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Can't open EPS FILES!

signz

New Member
Hi,
Anyone else had this?
I bought a disk of Chinese symbols, they are all eps files, but can't open any of them!
They'll open in Photoshop.
All the right filters are checked in Signlab 6.3+.
Any thoughts?
Bob
 

WVB

New Member
Try to resave them as a legacy file in Illustrator or save them as ai file as legacy file.

You can send one to me if you like, I will see if I can open it. I only use Flexi and Illustrator no Signlab...
 

iSign

New Member
I'm not sure if this is the case with you, but a lot of people seem to think .eps files are always vector files. Since sometimes they are not, the .eps files that are rastor artwork will have the same limitations as any other rastor file, like possibly requiring them to be "placed" or "imported" instead of just "opened" ...also of course there's the fact that if you really needed vector art... they may not be of any use when "placed' into signlab.
 

Bobby H

Arial Sucks.
Another possible bug (perhaps remotely possible) is the use of odd forms of Asian type in the .eps files.

But yeah, you'll have to watch for bozos dropping JPEG images into drawing applications and saving as .EPS. I'll see that from time to time with CorelDRAW files. Sometimes that occurs after the user first tries to send me a JPEG image. We tell him, "we need something like CorelDRAW or Illustrator." So he places the stupid JPEG into a Corel document and saves it.
:Sleeping:
 

iSign

New Member
yeah, we get those bozos too often.
I ask what file format they have & they say "what do you want" ...like they can "make anything I want"

I won't even answer that question... I just ask them again what they already have.
 

Fred Weiss

Merchant Member
I just had one like that. He was (chest all puffed out) ready to give me his file in whatever format I needed. So I replied "an Illustrator vector EPS". He then admitted that he didn't know what that was.

So I next suggested that he provide his file in the native format of the program that was used to create it. He replied "then what you want is a TIF ... or would a GIF be better". I then explained that neither format was the native format of any application and asked what application had crteated it. He replied "Photoshop" but he thought his "designer" may have also used Illustrator.

At this point I suggested that he bring me the file or files if he had different versions and I would then be able to see what was needed and provide a firm quote instead of the ballpark one I gave him. He seemed disappointed that I wasn't willing to provide the firm quote first ... not so sure he'll be back.

As to the question that started this thread: You almost certainly have an Illustrator file that was created in the current version of that application and is too new a version for your one generation old SignLab. Have the customer save it back to about a version 5 or 6 Illustrator legacy file, or buy a copy of Illustrator CS2 so you can open it and save it back, or upgrade to the current version of SignLab.
 

Bigdawg

Just Me
Another little trick that I have used often when an Illustrator eps file is a newer version is to use Acrobat Distiller to create a pdf and then open the pdf in Illustrator and then I have the vector art I need.
 

Bobby H

Arial Sucks.
You can still run into problems converting .EPS files to .PDF with Distiller if your copy of Acrobat is an older version.
 

signz

New Member
Hi Guys,
A little more info.
Seems I can open it in Photoshop, and save it as an Eps file to my desk top, when I open it in Siglab, it opens as a Bitmap, which means I have to vectorize it in Signlab and node edit. Bob
 

Fred Weiss

Merchant Member
That would be reinventing the wheel if the originalfile contains fully edited nice clean vectors.

Photoshop will open many kinds of files and isn't generally bothered by Illustrator version numbers. But in doing so it converts it to bitmaps. If it was originally bitmaps, well then fine. But if it was originally vectors, and you take the newly created bitmap and vectorize it, you will be losing several levels of quality from the original Illustrator file.

Just to be clear also ... what you are experiencing is not an unusual thing. It will happen again and again. And clients often don't want to be bothered with saving a file back a few versions because you don't have the current version of Adobe Illustrator (which is CS2 otherwise known as version 12). Acquiring a copy is highly recommended.

In the mean time, you might resolve your current problem by asking someone here to open the file for you and resave it back to an earlier version. It's really pretty quick and easy.
 

iSign

New Member
yes, opening any file in photoshop will result as a bitmap no matter what it may have once been.
 

Bigdawg

Just Me
We can't import anything over Illustrator 7 into EasySign. If you have a minute try sending him a version 7 and see if that will work.
 

Bobby H

Arial Sucks.
The Illustrator 8 legacy file export filter in IllustratorCS2 can often wind up writing files that don't read properly in many applications. Often you'll have to save down to legacy Illustrator 3 format.

For example, CorelDRAW 9 usually had little trouble reading an Illustrator 8 file if it was actually saved from Illustrator 8. For some odd reason later versions don't work so well. CorelDRAW 12 can open some later versions of Illustrator files, but often only if the files are saved with PDF compatibility turned on and by using the PDF import filter.

Fred Weiss said:
Photoshop will open many kinds of files and isn't generally bothered by Illustrator version numbers. But in doing so it converts it to bitmaps.
I have asked Adobe staffers in the Adobe Forums about allowing Photoshop to open Illustrator files (or EPS files) and have the vectors remain intact and resident within the paths palette. The motivation for having such a feature would be to allow CorelDRAW users and users of other non-Postscript based drawing applications to be able to get paths into Photoshop without using Illustrator or Freehand as a bridge application. The Adobe guys either get mad at me or give me a blunt yet kinda murky explanation that Photoshop and Illustrator only exchange AICB paths -which is based on something far more simple than full blown Postscript or PDF. It would be a huge amount of work and create all sorts of trouble to get Photoshop to do what I requested. I would just have to live with copying and pasting paths into Photoshop via the clipboard.
 

Tony Teveris

New Member
Bob (SignZ) if you don't mind sending me the file(s) I'll take a look and see what version they are and see if our new Omega vesion can read them.

Thanks
 
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