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PDF and InDesign template for a custom IA: finished

JeffTibbetts

By JeffTibbetts
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JeffTibbetts Venerable Brother

JeffTibbetts

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I'm about to start creating a template for a modern IA, matching the old-school official format but with updated graphics. In theory, if I'm able to match it well enough I should be able to create my IA and link to it in my sig. Also, if anyone else has the right software I'd be happy to share my files so others can do the same. This seems like something that may already exist. Has anyone seen one or heard of a project already going on? I don't really WANT to do all this work, but I will. If anyone else has any leads, please let me know.

JeffTibbetts Venerable Brother

JeffTibbetts

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Alright. Turns out I had a free day, so without further ado here's a link to my PDF. It's a pretty heavy file, just to warn you. I can save a smaller one when I have a little time to play with the settings. 

 

http://linguartisan.com/Eagle_Eyes_IA.pdf

 

Check it out and let me know what you think. If you have comments about the content, hit up the link to my living IA project on the forums. Feel free to comment about the PDF itself here, though. I was careful to make this easily blankable if anyone expresses an interest in converting their own finished work to this format. 

JeffTibbetts Venerable Brother

JeffTibbetts

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I've been Googling and I can't seem to find any program that opens .indd files besides Adobe InDesign. I can export it as a PDF and whatnot but you wouldn't be able to edit that either, I don't think. :( 

 

I guess what I made is only useful to a niche of people who probably don't even need my help because they'll have the same software as I did. Dang. 

 

If you'd like to try and reproduce it with other software I bet it's not that hard. I have the big block on the opening page and I can tell you which fonts I used and whatnot. This sounds way more complicated than it really was. 

JeffTibbetts Venerable Brother

JeffTibbetts

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Okay… Here's what I can do. I can give you a list of the fonts I used, and put the blank PSD file (you can edit that sucker in Gimp) as will as a .PNG file if you overlay your stuff on top of it. That's what I did. I don't have a basic template because basically the only thing on there that isn't text is the slab of art on the first page. I hear there's a program called Scribus or something that you can use to plug the art into and write up your IA, and then save to PDF format. Of course I've never used it. 

 

Fonts: 

Cloister Black used for Index Astartes. Looks to me like a 100% match to the GW font. You shouldn't actually need this as the words "Index Astartes" show up in the art file itself and nowhere else. 

Alternative Gothic No 1 D used for the text at the bottom of the slab. It's not a 100% match, in fact it's shortened down to 75% height. I could have kept searching, but there are a ton of sans serif, narrow fonts that would all work. This one is pretty dang close.

Arial bold and standard are used for the headers and main text, respectively. Again I don't think this is a 100% match but it is a standard font on any machine and it's the same type. Only typesetting geeks like me would notice if it's different. 

Minion Pro Bold was used in the sidebar text. Same as the last, so close as to be indistinguishable to most folks.

Some of those may be paid fonts but there are tons of websites out there where you can find free versions of them. 

 

And here are the files for the blanked out art slab. 

http://linguartisan.com/blankIAslab.png <--- click the link, then right click the image and save it. 

http://linguartisan.com/blankIAslab.psd <--- click the link and your browser should either start downloading it (PC) or render it and then you can save it (Mac)

 

I think that's the best I can do, guys. I have all this stuff because of my job and I've really never messed around with the free stuff. If you're able to get some of it to work, let everyone else know how! Should be able to cobble it together. Your chapter badge may be the tough part. Mine was basically made with layer styles to give it the right texture. I'd be happy to tell you what blending styles I used if you've got Photoshop. I know Gimp has similar ones but the settings are different. 

Conn Eremon Veteran

Conn Eremon

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I'm pretty illiterate when it come to this stuff, but I do have Gimp and I have explored it for the sake of applying a Chapter Badge to a Marine's shoulder from B&C's painter. If I figure it out, I'll let you all know.
Disruptor_fe404 Veteran

Disruptor_fe404

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Yeah, .indd is InDesign only.

 

I've made some quick n' dirty army lists in Illustrator before. But Illustrator is no easier to acquire than InDesign (slightly easier to learn though!).

 

I am actually in the process of laying out an IA in inDesign as well, good work on beating me to it! I will likely just plunder...

 

At work currently, but can I steal the .indd off you? InDesign's not my forte, but making any more than two pages in Illustrator is a massive hassle.

JeffTibbetts Venerable Brother

JeffTibbetts

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Oh, absolutely! That's awesome that you're doing it as well. 

 

Here's a link that should start an automatic download.

 

http://linguartisan.com/Blank_IA.indd

 

I blanked it out and added 'lorem ipsum' text to all sections. Feel free to play around with it, add your chapter badge, etc. Not sure what will happen if you don't have the fonts… Might have to go fishing for similar ones. I listed them out above. I hope you dig. 

JeffTibbetts Venerable Brother

JeffTibbetts

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Dang… I was going to go in and save it as an older file, but when I saved it for CS4 it got a bit wonky and I couldn't unlock a couple of layers to edit them and whatnot. Sorry, bud. Let me know if the CS6 version treats you better. 

Disruptor_fe404 Veteran

Disruptor_fe404

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Loaded it up in CS 6, and got quite possibly the most entertaining error message ever, which basically told me that I have to open the file in CS 7.1.

