Novice In Desperate Need Of Help

[Challenged]

Hi, I'm a novice graphic designer and need help with Illustrator 10, I cannot for the life of me figure out whether I'm creating eps files correctly or not.

I have several questions;

1. Is it possible to create a .gif file in Paint Shop Pro 7, created using Vectors, then open it in Illustrator and use the save as function to convert it to an .eps file. Paint Shop Pro is what I'm using whilst I figure out how to use Illustrator which I've only had for two days.

2. I have a client who has sent me an example of an eps file that works 'correctly' I opened it in paint shop pro and changed the dpi to different amounts and when I saved it in Paint Shop Pro and then printed it out on a MS Word document it prints the same way regardless of the resolution. Yet when I try to print out my saved .eps files they are blurred. I don't know if this is an important fact or not but Paint Shop Pro seems to only allow me to open Illustrator 8 files and not Illustrator 9 or 10.

3. How can I find out for definate if a file I have created has been correctly created as an .eps, because I have heard after reading a million different support forums that my printer driver may not be able to print .eps anyway, but if it can't, how did it manage to print the .eps file my client gave me?

I really need help desperately with this as want to become a professional logo designer, and really need to understand and master .eps, I can't just provide clients with .tiff and .gif when many of them will also want .eps.

Thank you in advance.

 

[jimoblak]

1) A GIF file is raster (not vector) art. You will not easily create vector art from a GIF raster image. You would need to extract the original vector data that was used in PaintShop Pro (if that is possible) with a different file format. GIF does not support vector data.

2) The EPS files that you are trying to print out are having trouble with your non-postscript printer. You need a postscript printer driver to print the EPS files cleanly (or you can turn them into PDF files and print from Acrobat).

3) There are different levels of PostScript. Ill 10 goes up to level 3. You may try to save EPS files at a lesser level but some illustration features may not save (gradient meshes, transparency, etc.).

For versatility, all logos should originate as vector EPS art. You can easily translate EPS to raster formats like TIFF & GIF. You can't go the other way easily and accurately.

 

[Challenged]

Thanks for that, things are getting clearer, so if you save something that was designed in Vector as a .gif you render it a raster.

And the the only way for me to create a Vector .eps is to create it in illustrator first and then save as an .eps, I won't be able to do it in Paint Shop Pro because they state you cannot save Vector to .eps in this programme - which is the reason I purchased Illustrator.

I did try a sample drawing in illustrator and saved it as .eps but when it blurred when printing again and I thought something was still wrong, but I guess that was likely that it was my printer not being capable of printing it.

Another question (sorry!) some help files say that eps files are not for printing, so why is my client saying that she wants to use them for printing? I know she has Kodak Imaging whatever that is, and she also has Paint Shop Pro, is she able to open them in Paint Shop Pro in whichever resolution she wants, save them again in her required resolution as an eps again and then use them for printing. What I'm getting at is what are any eps files I provide used for?

You know I actually had a dream about this night, it's driving me insane, lol.

 

[jimoblak]

What help files say eps files are not for printing?

Professional printing is done with PostScript. Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) is intended for this.

 

[Challenged]

I can't remember, on one of my many forays into the whole eps issue somewhere said this and I thought it odd when printers have asked me for eps files before.

I'm glad that's been cleared up for me now then, I know that illustrator produces eps files at 72dpi, so does this mean you can print straight from the eps file without having to change the resolution?

Because when creating .tiffs you have to have the resolution at 300 for example, doesn't this apply to .eps files?

If .eps files do require the resolution to be changed to suit the printing job, is this done in illustrator? Because I can't see it mentioned anywhere in the book.

 

[jimoblak]

If .eps files do require the resolution to be changed to suit the printing job...
You do not need to fiddle with dpi/resolution on vector EPS files as they are not made of raster dots but of vector lines that can be scaled to any size without loss of image quality. Print straight from EPS. There are only a few instances where you may want to rasterize an EPS file and I doubt you are at that point.

http://studio.adobe.com/learn/tips/illvectbit/main.html

 

[Challenged]

Thanks, it's all becoming almost clear to me now, especially after having played with Illustrator for a few days, I can't believe how I've been suffering with Paint Shop Pro now I have realised that you can open your saved file in Illustrator and it is still Vector and can be amended!

You can only imagine how much time revisions requested by clients used to take me, oh well, I just couldn't afford Illustrator until now, business has been booming the last couple of months so I'm off to purchase a postscript printable colour printer now (I really prefer to check the print quality etc before I email clients their logo files), and possibly shortly after that abobe photoshop also depending on how things go with Illustrator alone.

I'm really grateful to everyones patience and help, its very much appreciated.

