Adobe InDesign CS3 - Manual (Page 344)

INDESIGN CS3
User Guide
337
Windows Metafile Format (.wmf) and Enhanced Metafile Format (.emf) files
Windows Metafile Format (WMF) and Windows Enhanced Metafile Format (EMF) are native Windows formats
used primarily for vector graphics, such as clip art, shared between Windows applications. Metafiles may contain
raster image information; InDesign recognizes the vector information and provides limited support for raster opera-
tions. Color support is limited to 16-bit RGB, and neither format supports color separations. Metafile formats are
not an ideal choice for commercially printed or online documents; they provide acceptable quality only when printed
on low-resolution or non-PostScript printers from a Windows desktop.
PCX (.pcx) files
The PCX format is commonly used in Windows systems. Most Windows software supports version 5 of the PCX
format.
The PCX format supports RGB, indexed-color, grayscale, and bitmap color modes, as well as the RLE compression
method, which is lossless. It does not support alpha channels. Images can have a bit depth of 1, 4, 8, or 24 bits.
However, PCX is not ideal for commercially printed or online documents. PCX graphics can provide acceptable
quality only when printed on low-resolution or non-PostScript printers.
Portable Network Graphics (.png) files
The Portable Network Graphics (PNG) format uses adjustable, lossless compression to display 24-bit photographs
or solid-color images on the World Wide Web and in other online media. PNG was developed as a patent-free alter-
native to the GIF file format. It supports transparency in an alpha channel or a designated color. PNG is best used
for online documents, although its color support makes it better for printed documents than GIF. However, color
PNG graphics placed in an InDesign document are RGB bitmap images, so they print only as composites, not on
color separations.
See also
“Import options for graphics” on page 340
Scitex CT (.sct) files
The Scitex Continuous Tone (CT) format is used for high-end image processing on Scitex computers. Scitex CT files
often come from Scitex scanners, which produce high-quality scans for commercial printing. The Scitex CT format
supports CMYK, RGB, and grayscale files, but does not support alpha channels. Contact Scitex to obtain utilities for
transferring files saved in the Scitex CT format to a Scitex system.
Placing graphics
Place (import) graphics
The Place command is the primary method used to import graphics into InDesign because it provides the highest
level of support for resolution, file formats, multipage PDFs, and color. If you’re creating a document in which those
characteristics aren’t critical, you can copy and paste to import your graphic into InDesign. Pasting, however, embeds
a graphic in a document; the link to the original graphic file is broken, and you can’t update the graphic from the
original file.