ClipAThing (deprecated)

Intro

This product is not supported any more, and won’t be updated or bug-fixed. It is still available for download on an ‘as-is’ basis.

The ClipAThing plug-in can access and apply embedded clipping paths from images placed in an Adobe® InDesign document.

ClipAThing can either scan your InDesign document or the current selection, find embedded clipping paths (e.g. created in Adobe Photoshop®), and apply these clipping paths in InDesign.

ClipAThing saves time and eliminates the tediousness of manually going through all placed images and performing manual configuration for use of an embedded clipping path.

Installation

Before you start installing, exit out of InDesign.

Please make sure you have a copy of the APID ToolAssistant plug-in installed. Make sure you install the proper plug-in for your version of InDesign since the plug-ins are mutually incompatible. The Windows CS5.x plug-ins also come with an additional folder with a parenthesised name which needs to be copied along.

If you already have an APID ToolAssistant plug-in installed (e.g. because you use one of our other plug-ins), make sure it is up-to-date.

You will be installing two separate, but related software products: ClipAThing and APID ToolAssistant. ClipAThing will continue to work when the APID ToolAssistant demo expires.

i.e You do NOT need to purchase a license for APID ToolAssistant.

Copy the ClipAThing.spln into the same folder as the APID ToolAssistant plug-in (typically that will be the InDesign Plug-Ins folder). Don’t worry about the icon of the .spln file: it might not be a ‘regular’ icon, and that’s OK.

Usage

Open a document of your choice.

Check the API menu item that should sit on the menu bar for the new Apply Embedded Clipping Path menu.

Important: The Apply Embedded Clipping Path menu doesn’t appear in the API menu if there is no document currently open.

The Apply Embedded Clipping Path menu has two options:

• All Images – This will scan the current InDesign document, find embedded clipping paths, and apply these clipping paths in InDesign
• Selection – This will scan the current selection, find embedded clipping paths, and apply these clipping paths in InDesign

ClipAThing only works on images with embedded clipping path(s) or the clipping path Type set to None (Check Clipping Path dialog in InDesign).

If there’s more than one embedded clipping path in an image, ClipAThing will apply the first clipping path on the list provided by InDesign.

Limitations

Due to a bug in InDesign CS2, embedded clipping paths can’t be applied using scripting. As a workaround, ClipAThing will create a replica of the embedded clipping path, that will be displayed as a User-Modified path in theClipping Path dialog.