 

[TyphoidMary]

Challenged Have you noticed the size of a vector file compared to a raster file? Amazing how much smaller they can be. I'm in the sign business and vector art is the only way for us to go. I can't tell you how often customers supply us with "art" in Word format. Not only is this not art but I'd be better off redrawing it myself. Needless to say this has a dramatic effect on the price of a sign.
If I may suggest, when you design a logo for some one do more than one version. Gradiant fills are nice but can be difficult to reproduce and sometimes unacceptable. Try getting T-shirts with gradiants. I ask for art in vector format with solid fills and all copy (typefaces) converted to curves. If you use a font that I don't have I will need to substitute it unless it's converted to curves. Not only that even if I do have that font due to system/software differences the kerning (word spacing) may be thrown off.
One thing you may need to point out to customers when you e-mail them a concept it may and probably will look completly different color wise on their computer.
Blues may look green and so forth. Even prints won't look the same depending on your printer. I always tell my customers that colors are interpative and not the true colors of the finished product. If they want to be picky on colors, sometimes the toughest part of the job, I need Pantone color numbers or come pick them from my vinyl, paint or Pantone book. Having a customer go through colors can really suck down some time.

 

[Challenged]

This is the type of helpful information I need, it has become clear to me that logo designers really need to consider the printing ability of their designs.

I have never created fussy hard to print designs because from day one I knew that the logos needs to reproduce well in all media forms so have avoided gradients etc, but it has only recently been brought to my attention matters such as the colour of the logo on the screen looking different on each persons monitor, and then different in print again.

I am aware that a way to ensure the print colour is as the customers wants exactly is to provide cmyk process cards but that is way too pricey to be handing those out to clients left right and centre, especially when I can't seem to even get hold of one myself. I think the way to go is to warn the customer that the screen colour may not be the print colour and hope I don't get any one too fussy about the whole issue, but I guess creating things in .eps means that if later down the line they decide after going to the printers that the design needs to be a different colour based on a cmyk colour card they have seen it is very easy to change (or they can do this from the outset and provide me with the exact required colours from the process cards), but I will put the onus on them to seek out the desired colour and provide me with the cmyk percentages if this is something they need to be specific about.

 

[johnderek]

Hi, I work for a manufacturing company and I have some questions related to what Challenged is asking. We have a logo that was designed in Illustrator and is in the eps format. I have successfully printed the logo within Pagemaker files and the resolution looks great. I am on a project now designing a cd label and the program I am using is Avery Design Pro v.4. When I print the quality is very poor even though I am importing an eps file that is a vector image. I know this is a cheesy program but I don't know what else to use to make labels.

I appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks!

 

[crizak76]

I have had this problem also in some CD labeling programs. Depending on the program, all of the artwork that I opened or placed was rasterized because the program couldn't handle vectors. I ended up creating my own template from a scan of the CD label sheet, added some bleed to my artwork to compesate for slight misregistration, and printed straight from Illustrator. This has worked great for me.

 

[Challenged]

What about changing the .eps file to a .tiff file and then importing that into the programme instead, I find that a .tiff created by illustrator produces an excellent print quality.

 

[askIllustrator]

EPS means encapsulated post script, which means its basically a living print file and universal format. This was adobe's first attempt at creating a universal file format which later became .pdf (portible document format)
EPS's can be confusing cause they can contain both VECTOR and RASTER information. Notice both Photoshop and Illustrator give you Save As EPS option, but clearly they are not interchangable. The really attractive feature was that they retained most all of their editability which kept clean for the printer. EPS's are huge and for the most part, its a dead format, they are far larger than their .ai or .ps counterparts today so it just makes more sence to save to the applications native format (.ai or .ps) and save .pdf's for your printers. Keep the master for yourself.

So why use eps at all? Good question. Sure the art industry is huge but there is really only 2 mediums: Print and Display. On the print side, there are only 2 formats, vector and continuous tone (raster). Since .pdf is a newer and better EPS, it would suit your vector needs just fine.
What is the exception? Some older output devices only know how to interpret EPS files. I had an embroiderer who could only take files saved as EPS's out of illustrator and choosing the Version 3 format. But it's only in these situations that you should strive for and EPS file.

The best raster format is in fact .tif (tagged image file format) which saves raster files in one long continuous string of data, not the most efficiant file size but printers love them and they compress like mad.

.jpg and .gif and .bmp for that matter, Are ONLY!!! for the web. We'll talk later when JPEG2 comes out.

Oh, and you might wanna read my FAQ on Illustrator VS. Photoshop. Just click in the lower right of this post. BEHOLD! As Steve Jobs introduces us the latest in desk-lamp technology!

http://www.apple.com

 

[PixelMasher]

Try raising your attributes to 2540 instead of the default 800, do the same and printing and export under document set up.

PrepressSolution@aol.com