created within ap, to test it out again.

It's not a big issue, but I just wondered as I say.

Test Picture Frames.afpub

[walt.farrell]

It would probably help to have the IDML file, too.

[Affinity-Inspiration]

20 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

It would probably help to have the IDML file, too.

I’ll look into it, but really only wondering if this is a thing, or just peculiar to my files?

[walt.farrell]

16 minutes ago, HarryMcGovern said:

I’ll look into it, but really only wondering if this is a thing, or just peculiar to my files?

That's why having your IDML file would help.

[MEB]

Hi @HarryMcGovern,
Without the IDML file we have no way to know if the problem is in the source file itself or with our import.
If you don't want to share the file publicly i can provide an upload link so you can send it directly to us - just let me know. All files will be deleted after being inspected.

[Affinity-Inspiration]

6 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

That's why having your IDML file would help.

Just doing some checks. I have a LOT of IDML files it seems, and all behave as I would expect. Except - this one. Maybe Adobe has some locking mechanism I don't know about. Wouldn't surprise me.

The other problem is, it's a commercial file so I can't spread it around.

[Affinity-Inspiration]

Just now, MEB said:

Hi @HarryMcGovern,
Without the IDML file we have no way to know if the problem is in the source file itself or with our import.
If you don't want to share the file publicly i can provide an upload link so you can send it directly to us - just let me know.

That should work? An upload link. I'm really curious about it now. Although, maybe they aren't Picture Frames at all, but Images.??

[MEB]

Here's the upload link. Thanks.

[Affinity-Inspiration]

1 minute ago, MEB said:

Here's the upload link. Thanks.

Done, thanks.

[MEB]

Hi @HarryMcGovern,
This document contains linked images that are missing - it's not a Publisher issue. Check you PM in a minute (Personal Messages in the Forum). I'm sending you a report with the missing images and the folders were they were originally located.

[Affinity-Inspiration]

Ar ha! That makes sense now. I hate linked images :-).

I know. I forgot to look in Resources. Damn, there’s always something. 
“Iceberg? What iceberg?”

 

[MEB]

When you open the document the first time in Publisher it should ask you if you want to locate the (missing) linked resources. You have to select yes and point Affinity Publisher to the correct folder for the document to be imported with all images in place.

[Affinity-Inspiration]

Yes, thanks. I know that. It does have an undesirable effect on the Picture Frames though.

Cant work at the moment. In the middle of a full backup.

tganks

[Affinity-Inspiration]

Ok, well I'm back to the document, and it's not a missing resource. I din't think I'd missed it. I've been very distracted with something else today so wasn't thinking straight at all.

In fact if you go to the Page 3 in the Pages list, where the index is, you will see exactly what I mean. The missing resource file has the related ? question mark with it, but the ones below it, with the grey fill, although called (Picture Frame} are not Question Marked. So perhaps aren't even Picture Frames.

 

In fact, if you copy just one, and go to Photo and Create a new image From Clipboard, you get what appears to be a transparent background with an image placed in it.

The sizes also appear to be multiples of each other. So what we have there is a group of very clever images used as picture markers.

[Affinity-Inspiration]

Well. Isn't that clever.

Someone has actually made Assets of them. Very neat, and a very good idea. I'm going to use that. Simply replace the Assets with real Picture Frames. Images tend to be standard sizes across multiple documents so why not if you are doing base design templates.

[MEB]

The red question mark image is to to show you there's a missing image resource there in that picture frame as opposed to those picture frames that were empty in the original IDML file. So, all of them are picture frames - it just happens some were already holding images in the original document (which were replaced with the red question mark image when imported into Affinity if you do not point to the linked resources) whereas others were still empty in the original document and as such do not have the red question mark image, only the regular picture frame is there as in the original document.

[Affinity-Inspiration]

Sorry, but they aren’t all picture frames. If they were you’d be able to put pictures in them. You can’t. 

They are cleverly created Assets Images  created to a set of sizes and placed as ‘place markers’ to look like Picture Frsmes.

I just used Photo to make assets out of them. 

[MEB]

You can. What's happening is that images you drag over them are not being placed in place, they are placed away from the picture frame position and may be invisible if their location isn't over the pasteboard area for that spread (if you go to the Layers panel, select the image layer inside the picture frame layer with the Move Tool selected and zoom out considerably you will end up seeing the image selected somewhere on canvas away from the picture frame position). If immediately after you drag an image over the frame you press the Properties button in the context toolbar and select None or one of the other options, the image's position will be reset and it will appear inside the picture frame where you drag it over.

Picture frames are just that, placeholders for images that you can arrange as you wish on canvas without having to add actual images. They help to define the layout of the pages. You can learn more about them here. If they repeat consistently in the layout across various pages they can be added directly to a master page which can then be assigned to the pages you want them pre-applied to, so you don't have to recreate or edit them on each page individually. You then add the final images to the picture frames on the respective pages. unless a certain image (for example a logo) appear on all of them - in that case you place the image on the master page itself.

Here's a video clip to help better understand the issue:
I believe this is already logged but will double-check and fill a report if required.

[Affinity-Inspiration]

Thanks for that. Seriously, it had me fixed. I’ve seen that behavior before when placing images, but didn’t suspect it for a second in this case.

In any event I now know how to create and name Assets with Photo that I can create to size and even name it [APUB] (Photo Frame) so that it shows in the Layer list as that.

But more importantly, the problem I thought I had is solved. Thanks to your pointers. I’m familiar enough with how Picture Frames work, but for some reason the imported file throwing the placed image right off canvas was a step I didn’t know about.

So thanks again.

robert

[Petar Petrenko]

On 9/16/2021 at 3:36 PM, MEB said:

When you open the document the first time in Publisher it should ask you if you want to locate the (missing) linked resources. You have to select yes and point Affinity Publisher to the correct folder for the document to be imported with all images in place.

Maybe Publisher should search, by default, in the subfolders (if any) and start searching the HD if not found in subfolders?

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, NNN said:

Maybe Publisher should search, by default, in the subfolders (if any) and start searching the HD if not found in subfolders?

Definitely not start searching the entire HD. That would take a long time, and might get the wrong copy of some images. And then there's the problem of multiple HDs, network drives, etc.

Supposedly it already looks for a sub-folder of the proper name in the same folder as the document itself, and looks in there for the linked file.