EPS import failing

[XFracture]

Hi,

I use a CAD program (AutoCAD) in which I generate architectural drawings.

Sometimes we want to color or texture them, so I use Distiller to export to PDF, then use photoshop to color.

I would rather use Xara to do this, but the only valid export option in Acrobat is EPS, which Xara will not open (saing there is an error on some line)... it does this no matter which EPS import filter is chosen.

I know the EPS is valid because PhotoShop opens it right up.

Anyone have a clue what is happening here?

[XFracture]

Hi,

I use a CAD program (AutoCAD) in which I generate architectural drawings.

Sometimes we want to color or texture them, so I use Distiller to export to PDF, then use photoshop to color.

I would rather use Xara to do this, but the only valid export option in Acrobat is EPS, which Xara will not open (saing there is an error on some line)... it does this no matter which EPS import filter is chosen.

I know the EPS is valid because PhotoShop opens it right up.

Anyone have a clue what is happening here?

[Soquili]

Hi XFracture,

Welcome to the forum. I'm not positive, but I believe that XaraX will only import an older version of EPS. Try exporting from your CAD program to an earlier version.

[XFracture]

Well, I cannot export from the CAD program. It has to be from Acrobat. The reason is because we output the Acrobat file (PDF) with lineweights. Using any other option does not include the lineweights.

The problem is the export of EPS from Acrobat.

Xara is supposed to support the Illustrator 8 EPS, so why not Acrobat 6?

[gwpriester]

Adobe's implementation of PDF is different. Adobe in the last version or two has made PDF it's file format in essense becoming the same as their AI file format. Except it is a more proprietarial version.

If you have CorelDRAW, you can import AutoCADD files and change the line widths and then export as EPS or CMX and import these into Xara.

It's a hastle, I know.

Gary

[XFracture]

Thx for the responses...

I guess I am unsure why the EPS export from Acrobat is a problem for Xara... I mean, it is an ASCII file, that is readily readable... why can't XARA's filter be updated to read the EPS properly?

[jens g.r. benthien]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I guess I am unsure why the EPS export from Acrobat is a problem for Xara <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Because Adobe does not conform to the standards it set a while ago - they modified it, so many other programs do have problems with the import as well. It's not Xara's fault, it Adobe's fault.

If you want to colorize your AutoCAD, you might check http://www.penguin3d.com - as far as I know it's available as a plug-in for AutoCAD as well.

[XFracture]

Again, thx for the response.

However, as mentioned, we are already doing this via photoshop, so we don't need yet another application to do what xara ought to be doing... we prefer to use xara... we love xara, and have been using it for most of our graphics needs since Xara 1.0, hence the initial question...

Penguin is really for 3d models, and is not free.

Again, why do the Xara developers not update their EPS importer?

[XFracture]

Given the Adobe change, perhaps a better question would be: Does anyone know what is the latest version of Acrobat that Xara supports EPS from?

[infoneer]

I don't know if it helps or not, but I've been using the ps2ai filter from ghostscript to convert eps files for Xara. It works very well.

-j