Xara images to PDF

[gnurf]

I have worked together with a ad-agency on a couple of projects, and a few issues have come up: They of course don't use Xara X, but mainly Freehand and sometimes Illustrator. My part have been to create some components of a final picture, while the agency take care of other details, and then they merge all components of the picture.

They wanted me to send my part in a file format they could open and edit it (yes, they had my permission to edit my part of the work), and they suggested PDF.

I have Acrobat and tried different ways to create a PDF: a) by printing to PDF-writer; b) by printing to file and then creating a PDF of the PRN-file; and c) printing to Acrobat Distiller.

I also tried exporting as EPS, and then distilling that file. And I tried saving as an Illustrator file (AI, artificial intelligense indeed [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img] ).

It doesn't matter in what format I save/export, there is always something that doesn't work: The PDF:s splitted the outlines into thousands (well, perhaps only hundreds) of pieces and converted gradient fills to lines of bitmaps.

The image I did wasn't even complex: It was a head of a swan, where the oulines where strokes brushed to achieve the effect of a hand-drawn image. I converted the outlines to shapes to get around possible problem when exporting, but it didn't help. I used two gradient fills: one linear and one circular (and they weren't even overlapping, but still got messed up).

With that info, does anyone have any tips how to save/export images so they can be opened in Freehand for editing?

I can post the original file if anyone have the time to take a look.

PS. We got the work done, but there was a lot of unnecessary working around that hopefully can be avoided in the future.

-Paul

[gnurf]

I have worked together with a ad-agency on a couple of projects, and a few issues have come up: They of course don't use Xara X, but mainly Freehand and sometimes Illustrator. My part have been to create some components of a final picture, while the agency take care of other details, and then they merge all components of the picture.

They wanted me to send my part in a file format they could open and edit it (yes, they had my permission to edit my part of the work), and they suggested PDF.

I have Acrobat and tried different ways to create a PDF: a) by printing to PDF-writer; b) by printing to file and then creating a PDF of the PRN-file; and c) printing to Acrobat Distiller.

I also tried exporting as EPS, and then distilling that file. And I tried saving as an Illustrator file (AI, artificial intelligense indeed [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img] ).

It doesn't matter in what format I save/export, there is always something that doesn't work: The PDF:s splitted the outlines into thousands (well, perhaps only hundreds) of pieces and converted gradient fills to lines of bitmaps.

The image I did wasn't even complex: It was a head of a swan, where the oulines where strokes brushed to achieve the effect of a hand-drawn image. I converted the outlines to shapes to get around possible problem when exporting, but it didn't help. I used two gradient fills: one linear and one circular (and they weren't even overlapping, but still got messed up).

With that info, does anyone have any tips how to save/export images so they can be opened in Freehand for editing?

I can post the original file if anyone have the time to take a look.

PS. We got the work done, but there was a lot of unnecessary working around that hopefully can be avoided in the future.

-Paul

[traceyp]

Paul

Are you sure they said PDF? I could be wrong but as far as I am aware there's no way you can edit graphics in PDF files. Its hard enough to edit text(!) but graphics - well I don't know. I think you should check with them.

Tracey

[Peter Clifton]

Paul

Yep, creating PDFs from Xara is a problem, it's complex effects do not translate well to PDF format.

The results may be large, but if sending proofs you are probably better off sending CMYK or colour adjusted RGB TIFF files, compressed or zipped as small as you can get. Obviously the images cannot be freely edited, so this is still a major hurdle.

I think the problems stem from the fact that although the underlying structure of Xara's objects are vectors, the results on screen and sent to a printer are rendered as bitmaps, which is what Distiller is attempting to turn into a PDF.

I really don't think it is possible to export a majority of Xara's effects to any vector format and successfully import and edit it another vector package, the other packages simply do not have the rendering power of Xara.

If the Ad agency is impressed with type of work you are doing and want to do business, might it not be in their interest to at least have a copy of Xara X on the premises (hopefully they are not solely Mac based), I mean the cost of Xara X could hardly add up to more than a business lunch [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Peter

The style challenged Pete'sCrypt

[gnurf]

Tracey - Yes, you can edit PDF:s. I am rarely using Freehand, but I would say that FH 9 and later versions can open and edit PDF:s. Depending on what's in a PDF there usually are problems with the editing in FH too. Also in CorelDraw you can import and edit PDF:s (and as well there are often problems with editing in CD too).

Peter - I have done business with this agency many times before and they know (and probably also like) my work and style. As usual, being a 'real' ad-agency, they use Macs. They have a PC to receive materials in PC-format, but that is about it. They could of course buy Xara X, but I guess that will not happen very soon. You know the topic in this forum about the choises and preferenses of software in graphic-business (Freehand and Illustrator rules on the Mac platform).

I usually send my works as tif:s ready for print to them, but that doesn't help in the cases when the picture should be edited. Also, in this case it was a logo that should be scalable, so the tif-format wasn't really suitable for that either.

More about the logo I did: It was quite simple, a swans head where one object was the neck and head and the other the outline (converted to shapes) of head and neck. In the same way I did the beak, where a linear fill was used. A circular fill was used in the eye (and the outline was a separate object), and another circular fill was used on the bump on the beak. I specifically made the outlines as separate objects because I used brush strokes which I converted to shapes. This is the final version.

-Paul

[gnurf]

Is it just me or is the forum - I have problems uploading images.I tried uploading the swan-logo three times, but it still not completely shown!

I use Opera 6, but that hasn't been a problem before.

-Paul

[traceyp]

Paul

I didn't know you could edit PDFs. You learn a little something every day - particularly in this forum! Thanks very much.

Tracey

[Klaus Nordby]

Illustrator 9 and 10 can edit PDFs too, but it's of course a rather stupid thing to do.

Your nice swan logo could very simply be exported from XaraX to Illustrator 7 format, and the Macnoids could then open it - and destroy it!

K
www.xaraxone.com/FeaturedArt/kn/
www.klausnordby.com/xara

[Egg Bramhill]

Re your problem on your images uploading incorrectly, I had a similar problem some time ago. If I remember correctly it was something to do with Binary / ASCI file transfer. Basically I was uploading images in a ASCI mode not a Binary mode. All my images looked fine on my local computer and in other programs, but if I uploaded them to a website they became corrupted. (e.g.Only half images). Have you downloaded your image from a web address prior to posting it here?
Love the logo by the way.
Egg