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*** DesignGeek ***
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Tips and techniques for the digital designer
In this issue:
-- Vector EPS Preview Fix in InDesign
-- Bad PDFs from Quark 6.x? Disable OPI XT
-- HerGeekness Speaks: Upcoming Appearances
Issue 37, 3/30/05
Written by Anne-Marie "HerGeekness" Concepcion
... for her clients, colleagues, random contacts and interested subscribers
© 2005 Seneca Design & Training, Inc.
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Vector EPS Preview Fix in InDesign
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Art departments making the move to InDesign from QuarkXPress or PageMaker probably have hundreds, if not thousands of vector EPS files lying around -- logos, illustrations, clip art, posters, etc. InDesign can import EPS files, but sometimes the low-res preview that's included with the EPS causes problems with output.
A little tech background for newbies: When you're working in a PostScript-based drawing program like Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Freehand, saving a version of the drawing in EPS format (instead of or in addition to the program's native format) is necessary if you want to import that image into other program's files like QuarkXPress, Pagemaker, and Microsoft Word. These programs understand that they should use the low-res screen preview of the file (included by default with a vector EPS) to show you what it looks like onscreen, but when the job is output, they should send the underlying PostScript code.
Adobe InDesign, of course, doesn't require that you go to the trouble of saving in EPS format, at least as far as Adobe Illustrator files are concerned. InDesign places, previews and outputs native .ai files just fine. But few new InDesign users want to go to the trouble of resaving all their existing Illustrator EPS files as .ai ones just for the novelty of it. And for the most part, they don't have to -- as I said, InDesign can place, preview and output EPS files just like those other programs.
Except for one particular situation, that is. If the placed vector EPS file has a Mac preview (instead of a TIFF preview), and the designer applies an InDesign drop shadow to it, trouble can loom. The shadow you see on screen in InDesign will not match what gets output.
And EPS's with Mac previews are everywhere -- to this day, Illy/Mac's Save As EPS or Export to Legacy EPS (in CS) dialog has the "Macintosh 8-bit (color)" preview option selected by default. Illy/Windows default EPS preview is TIFF. TIFF Preview is an option in the Mac's EPS settings dialog but few Mac-based designers bother selecting it.
So what's the glitch with InDesign drop shadows? I'm sure you've seen it -- initially, the drop shadow is applied to the entire image frame instead of the vector artwork inside it. It's as though the image was filled with White (err, Paper) instead of None. Yet a glance at that Fill Color icon tells you the image does indeed have a transparent background.
Is this just an InDesign preview problem? No. Export that page to PDF or print it and you'll see it's even worse -- the entire background of the vector artwork is filled with the shadow color, including the bit sticking out a little on the bottom and the right of the frame.
If you try to fix the problem in InDesign by selecting the image and choosing High Quality Display (from the Object menu's Display Performance settings); the preview that you see in InDesign appears corrected. The background of the vector artwork becomes transparent and soft drop shadows are applied to each bit of vector art and type in the file.
Yet this doesn't change a thing about the output. Even if it looks correct in InDesign, exporting to PDF or printing it will reveal the same problem: The shadow fills the background of the vector image.
Other InDesign-based transparency effects work fine, by the way. You can feather (Object -> Feather) a placed vector EPS and the resulting output will be correct (background transparent and feathering applied to vector elements), even if it looks wrong in InDesign because of the same wonky low-res Mac preview in the EPS.
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The Fix
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You can fix the problem by changing the Mac preview permanently or on the fly.
1. Get rid of the Mac preview permanently via either of the following:
-- Open the EPS in the illustration program and re-save as EPS, this time choosing TIFF preview. You can use the TIFF-previewed ones in InDesign or any other program that takes EPS's. This would be useful for companies who are using both QuarkXPress and InDesign, for example.
-- Open the EPS in Adobe Illustrator and re-save as a native Illustrator file (v5.5 or higher), one with an .ai filename extension. These can be placed into InDesign, but no other programs will recognize it. You'll have to save a copy as an EPS for those other apps.
2. Force InDesign to use a TIFF preview on the fly via either of the following:
-- Change your InDesign preferences: Go to Preferences -> Display Performance and move the Vector Graphics slider in Adjust View Settings from "Proxy" all the way to the right to "High Resolution."
If you've already placed some vector EPS's in the document before you adjust your Preferences, their previews will immediately update -- transparent backgrounds are back! -- and drop shadows will both preview *and* output correctly. EPS vector images you place subsequently will automatically get a high-res preview. (I don't know why this works while doing the same move on an individual image will not.)
You can set High Resolution vector previews as an application default by changing the Preference with no documents open.
-- Change how you import vector EPS's: In InDesign's Place dialog, after you've selected a vector EPS file, turn on Show Import Options before you click OK. (Tip: Hold down Option/Alt and the Shift key while you double-click on the filename to force the Import Options dialog to appear.) In the Import Options dialog, change the Proxy Generation from the default "Use TIFF or Pict Preview" to "Generate the PostScript" and click OK.
