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com
Building an
interactive PDF in
InDesign CS
Turn your InDesign booklet into an
interactive PDF, with embedded
movies and rollover effects…

B
ring to life the A5 leaflet which you created in the previous
section by building up an interactive PDF. Over the next four
pages, we show you how to embed QuickTime movies and
position movie ‘posters’ – still images that sit in place of the
initial movie frame. We then explain how to create rollover
effects and link these to buttons and placed movies. We end this tutorial
with a six-step guide to exporting your PDF, so you can check everything
works correctly.

Section Five Building an interactive PDF in InDesign CS

 Section Five Building an interactive PDF in InDesign CS

Part 1: Placing movies and positional posters

Swap plain images for embedded QuickTime movies, then
re-use the original images as positional posters…
Movie posters
A ‘poster’ for a movie on an
InDesign page is just a still image
to sit in place of the movie’s
initial frame (which is usually
blank or unrepresentative). The
Movie Options dialog window
also enables you to select a
single image to use as a standard
poster for all placed movies, or
even to select a frame from the
movie itself to use as the poster.
Try them all, but be warned that
movie frames tend to make very
low-quality stills.

Go to page 2 of the document. With the

Launch InDesign CS and open the brochure 2 Selection tool, click on the coin.psd image at The movie will appear at the wrong size,
1 document you completed in the previous the top of the left-hand column. Choose the 3 so-Control-click (Mac) or right-click
tutorial. Straight away, save it back to your Version Place command under the File menu and navigate (Windows)-on the movie and choose the Fit
Cue project with a different name – we added the to the video_clips sub-folder in the Magic folder on Content Proportionally command under Fitting
word ‘interactive’ to the file name, for example. the cover CD. Open coin.mov. in-the context menu.

Don’t panic if you can’t see anything in the In the Poster pop-up, pick Choose Image As
4 frame, because you’ll fix that shortly. Double- 5 Poster and click on the Browse button next to The image will appear in the thumbnail after
it. Navigate back to your Version Cue project and
6 a second or two. Put a tick next to the Show
click on the movie to open the Movie Options
dialog window. Rename the movie as ‘vanishing coin open the coin.psd image file that used to be on the Controller During Play option and click OK to
movie’ and tick the ‘Embed Movie in PDF’ option. page before you replaced it with the movie. accept the changes.

Save the InDesign document and move Continue through all the earlier steps to specify
You will now find that the poster image is too 8 on to-the next image on top of the second 9 the Movie Options for this movie. Then repeat
7 big. Switch to the Direct Selection tool, click
column-on page 2. Repeat the earlier steps, this the whole process again for the remaining two
on-the poster image and apply the Fit Content time-replacing the card.psd image with the card. images, replacing thimble.psd with thimble.mov,
Proportionally command as before. mov video clip supplied on the cover CD. and hanky.psd with hanky.mov.
Part 2: Creating rollovers
Build basic visual rollover effects for interactive buttons directly onto the
page using the new States palette…
Floating movies
The Movie Options dialog
window enables you to set the
QuickTime movie to float in
its own window when running.
You may or may not prefer this
action to embedding the video
right inside the page as we have
chosen to do in this tutorial.
When you opt for the floating
window, you can specify the
magnification scale and
screen position when the
player-window launches.
Click on the text frame with the Direct
3 Selection tool and copy it to the clipboard.
Use the Type tool to draw a text frame just
2 Control-click (Mac) or right-click (Windows) Switch back to the Selection tool, click again on
on this text frame to call up the context menu.
1 above the hanky movie. Type in the words Drag down to Interactive and choose Convert To the frame to select the whole button and open the
‘play video’ and give the text a bold font and Button from the sub-menu. The text frame is then States palette from the Window menu (Interactive
larger size, then colour the text white as shown. inserted into a button frame for you. sub-menu). Rename the button.

Accept the warning message which appears. With the text frame pasted into the button,
Click on the the Create New Optional State 5 Then call up the context menu by Control- 6 colour the text red by selecting the text and
4 button at the bottom of the palette. This
clicking (Mac) or right-clicking (Windows) on clicking on the red swatch in the Swatches
creates a Rollover state by default, which you’ll the empty button frame and choose the Paste Into palette. This means that the default button
now-customise. From the palette menu, choose command. This puts a copy of the ‘play video’ text appearance is white text, but it will turn red when
the-command ‘Delete Content From State’. into the button’s rollover state. the mouse rolls over it.

Part 3: Linking rollovers to movies

Armed with your rollover buttons and your placed movies, it’s time
to link the two with mouse-action triggers…
Smart copy
Clicking and dragging on an
object while holding down the
Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows)
key will always produce a copy
in Adobe design software. It
can be especially useful in
InDesign because it copies not
just the object but most, and
sometimes all, of its attributes.
These attributes include image
resizing, crop and position
as well as certain interactive
button settings. Just beware Hold down Option-Shift (Mac) or Alt-Shift
that copying interactive objects Double-click on the ‘play video’ button to
3 (Windows) as you click and drag the ‘play
produces unhelpful default 1 call up the Button Options dialog window. video’ button to the left and drop a copy above
button names, so make a point Click on the Behaviours tab. Choose Mouse The Play Options pop-up should read Play, the- adjacent column. Double-click on this copied
of renaming these buttons Up from the Event pop-up and Movie from the
2 of-course. Click on the Add button to set this button to open its Button Options and alter the
straight after copying. Behaviour pop-up. Then pick the ‘hanky vanishes behaviour, turning the button text into a movie- Behaviours so that it plays the thimble movie.
movie’ from the Movie pop-up. player trigger. Finish by clicking OK. Repeat with the other two movies.

