exporting to eps or ai with transparency???

**rpc9943** · 02 May 2006, 03:36 PM

I don't get it, I can't for the life of me export anything from xara with transparency... I have a possible job opportunity to jump on, but they want .eps or .ai files... looks like im screwed ?

RonC

**Albacore** · 02 May 2006, 04:44 PM

If you don't have a tomorrow deadline please either attach the file on this topic and I will convert it to an AI file or send me a copy through the private messages.

**rpc9943** · 02 May 2006, 05:07 PM

no see that's fine, it's a preliminary test... theres no way i can get a transparency to export vector?

RonC

**gwpriester** · 03 May 2006, 01:10 AM

Have you tried Xtreme's PDF export option?

The attached PDF file has all the transparency as the JPEG image.

Remember, PDF is Illustrator's native file format for versions 9.0 upward.

Gary

**gwpriester** · 03 May 2006, 01:42 PM

I should elaborate a bit. EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) can be a combination of vector and bitmap objects. Anything that is vector remains vector and anything that is bitmap remains a bitmap. EPS can be, but in not necessarily all vector.

PDF is a further refinement of EPS and as I mentioned is also the native file format for recent versions of Illustrator.

PosctScript I and II did not support transparency so objects with transparency were converted to bitmaps. I believe PostScript III does support transparency but I am not absolutely sure.

Gary

**Charles Moir** · 03 May 2006, 06:21 PM

Yes you're right Gary. EPS files cannot contain transparency. Postscript 3 sort of supports it, but EPS generally does not.

So Xara, like AI, has to fake transparency by flattening (rasterising or generating a bitmap) of the result on any device or format that doe snot support transparency.

Only PDF reliably supports transparency, and then it's not as advanced as Xara's. So exporting as PDF 1.4 is the most reliable way to get vector data into Adobe Illustrator with transparency intact.

Charles

**jens g.r. benthien** · 03 May 2006, 08:54 PM

If you print your drawing to an *.eps file using a Linotype printer driver and select PS Level III the results are impressive.

**Crash Test** · 09 May 2006, 03:18 PM

I have found that adding a transparency effect changes the color of the printed image. The change is subtle when printing directly from XaraX but significant when printing from a pdf 1.4 format file.

This has meant that I have to avoid using transparencies. My specific experience was with a simple linear transparency of a solid rectangle. The transparency started mid-way and faded to 100%. But the color of the entire shape, even the non-transparent portion, was different than the same shape without the transparency. The difference was to go from CMYK 100, 65, 0, 0 to a printed output that looked like the Magenta value was about 80. This was enough to turn blue into purple.

I have also noticed that text prints as a different color. But if the text is coverted to a shape the color is correct.

**Bill Hell** · 09 May 2006, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by Crash Test

I have found that adding a transparency effect changes the color of the printed image. The change is subtle when printing directly from XaraX but significant when printing from a pdf 1.4 format file..

Try version PDF1.3.
I have had problems exporting from Xara, PDF1.4 files that had transparencies, especially gradual.
These did not show up when reverting to PDF1.3.

**Albacore** · 09 May 2006, 04:41 PM

When sending some of my work for printing I have experienced colour shift as Crash Test described, although not quite as servre and have also found the same with text. The only software I have found to be very reliable was InDesign and great care has to be taken when text is around the transparencies and I normally place the text into a different layer..