The image comes in with a high-res TIFF preview instead of its Mac preview, if it had one. Note that this choice is "sticky" -- InDesign remembers your Proxy Generation choice and uses it for all vector EPS's you place in that document or any others from then on, even if you don't open the Import Options dialog for them. (But it reverts to "Use TIFF or Pict Preview" if you rebuild your InDesign preferences.)
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Bad PDFs from Quark 6.x? Disable OPI XT
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QuarkXPress 6.x users, have you noticed that its optional OPI XTension is installed and turned on by default? If you're trying to troubleshoot random, bizarre problems with your PDFs or printouts, this could be the culprit.
The OPI XT is only needed if you're a worker bee in an OPI workflow, the kind where you're using low-res images in your layouts (for speed's sake), while their high-res versions are automatically substituted when you output to print or PDF or do a Collect for Output . A big fat OPI image server and OPI software on your network runs the whole shebang. It's not really that common these days except for large publishers with lots of huge images.
Yet for some reason, QuarkXPress 6.x assumes everyone is working in a OPI workflow. Look at the Extensions Manager (in the Utilities menu); the OPI XT is enabled. Look at the OPI panel in the Print dialog: "OPI Active" is checked on. Look at the OPI panel in the PDF Options dialog (Export -> Layout to PDF -> Options): "OPI Active" is turned on there too.
All the OPI XT does is add comments to the flow of internal code indicating that there's an image that needs to be swapped. But that little bit of code can cause random, inexplicable problems in output if there's no high-res image waiting for its turn in the spotlight.
To turn off the OPI XT, just uncheck it in Utilities -> XTension Manager and restart the program. But I prefer to just remove the OPI XT completely, that way I don't have to keep remembering to check its on/off state in the XTension Manager. Go into the QuarkXPress 6.x program folder on your hard drive and drag OPI.xnt out of the XTensions folder into some other place -- I keep mine floating in the QuarkXPress program folder. (Don't put it into XTensions Disabled, that's the same as turning it off in the XTensions Manager.) You may need admin privileges to do this in OS X or XP.
By the way, if you're creating PDFs from Quark layouts with Acrobat Distiller, be sure to turn off "Preserve OPI Comments" in the Advanced panel of your Distiller settings as well.
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HERGEEKNESS SPEAKS: Upcoming Events
I'm doing a lot of public speaking in the next few months. Hope to see you there!
"A Workflow That Works: InDesign and InCopy in the Trenches"
Chicago Book Clinic's Professional Development Series
Thursday, April 21, 2005; 10:00 a.m. to Noon
Scott Foresman Auditorium; Glenview, Illinois
http://www.chicagobookclinic.org/events/program-050421.html
"InDesign Solutions: Tips, Workarounds, and Fixes for Glitches"
Chicago Book Clinic's annual "CBC University"
Wednesday, June 8, 2005 (time tbd)
University of Chicago's Gleacher Center; Chicago, Illinois
http://www.chicagobookclinic.org/events/events.htm
"Moving to an InCopy/InDesign Workflow"
The InDesign Conference
Tuesday, June 21, 2005; 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Hotel Nikko; San Francisco, California
http://www.theindesignconference.com/schedule.php?sid=1&cid=4
"Pixel Perfect: Web Site Design and the Creative Suite"
The Creative Suite Conference
Friday, July 22, 2005; 1:00 p.m. to 2:10 p.m.
Caesar's Palace; Las Vegas, Nevada
http://www.thecreativesuiteconference.com/
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BRING HERGEEKNESS ON-SITE
Do you like what you read in DesignGeek? Find anything useful? Bring me in for a session or two of hands-on software training for your workgroup; here in Chicago or any other city near an airport, and you can have me all to yourself. LOL .... I don't charge an arm and a leg, and you'll find we usually go far beyond teaching which dialog does what. I pay attention to your particular projects and workflow, and teach how you can best use the software to get it done easily, accurately and efficiently.
To learn more, or hear what other clients have to say, contact me or fill out the no-obligation "Request a Training Quote' form on Seneca's site:
http://www.senecadesign.com/training/request.html
Recent training clients in Chicago and throughout the U.S. include Schawk Inc. (InDesign); Riverside Publishing (OS X, InDesign); Hoyt Publishing (InCopy); Playboy Enterprises (InDesign), Loyola Press (InDesign, InCopy); Stralfors (Dreamweaver); Chicago Tribune (GoLive); Unity Christian Publishing (InCopy); Marquette University (InDesign); and Think Design Group (InDesign, InCopy).
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DesignGeek is a free bimonthly publication written by Anne-Marie "HerGeekness" Concepcion, a cross-media designer and authorized Adobe and Quark training provider. She owns Seneca Design & Training, Inc. in Chicago, Illinois (http://www.senecadesign.com/).
To subscribe to DesignGeek or read archived issues, go to its home on Seneca's site:
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Contact Seneca by phone at 312-946-1100 or e-mail at info@senecadesign.com
Copyright 2005 by Seneca Design & Training, Inc.
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