Do you actually work for Adobe and are secretly testing a cancelled product?! whistlingW.gif

After taking a closer look at yours though, it feels like a good basic framework that should be fairly easy to replicate. Gonna play around with what I can between actual work things, see what I can piece together.

Disruptor_fe404 Veteran

Disruptor_fe404

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Right, so!

 

I was actually about to write up a set of parameters of my own to get someone ready from scratch for this, but then I realised I could have just followed these instructions:

 

Okay… Here's what I can do. I can give you a list of the fonts I used, and put the blank PSD file (you can edit that sucker in Gimp) as will as a .PNG file if you overlay your stuff on top of it. That's what I did. I don't have a basic template because basically the only thing on there that isn't text is the slab of art on the first page. I hear there's a program called Scribus or something that you can use to plug the art into and write up your IA, and then save to PDF format. Of course I've never used it. 

 

Fonts: 

Cloister Black used for Index Astartes. Looks to me like a 100% match to the GW font. You shouldn't actually need this as the words "Index Astartes" show up in the art file itself and nowhere else. 

Alternative Gothic No 1 D used for the text at the bottom of the slab. It's not a 100% match, in fact it's shortened down to 75% height. I could have kept searching, but there are a ton of sans serif, narrow fonts that would all work. This one is pretty dang close.

Arial bold and standard are used for the headers and main text, respectively. Again I don't think this is a 100% match but it is a standard font on any machine and it's the same type. Only typesetting geeks like me would notice if it's different. 

Minion Pro Bold was used in the sidebar text. Same as the last, so close as to be indistinguishable to most folks.

Some of those may be paid fonts but there are tons of websites out there where you can find free versions of them. 

 

And here are the files for the blanked out art slab. 

http://linguartisan.com/blankIAslab.png <--- click the link, then right click the image and save it. 

http://linguartisan.com/blankIAslab.psd <--- click the link and your browser should either start downloading it (PC) or render it and then you can save it (Mac)

 

I think that's the best I can do, guys. I have all this stuff because of my job and I've really never messed around with the free stuff. If you're able to get some of it to work, let everyone else know how! Should be able to cobble it together. Your chapter badge may be the tough part. Mine was basically made with layer styles to give it the right texture. I'd be happy to tell you what blending styles I used if you've got Photoshop. I know Gimp has similar ones but the settings are different. 

 

They will not steer you wrong!

 

You can get Alternative Gothic No 1 D for free from here, just jump through the captcha hoop and bear with the horrible site design.

 

So yeah, if you have InDesign, you'll be up and running quicksmart. If you want to use Word, be sure to get the slab and click around a bit and you're golden on that front too!

JeffTibbetts Venerable Brother

JeffTibbetts

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That's awesome. I actually have what they call InDesign CC, the subscription based version that's always the latest one. I guess it's kind of like version 7, but they changed the naming now to get away from numbers. That sucks that you couldn't open it. I'm laying down for bed, but I'll try and save yet another "legacy" one to see if we can find a version that works. If not for you, maybe someone else can get it working. I'm disappointed that none of the files worked for you. Sorry, brother.
JeffTibbetts Venerable Brother

JeffTibbetts

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I'll have to play around with this and see if maybe I can save it in a format that more people can access. Feel free to try the link in the above posts. Should be one for the CC version. Maybe it will work for you. Otherwise, I'll mess around with it later tonight and do some research when I have some free time. 

Disruptor_fe404 Veteran

Disruptor_fe404

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Been clicking around on this.

 

This is the CS4-compatible .indd file.

This is what it looks like in .pdf format.

 

Let me know if anyone has issues with them! I'm not 100% up to speed on sharing via the Google Drive.

Disruptor_fe404 Veteran

Disruptor_fe404

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Whoops! I knew I forgot something when I set it up. Should be working now.

 

Looking at it now, I'm going to tighten up some of the spacings in the document, and re-map a lot of the text box continuations (there's probably a better word for that. Over-set?).

 

EDIT: Fixed up the overflow text like I was saying I would, also put in proper headings. Not reflected in the .pdf, but is in the .indd.

JeffTibbetts Venerable Brother

JeffTibbetts

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Yeah! That's great! The PDF graphic slab looks WAY down sampled but at regular size it actually looks okay, and I'm sure it really lightens up the file. I got an error that I didn't have the right font (because I have the pro version I believe) but it still looks okay. I think you should put both of those files in the general download section, dude. I didn't play around too much with it, but I didn't find any flaws with the text flow or threading (or overset… The nuances are lost on me) or even the spacing. If it's cleaned up sufficiently, I think it's ready for an upload, brother. 

 

I feel about 53% motivated to recreate the aquila on the art slab with new art, but that's a heavier task by a yard. Do you think it really needs it or is it okay as is? It wouldn't be hard, per se… Just time consuming. 

Disruptor_fe404 Veteran

Disruptor_fe404

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Yeah, the .pdf graphic slab is definitely down-sampled, I saved the whole thing at a lower file size because ultimately it's just a sampler, the meat n' bones are in the .indd file.

 

I wouldn't redraw the aquila, I think it's fine as-is (but I totally understand the feeling of it bugging you!).

 

Can just anyone upload to the downloads section? It looks like yes, but most of the uploads I see are by mods or former mods...

 

I'll update the .pdf to be a more accurate facsimile of the .indd before I upload.

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