image width differed from exported illustrator and coreldraw emf

[Guest]

Hi,

when exporting a 7cm width EMF image from illustrator and corel draw, the image size is getting differed when EMF is imported to framemaker.  coreldraw exported EMF gets correctly fitted in the framemaker 7cm template whereas illustrator EMF doesnt do. Do i have to do something with the framemaker  or  adobe illustrator setting. Can anyone please help?

[Bob_Niland]

I don't use EMF, but it is common for there to be a slight difference between the real image size and what FM reports.

For example, a 200 dpi EPS image I'm using is 694 pixels wide, which is correctly reported by both Illustrator and Photoshop as being 3.47 inches wide.

Frame says it's 3.472 inches (actually, 3.47222 in the MIF).

Frame is apparently using the size of the preview or thumbnail embedded in the EPS, which is 72 dpi (1/72 inch, or one "point" per pixel). 3.47 inches is 249.84 points, which rounds up to 250 points, which, divided by 72, is 3.47222.

Or are you seeing a larger difference?

[Guest]

Yes, if I give 4 cm in illustrator, in framemaker the size is coming to 4.8 this makes to reduce the size in framemaker and so it is messing up the text size, but when exporting wmf in coreldraw it is perfectly fitting, is there a way to solve it?

[Bob_Niland]

4 vs. 4.8 is a large disparity.

Is this a raster, vector, or composite raster/vector image?

If any raster content, what dpi?

[Guest]

It is vector image we do it for documentation work

[Bob_Niland]

Hmmm. Interesting. I ran a test (and this is in FM7.1/Unix).

I used a recent 3.11 inch wide vector image from Illustrator. Keep in mind that in vector space, the dimensions are usually to stroke center-lines, and do not account for stroke width. If I open this in Photoshop, it does account for stroke width (we use 0.22 pts) and the width is 3.142.

I saved the image as EPS, and exported to EMF and WMF.

• FM reports the vector EPS width as 3.125 (this is probably just the 1/72 preview round-off).

• FM reports the EMF width as 3.691. The preview is blank. The image prints blank. I don't use EMF, and may have bungled this this test (or FM7.1 hasn't an ideal filter for it), but the size disparity is the same ratio you are seeing.

• FM reports the WMF image as 3.115. The preview is raster. The image prints as vector, but is degraded. It looks like all the vector coordinates have been snapped to new grid points in a fairly coarse grid.

My suggestion: use EPS.

Encapsulated PostScript is the oldest and most stable graphics file format that FM supports. It supports vector, raster, text or any composites thereof. It gets minimal filtering on import, and is likely passed through to the output as-is. The only downsides are a coarse (but fast) preview image (and the size jitter that comes with that). There is a workaround for the coarse preview.

[Guest]

Thanks, but EPS also comes with same image size issue. did you get it correct? Also how to export EMF in Vector image.

[Bob_Niland]

> ... but EPS also comes with same image size issue.

What workflow?

What application last saved the problem EPS images?

I have never seen more than the 1/72inch roundoff size error with EPS images saved from Adobe Illustrator; certainly nothing like the 83.33% or 120% error you are seeing.

I'm going to guess that thumbnail and preview images inside EPS are just pixels, tagged for color model and compression, but do not encode a dpi.

FM probably assumes that the resolution of EPS preview/thumbnail is 72 dpi. It uses the pixel dimensions of the preview/thumbnail to compute the overall image size (a mistake, but that's what appears to be going on).

If an application that can write EPS is using some other dpi for the preview/thumbnail, that's probably going to cause problems.

Suppose the application that last saved the 4 cm EPS embeds a preview/thumbnail at 86 dpi. FM would assume it was 72 dpi. FM would then compute the image size incorrectly at 4.8 cm. ... or possibly the inverse, since I don't have clear picture of what exactly is happening on import of your image. The 4/4.8 ratio maps precisely to a 60 vs. 72 dpi mismatch.

[Winfried Reng]

Probably Illustrator uses 90 dpi for the preview and Corel Draw uses 72 dpi. And FrameMaker uses also 72 dpi.

I guess there isn't anything which you could do.

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

When saving/exporting Illustrator files, I'd stick with

• Illustrator native saved as PDF-Compatible
• Save as PDF
• Save as EPS (using Artboard)

I just had success with all three of these formats (a 3" square artboard, containing a 2" square element. Each came in properly.

Failed formats:

• Saving as native AI without PDF preview gives a message scolding me about the PDF preview
• saving as EPS without using the artboard gave a wonky-looking graphic, but appeared to be the proper size.

[Van Kurtz]

Matt,

I have been saving as EPS from Illustrator for years WITHOUT artboard. Not a wonky-looking graphic amongst them.

Van

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

@Van: I'm with you!!!  My first version of AI was Illustrator '88, and it's the *only* vector tool I use/have used. (Why mess with a great thing?) I'm sure the output would have been perfect with the placed file sans artboard, but the preview in Fm looked goofy. and the graphic properties reported a file that was somewhat larger than the original. On the other hand, the files imported with the artboard showed a perfect 3" for H and W, with the graphic in the middle.

The options in AI CS6/CC can be overwhelming, though. Transparency, PDF, EPS (but which preview?) all impact the final result.

I was just suggesting the options that incorporated the artboard so that the imported file could more accurately be assessed. and the sizing issue get resolved. Saving with the artboard seemed to address that variable size issue.

Bottom line: I save as PDF compatible .ai file, and I *never* stray from .ai, .pdf, .eps formats for AI vectors. Even so, there are a lot of variations possible within the Save/Save As dialogs.

-Matt

[Van Kurtz]

Matt,

I have never used Illustrator 88. The one I use is CS4. So, maybe the issue disappeared during development of Illustrator.

Van

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

Hah, by *first* version I mean that I started using AI in 1988, and have necessarily updated to every new version to maintain compatibility with my client base. The version I used for the test yesterday was AI CS6.

My point was that with all the options to preserve fonts, PostScript version, transparency, PDF, EPS, etc., one can expect there are combinations that will produce unsatisfactory results.

I don't care much about the why's and wherefore's of the options that don't work, but was trying to provide a base of options that have worked for me (wonderfully) for the last 25 years.

Best,

Matt