The updated version in XD from the July update sort of now supports this.
However it's functionality is not the same, and still lacking. When we "Paste Appearance" it will paste the image to that new shape, which is great. However it will also paste all attributes of that shape to the new one (ie: Border, Shadow, Color, etc.). Additionally there's no way to just cut the image or unmask from that shape?!?

So as of now, it's still multiple steps, clicks, image imports, etc. To do something you can do in InDesign fairly quickly.

This is implemented now in v10; you just have to remember to use Paste Appearance rather than Paste.

This is something that Marvel does really well -- just copy/paste images onto a shape and bang, it's masked. Drag-and-drop means it's a pain to get image content in from other applications; the image has to be saved somewhere, open a Finder window, click, drag, aim etc. And then with Xd as others have said, you can't just reuse the image in another shape, it's click/drag/etc all over again.

Please add this feature!!! I want to be able to quickly create a masked shape like you can do in InDesign.

Currently, you can either do 1 of two things:

1.) Drag image from computer into shape. This masks the shape, BUT you can't resize/crop the photo the way you want after you do this.

2.) You can import/drag a photo from computer onto pasteboard. Then create a shape. Then click both and select mask shape. That's too many steps.

You should just be able to do what you can do in InDesign: Create a shape. Click on the shape and select place photo. Then voila - you can re-size the photo and crop it however you want.

Ben S knows what he's talking about!! I would write everything he said again, but that would be inefficient. ;)

InDesign has been amazing for years, but falls short when I need to design a page that scrolls. The ability to create interactive prototypes is possible in InDesign, but is just too difficult to be worth using. Xd is on its way... but please use InDesign as the model!

Hey guys,

I couldn't agree more with Harold and worry that Illustrator's inefficient design/layout workflows are creeping into this app. Design workflows should really come from InDesign where possible as it’s far superior for this type of work.

If image cropping worked as it does in InDesign, there’d be no need for any of the make/release masking steps currently required to simply crop an image - everyone hates inefficiency, it eats into our personal lives and costs money (you guys know about this more than most - right?).

Yes there can be a huge chorus of people asking for an Illustrator-like implementation but many in our industry make life hard for themselves and others, by using Illustrator for almost everything. We complete web-design in Illustrator and Photoshop in spite of the design/layout workflow, not because of it.

I shudder at the thought of this app ending up with Illustrator’s design workflows and worry that the ‘design by committee’ approach is coming at the expense of leadership from Adobe. Please, look to InDesign where possible.

After all, it’s called Adobe Experience DESIGN - right?

Sorry if that was harsh!

Cheers

Ben

That works when initially dragging images from a folder or the web into the shape.

However once you have images already being used in your canvas, or in used in a shape, you have to take multiple steps to re-use the image in a different shape.

As an example, I have a photo of a person masked in a rectangular shape and want to use it in a circular shape. Currently I would have to cut the image from the rectangular shape, select the circular shape and re-mask the image.

If you're familiar with InDesign you can just copy/cut & paste into the shape. In other words it eliminates the extra step of having to mask. In theory both XD and InDesign treat it as a mask of sorts.