PC files

[buffalobills2]

Hi,

Thanks for your help on some other issues I had. I have another one for you.
The clip art files I am creating are saved as Illo. 8.0 for MAC use, so even the older illustraor versions can open them.

I've saved the PC files as pdf's and wmf files.

My questions is:

1) What are the earlest PC system requirments needed to open/use these files?
I want to make sure that users with outdated operating systems can use these files.

2) In Quark or InDesign, when the designer places a piece of illustrator art into a photo/art window with a background fill of "none", the box is transparent allowing the background art to show through as though there was a clipping path around the illustrator art. Is that the same for a PC?

I know that was a long-winded, probably confusing question but I'd appreciate the help. I would love to discuss this on the phone with someone so I can get this info taken care of.

My name is Jim Steck and my number is 407-654-8470

I am an digital illustrator who works exclusly on a MAC. My website is

http://www.steckfigures.com,

check out my work so you don't think I'm some kind of quack.


Thanks,

Jim

 

[apepp]

...native illustrator files are cross platform, fonts are the main problem with opening native illustrator files from mac to pc or vice versa, which is where opentype fonts help out a bit, but that is a relatively new font format...

...WMF (16bit) has been around since Windows 2.0 though predominant used on Windows 95 is the likely fall back, the 32bit version (much newer - Windows NT and Windows 95 and later) is known as EMF...

...pdf is from 1993 (v1.0), but really the earliest widely available version is Acrobat 4 (1.3) from 1999, but PDF is limited to who can import those...

...eps is a far better cross platform format for vector art, eps with tiff 8 bit preview (illustrator version 3)...

...some windows users won't be able to use eps depending on the software they have to hand, so therefore wmf is a better choice if they are using microsoft applications...

...for eps in indesign (PC or MAC) the immediate preview is a white background until the user turns on high quality display performance or overprint preview, then the true display is shown...

...for quark, eps comes in as transparent background (PC or MAC)...

...the exception to this is if you use transparent effects in illustrator, they can render to white blocks due to the flattening postscript requires (PC or MAC), think drop shadow on white artboard for example...

...not all versions of quark will import lowest format pdf files (Acrobat 4 - 1.3)...

...but regardless of the above, to edit these files the user will need at least corel, freehand, illustrator or similar vector package to change colors etc...

...for wider user needs to simply import and output, eps and wmf are about the only two choices...

...for other users needs, a simple jpeg or png (with transparent background would do, web design for example...

...the formats I would go for are thus, to cover most if not all areas:

wmf - for vector output
eps - for vector output
png (transparent) - for web designers
jpeg - for web designers
gif (non-interlaced) - for web designers

the odd ball is pdf - for vector output - (for those who know what they doing and likely don't need to import it but just print from acrobat perhaps)

Andrew

 

[buffalobills2]

Thanks Andrew,

That information really helped us out. We may want to talk to you again.

Jim

 

[eugenetyson]

I know andrew said something about PDF in quark

You shouldn't put pdf's into Quark for any version before 6.5. You should use EPS, if made from the PDF that is fine, or just any eps format.