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BobH3
Known Participant
October 19, 2012
Question

Graphics move after being edited

  • October 19, 2012
  • 2 replies
  • 1264 views

I have this strange recurring issue at my job. After using illustrator to modify a *.eps or *.ai file referenced by a Framemaker document, the image in FM sometimes jumps far out of its original location. When this occurs, it regularly moves completely outside the visible area of the frame. I end up having to right-click the frame, choose "Select all in frame"  and then align it to something just so I can see the image, and then  move it to its proper location. Any idea what causes this, or what can  be done to prevent it?

Some specifics:

1. It seems to be related to somewhat old .eps/.ai files. Files created or saved more recently never exhibit this behavior (so at least the bug only happens once per file).

2. For most (not sure if all) of the affected eps files, when I try to save in Illustrator it defaults to trying to save it as .ai instead.

3. The modifications do NOT change the size or proportions of the graphic

4. Images being scaled in FM is common in my company's documents, but I'm not sure if all of the affected images were scaled.

5. Running FrameMaker 10, on Windows XP SP3. Using Illustrator CS5 for editing images.

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

Bob_Niland
Community Expert
Bob_NilandCommunity Expert
Community Expert
October 20, 2012

Another cause is stray junk in the original image that is deleted during edit.

We have a lot of DWGs, and the EPS exports thereof, which, when opened in AI have stray stuff that can't even be seen in AutoCAD. If it's to the left or above the visible elements, it defines the anchor.

If you select the intended elements, invert the selection, and delete, this stuff is gone, but your anchor corner moves as well. You could do this unintentionally whilst effecting other edits - I have.

Previous writers "dealt" with the stray junk by using negative offsets when importing the EPS, rather than cleaning it up in AI. Once cleaned up, of course, the art moves, and often vanishes to the upper left in the anchored frame.

Van Kurtz
Van Kurtz
Inspiring
October 22, 2012

I agree with Error about the stray junk. It is very easy to click on the screen with the Text tool and type anything; this leaves a blank text object. To clean it up, select Object > Path > Clean up.

Note that if you save in the eps format, there is no need to set or reset the art work bounding box. The eps file's bounding box is always the art work, unless there is a setting in the eps save preferences that I am not aware of that changes this.

Van

Arnis Gubins
Arnis Gubins
Inspiring
October 19, 2012

It sounds like the bounding box coordinates in your graphic are being changed when they're re-saved.

In Illustrator use the "Save As" option to get an EPS file from the drop-down list for available formats. You can also save as PDF to import into FM.

B
BobH3Author
Known Participant
October 19, 2012

But what would cause the bounding box to change so significantly? In many cases I haven't changed anything around the boundaries of the image. If I do edit something near the edge, I try to keep it as close as possible to the original boundary. It wouldn't be more than a few points off its original spot in Illustrator. But then in FrameMaker, the image moved about six inches.

A
Anonymous
October 19, 2012

I am super new to Illustrator, so I'm not sure if this is helpful, but I find that I need to move the artboards to the artwork bounds to avoid any weirdness (Object > Artboards > Fit to Artwork Bounds). Of course, I'm not converting AI files to EPS files, just importing straight AI files into FM...

I have CS5.5 and FM10 on a Windows 7 32-bit machine.

Again, not sure if that is helpful at all...good luck!

Smitty

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