Is there a way to resize graphics to uniform dimensions?

[Guest]

I have multiple graphics in a FrameMaker 7 document. I’m using Illustrator CS3 to enhance them (adding text, arrows). The problem is, the size they are in Illustrator is not the size they end up as in the document. I save them as .ai files and export them to .jpg files, then import them by reference into the document. Some I have to scale down, some are good as they are. What’s the quickest way to get them all to a uniform size to each other in AI and in FrameMaker? Thanks for any suggestions.

[Bob_Niland]

What’s the quickest way to get them all to a uniform size to each other in AI and in FrameMaker?

Save them as EPS from AI. Be sure to include thumbnails/previews.

Frame honors the dimensional size of EPS imports, and doesn't even know the dpi if the object is just a single bitmap.

Text remains text (and you can embed fonts).

Vectors remain vectors.

The preview is coarse (72 dpi). There's a hack to go higher, but that defeats your goal of "import at my declared size please".

The above may also work with PDF export/import, but it's unstable in FM7.1, so I use EPS.

[Arnis Gubins]

First, why are you saving vector graphics as jpg? This is a lossy raster format that should only be used for photographic images - nothing else.

If you size your graphics in AI to a standard canvas size and save as PDF or EPS, the they should always import at a constant size in FM - the bounding boxes will then always be the same.

[Van Kurtz]

Because you are using Illustrator, you do not need to save the file both as AI and as eps. Take the advice given by others and use eps. You can edit an eps file in Illustrator.

As Arnis points out, do all your sizing in Illustrator, if you want all your graphics to import at the same size. But I am thinking you want to be able to create the graphic at any size and have it import at a set size into FrameMaker; this you cannot do.

Van

[Russ Ward]

Hi,

My WS Utilities plugin has a feature for creating graphic profiles to quickly resize graphics, along with a number of other useful graphic tools. It can apply a graphic profile automatically upon import. Disclaimer - it is not free, but a trial version is available. See http://www.weststreetconsulting.com/WSC_Utils.htm.

Thanks,

Russ Ward, Owner - WSC

[Bob_Niland]

Arnis: If you size your graphics in AI to a standard canvas size and save as  PDF or EPS, the they should always import at a constant size in FM - the  bounding boxes will then always be the same.

Illustrator has an artboard size, not a canvas size. And Frame brings the EPS in at the size of the object extents (the EPS bounding box), and ignores artboard size. The anchoring frame size is slightly larger than the EPS bounding box. I've never tried to figure out how much.

Van: Because you are using Illustrator, you do not need to save the file both  as AI and as eps. Take the advice given by others and use eps. You can  edit an eps file in Illustrator.

I keep an AI master regardless. Since the basenote indicated Frame 7, there is a small chance that saving EPS out of Illustrator versions later than 9 could create an EPS that FM7 can't handle (e.g. embedded Unicode fonts*), and if down-saved to EPS/9, you might lose some ability to edit the content later in AI. The .ai is the master. The .eps is the product.

I also routinely save a PDF of each image, for convenience browsing in the image directory by people who don't have AI.

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* I just tested importing an EPS saved as IA version CS5. Unless the Unicode font is embedded in the EPS, Frame 7 will display the thumbnail correctly, but silently generate garble in the resulting PDF. If the font is embedded, it seems to work.

[Van Kurtz]

Error,

there is a small chance that saving EPS out of Illustrator versions later than 9 could create an EPS that FM7 can't handle (e.g. embedded Unicode fonts*), and if down-saved to EPS/9, you might lose some ability to edit the content later in AI. The .ai is the master. The .eps is the product.

I am under the impression that FrameMaker simply pushes the eps file through to the printer when creating the PDF or printing. There is nothing it needs to do other than display the preview image, which is nothing more than a bitmap. So, I am guessing that the font handling is done by the printer or Distiller. If FrameMaker needs to send a non-embedded font to the printer, then it simply has to find the font and send it. If it is not on the system, I doubt FrameMaker does anything to the eps file before it sends it; any garbling in the output is likely due to the printer/Distiller not having access to the font required by the eps.

The .ai is the master. The .eps is the product.

Others have explained on this forum that Illustrator can (if you tell it to) save the AI-dependent information in the eps file. So, the eps file has the same information as is in the AI file.

Van

[Bob_Niland]

I am under the impression that FrameMaker simply pushes the eps file  through to the printer when creating the PDF or printing.

That could easily be the case, except for ...

If FrameMaker needs to send a  non-embedded font to the printer, then it simply has to find the font and send it.

That's somewhat inconsistent with just pass it through.

If it is not on the system, I doubt FrameMaker does  anything to the eps file before it sends it; any garbling in the output  is likely due to the printer/Distiller not having access to the font  required by the eps.

This could easily be true. In my test, Frame (7.1 Unix) didn't complain when opening the .fm that contained an .eps that included Arial Unicode Chinese characters. It displayed the thumbnail, with the glyphs apparently present. It generated a .ps file without complaint. Curiously, I distilled that .ps to .pdf on the same PC that created the EPS. That PC has that font. The glyphs were garbled in the PDF. Hmmm.

This scenario is our workflow, by the way, and not just a test scenario. We author on FM7.1/Unix, but edit and create graphical objects on Win64 PCs (which product objects are usually EPS, often with text, possibly Unicode). We Distill on the PCs. Today's test confirmed why I have a rule of: either embed the fonts, or convert text to outlines. If you convert text to outlines, of course, the EPS is no longer "text" when re-opened in AI.

Others  have explained on this forum that Illustrator can (if you tell it to)  save the AI-dependent information in the eps file. So, the eps file has  the same information as is in the AI file.

As a recent member, I haven't seen that. Thanks. I suspect the same is true for PDFs saved from AI, but there's still the convert-to-outlines issue.

Possibly one could copy all the text to a new layer. Outline in the new layer. Hide the real text layers. Save as EPS. Now you'd have a portable print object with full original edit capability (and a few tens of kB more metadata that needs to be redacted from the final PDF for the sake of size).

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It's easier to simply retain the .ai master.

We do the same for PSD, where the product is also an EPS, and has to be flattened for save as EPS.

[Guest]

Thanks for the info--very helpful.