Mosaic setup in Illustrator

[b.evans]

Hi guys, just to introduce myself some I am still fairly new to the design field and just getting my hands wet. Have been more of a lurker than a poster since I signed up I was looking to make a poster just to build on my personal skills and portfolio. I had an idea on doing somewhat of a mosaic type of look. The closest I could find as to what I was trying to achieve was at . I have my artboard set up and my line work completed showing where I want to start placing images. This is where I got a little lost.. unlike photoshop I can't select and paste into. So my question is, what would be the general process on getting my images into these specific areas/shapes? Is there a tutorial somewhere for anything similar that may be of help?

Thanks!

 

[JPLC]

Please use InDesign for this idea! That's exactly what InDesign is all about. Placing images into place holders.

The only sollution in Illustrator I can think of is using clipping masks or crop images before in Photoshop. There's no way in Illustrator to place image's directly into frames.

 

[UTclassof89]

in Illustrator CS5 and CS 5.5 there is an easy way:

Select the frame, then click the Draw Inside button on the toolbox (2nd to last row), then place the photo.

(see a demo at tv.adobe.com)

 

[radug]

InDesign

i second the use of InDesign. saves you loads of time, while working and when you finish and want to export.
Complex clipping path can come from Illustrator, too.

 

[b.evans]

Great! Thanks I've been testing the waters with InDesign lately and doing small single prints just to see a final project in hand.

One more question, I was trying to place images into an Illustrator file and downsizing some to fit page and layout correctly. When I downsize the original image (image is a magazine for example) I keep the image constrained so I am not making a mess of it's proportions, however I am getting some jagged edges on the inside of the image to where the magazine itself looks jagged along it's sides. Is there something I am missing? Or is this another project that would be better suited for InDesign as well?

Thanks!

 

[JPLC]

Before you check the quality of your work you have to export it first and check it at 100% scale. The preview in Illustrator looks jagged sometimes when you work with pixels instead of vectors. Prevents heavy loading but looks a bit jagged when you zoom in or scale the image.

So, export it to PDF or JPG and check again!

 

[radug]

illustrator's raster rendering engine is not stellar (not that the way it renders vectors on-screen is good either), so as JPLC said, export, check again and if you want to be 100% sure, print too.