Section Five Building an interactive PDF in InDesign CS

 Section Five Building an interactive PDF in InDesign CS

Part 4: Remote rollovers

Rollover buttons can also be used to show and hide special fields
elsewhere on the page as you pass the mouse over them…
Show/Hide Fields
In case it’s not clear what the
tutorial is trying to do with the
Show/Hide Fields behaviour,
here’s a quick explanation.
Mouse Enter means the act of
moving the mouse cursor over
the button. Mouse Exit means
the act of moving the mouse
cursor away from the button.
The button being referred to is
hidden by default already. The
eye icon next to a button name
means that the behaviour will
reveal it; the crossed-out eye
means it’ll be hidden.
Call up the context menu by Control-clicking
Go to page 4 of the document. You will now Draw a picture frame with the Ellipse Picture 3 (Mac) or right-clicking (Windows) on the
1 completely re-organise the layout of this page
2 Frame tool, holding down the Shift key to circular watch-face image. Drag down to
to suit a remote rollover design. Keep the circular create a perfect circle. Use the Place command to the Interactive sub-menu and choose the Convert
image frame containing the handwatch1.psd image bring the watchface1.psd image which you created To Button command. Do the same on the larger
and delete the rest (or move it to the pasteboard). in Photoshop into the frame. Resize it to fit. handwatch1.psd image as well.

Open the Button Options dialog window for

6 the ‘watch button 1’ object and click on the
Open the States palette and use it to rename Double-click on the ‘watch target 1’ button
4 the two buttons you’ve created. Name the 5 to-open the Button Options dialog window. In Behaviours tab. Choose Mouse Enter from the Event
small watch face ‘watch button 1’. And name the General tab, choose Hidden from the Visibility pop-up, and Show/Hide Fields from the Behaviour
the larger image below ‘watch target 1‘. You now In-PDF pop-up. This turns the button into a hidden pop-up. Click once next to ‘watch target 1’ to see
have-an easily identifiable trigger and target. field by default. Click OK. the eye icon. Click Add.

Hold down the Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows) Click on the ‘watch target 1’ button and copy
8 key as you drag the ‘watch button 1’ image 9 it to the clipboard. Immediately, Control-click
Change the Event pop-up to read Mouse
7 Exit and click twice next to ‘watch target 1’. downwards. This makes a copy. Use the Place (Mac) or right-click (Windows) on the button
You should see a crossed-out eye icon. Click on the command to put the watchface2.psd image inside and choose the Paste In Place command from the
Add button once to add the behaviour and then this copied button. Rename the button as ‘watch context menu. This puts an identical copy over the
click OK. button 2’. original button, with a new default name.
Where to
save PDFs
When you export interactive
documents in Adobe PDF format
from InDesign, make sure you
export on your local hard disk,
external drive or standard
network volume. There’s no
point saving to your Version
Cue project, because it won’t be
accessible to anyone outside
your workgroup. Also, Acrobat
Professional and Adobe Reader
cannot yet connect to Version
Cue. The only time you should Rename the pasted button as ‘watch target 2’. Repeat these last few steps, copying ‘watch
10 Switch to the Direct Selection tool, click on the 11 button 2’ and pasting the watchface.psd Open the Button Options again, this time for
save PDFs to a Version Cue
image into it. Copy ‘watch target 2’ to the
12 the ‘watch button 3’ you just created. Follow
project is when you’re using PDF image and use the Place command to replace the
image with handwatch2.psd from your Version Cue clipboard and then Paste In Place as before. Place the previous steps yet again to set the Show/
as a picture file format for use
project. Open the Button Options for ‘watch button the handwatch3.psd image into the button. Don’t Hide Fields behaviours for Mouse Enter and Mouse
with another Creative Suite app.
2’ and link it to ‘watch target 2’. forget to rename the buttons. Exit, linking to ‘watch target 3’.

Part 5: Exporting to PDF

Create an Adobe PDF from your InDesign document, complete with
all interactive elements embedded, even the movies…
Trial and error
Creating interactive PDFs is a
workflow feature which is still in
its infancy, much like designing
Web pages several years ago.
In the same way that old Web
design programs couldn’t
preview the pages without
forcing you out to a Web browser,
InDesign cannot preview
the interactive features and
embedded multimedia. The only
way to test these documents is
to export them as PDF and open
Click Export and wait while the PDF is
them within Acrobat Professional 1 Save your InDesign document, then choose
2 We’re only choosing the [eBook] setting 3 generated. When the progress bar disappears,
the Export command from the File menu. because it optimises image resolution to suit
or Adobe Reader. launch Acrobat Professional or Adobe Reader and
Choose Adobe PDF as the export file format and on-screen viewing. Choose Acrobat 6 (PDF 1.5)
give it a name and location to save to. When from the Compatibility pop-up, add a tick next to open the PDF from your hard disk. It should look
the-Export PDF dialog window appears, choose Interactive Elements, and choose Embed All from clean and – if your colour management was set up
[eBook] from the Preset pop-up at the top. the Multimedia pop-up. correctly – colour-correct.

Go to page 2, which InDesign exported with Click on the ‘play video’ button to launch the Go to the last page and let your mouse cursor
4 page 3 as a single spread. Move your mouse 5 movie. It should appear embedded within 6 hover over the three little watch faces. As the
cursor so that it hovers over any of the ‘play the page, complete with a standard playback mouse passes over each watch face in turn, the
video’ buttons. The red-text rollover state should controller underneath. Clicking on the movie poster corresponding handwatch image should appear. The
kick in as expected. will also launch the movie. remote rollovers have worked! ca•p

Section Five Building an interactive PDF in InDesign CS