"Groups" in Illustrator, etc.

[chroot]

I'm developing a program that will emit PostScript. Unfortunately, no matter what I do, it seems like the paths I emit are displayed by programs like Illustrator as "groups" or "compound paths."

Since I'm writing a plotting tool, it'd be nice if all of the lines used for the plot grid comprise one group, while all of the lines used for the plotted curve comprise another group.

Unfortunately, I can't figure out what I need to put in my PostScript to cause programs like Illustrator to group line segments the way I want them to be grouped.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!

- Warren

 

[tgreer]

I don't quite understand the issue.

How are you constructing your paths? Does each path code segment start with "newpath" and end with a stroke and/or fill?

Are you bracketing the path statements with gsave/restore?

Why is what Illustrator "does" to your PostScript an issue, as long as the end result is correct?



Thomas D. Greer

http://www.tgreer.com

Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting

 

[chroot]

I have tried starting each path with newpath, and I have tried bracketing all my paths with gsave/grestore -- and no luck. Illustrator still groups all the line segments into one giant compound path.

The issue is that my customers want to be able to ocassionally manually edit the eps output of my program with a tool like Illustrator, and having the entire plot grouped into one giant path makes even simple operations very difficult to do in Illustrator.

I know it's possible to do what I'd like to do, because saving a drawing from Illustrator in eps format does not cause this -- when you re-open that file, all the objects are grouped properly.

- Warren

 

[tgreer]

Illustrator-produced EPS files are a very poor guide to go by. This is because Illustrator itself doesn't "use" the EPS. You can test this by manually editing the EPS. Change a blue object to red, for example. When you open the hand-edited EPS back up, your object will still be blue. This is because Illustrator uses it's "Private Data Dictionary" to store the drawing. It ignores the PostScript.

That's true for newer versions of Illustrator. However, it may be possible to produce an "old" version of an "Illustrator EPS" that will do what you want.

In fact, I think that very topic was previously discussed in this forum.

Yep: thread280-836638

That should get you on the right track.



Thomas D. Greer

http://www.tgreer.com

Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting