I was going to ignore this thread as it’s old - but since it’s here…
.eps format from Adobe is only supported as a legacy option - lots of other computer programs outside of Adobe use eps.
Although it’s a dead format.
As above, not everyone uses Illustrator and .eps is the only export option for vector graphics.
It’s your job to take that and make it work.
Is there a need to convert all your .eps files to .ai and stick it to the man!
No. Your eps files will be fine. They don’t have colour management or support transparency as noted.
No - you can open .ai file in Acrobat or change the extension due to the PDF being saved in the file too - this is what can make .ai files quite large - having a compatible PDF included. This is necessary if placing into other Adobe programs, it uses the PDF to display the proxy - and that’s why you include it.
If it didn’t have a PDF in the background you would need to convert it to a PDF from Illustrator.
There’s so many things I agree with and disagree with - I’d be here all day - I’ll leave it at that for now.
I’m not sure what the point of this was, but it seems to suggest “baby boomers” (someone currently 56-74 yrs old, according to online resources) belong to some special needs class. I never really bought into all that generational nicknaming (that’s why I had to look it up), but I turned 58 last Saturday, so now what’s this about me again?
I think it was a roundabout “OK Boomer” thing. LOL.
Not sure though. In another thread, this poster says they have 15 years in the large format biz. So not quite sure what that whole thing is about. Unless they’re not from around here. There are places in the world that stopped Adobe at CS and some sign shops might use only Corel (it comes bundled with a lot of entry level print/cut machine bundles) and I can see needing an .eps to import into Corel. But those that do, I’d question their skill level.
@HotButton through my experience, baby boomers still own a lot of the companies that produce masses. During my investigation lol… I’ve noticed that they do not like to keep updating what has worked for them the previous (let’s just say 30 years). You ever heard the saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”? Although, as designers (creatives) we are always searching for the new, and most ethical way for us, but in reality (the business world) it’s all about how well the system works. Time management is crucial for the bottom line of any business, and these past 10 years in the economy, most don’t want to pay additional funds to completely destroy what’s been working for them the previous 30. Does that make sense to you @HotButton? Did I answer your concern?
Are you talking about baby boomers owning print companies that don’t update?
That’s business suicide. At least around here. I know plenty of boomers in print that are top of the line. I don’t like dealing with less than that.
I have one print vendor that will refuse a file done in Corel. Other than that, everyone I have ever dealt with (and I have probably a couple dozen dedicated specialty suppliers of wide format all across the US) not one of them has ever required a dumbed down file set. At least not since about 2003. There was a LOT of trouble from 2000-2003. When Adobe introduced transparency and didn’t crosslink it to spot colors that caused a major headache throughout the whole print industry. To this day it still causes issues at times, but we know what to look for and how to fix it now. Except when you send an eps that is flattened and sliced. Yer on yer own there.
Please clear something up for me. I’m not questioning either of you and only asking because you know more about this than I do.
Just the other day, I downloaded an .eps file from Shutterstock that contained dozens of objects using varying degrees of transparency. If .eps doesn’t support transparency, why can I find .eps files containing transparencies? Do they cause RIP issues as in flattening and rasterizing incorrectly (or something along those lines) unless they’re converted to a more modern format first? What am I missing?
Well, you explained what you meant, so I suppose you did. But you may find it interesting that in my experience, the opposite has been true. I have found older people in business to be more willing to take the difficult steps that are sometimes needed to optimize the input/output of their operations. Yes, it’s a common characterization that older people get “set in their ways,” but when it comes to choosing a “path of least resistance,” I find the recent generations (gen W or whoever) more inclined to look for the quickest, easiest, cheapest, if not free avenues of inventing and maintaining process; an ‘easy button’ so to speak, for everything.
Presumably, you opened it in Illustrator to discover all that transparency (and, the ‘objects’ are not raster images), so I’d say it’s likely it was an “Illustrator EPS,” which, like Illustrator PDF, is a dual-component format that includes the un-flattened native Illustrator data alongside the encapsulated postscript.
Baby boomer-aged people also own most of the companies that use more modern tools and processes as well. This has nothing to do with whatever silly age label is stuck on people and only has to do with stable businesses often taking decades to build, which often translates to them being owned by people who started them up years ago.
You’re right, though, there are long-term, older niche businesses that don’t fix what they don’t think is broken. In my experience, they’re often businesses that make enough money to pay the bills, have an established clientele but aren’t necessarily all that successful and are, often, slowly declining. I’ve also found them to typically be small family-owned businesses whose founder has mostly retired and whose less-than-ambitious and not-quite-so-talented grown children have taken over and proceed to slowly run it into the ground.
As with the other answer you can open in the native program, make edits and resave.
Its the placing and exporting that causes data flattening. When I think we talk about not supported, transparency, I think we are all talking about when it is flattened, as an EPS is flattened on output, (1) as it doesnt support live transparency (end) which causes the image to be broken apart and divided into the shapes of the the transparent objects.
When output it might cause some distress in print.
EPS and the flattening could lead to thin lines forming on screen.
EPS does not support ICC profiles.
Does not support live transparency (handy as rips can best handle this)
All transparent objects are flattened, and this can cause text to become rasterised if interacting with the objects and the rasterisation probably wont match your output.
Similarly vector objects could become rasterised.
The Pdf may now not be searchable. It might not be favourable to touch up tools.
Apologies replying on my phone and keeping things short!
(1)edit
I don’t know why you came out swinging, but it was unnecessary. I’ve worked with grand scale as a color manager and quality assurance director. I understand formats very well, as I’ve been in the industry for 15 years.
I totally agree with your last portion. That’s exactly what I was saying.