DTP departments use thousands of photos and images every day, adding
captions and credits manually. Most of these pictures, though,
already contain ready-to-use descriptions and copyrights. WoodWing
(http://www.woodwing.com/) decided to put these to use in InDesign,
saving time and improving efficiency.
With Smart Image, WoodWing’s new plug-in for Adobe InDesign, when
placing an image in InDesign, the attached caption and/or credit text
frames are created and filled with text automatically, all at once
and with a single mouse-click.
Most professional photographers and stock agencies add metadata to
their photos in XMP or IPTC format. They add their own copyright
information, and fill out fields to describe and catalog their images
with locations, subjects and keywords. In most cases, credit
information can be placed by Smart Image without the need for
modification by the user, according to WoodWing President Erik Schut.
Descriptions may need some fine-tuning, but generally provide a
perfect place to start. After inserting the image, the created text
frames are ready to edit.
Settings, styles and templates can be used to add the text frames
according to company, department, document or any user preferences.
Text position, alignment, rotation and size can all be set in
advance. Caption and credits may be combined into a single frame.
Even standard prefixes and/or suffixes are available, for example, to
automatically create credits such as: “Photo by
reserved.”
Smart Image costs US$199. A demo is available for download.
