strange problem with .eps graphics

[FieryPantone]

So … for years now, I've been preparing service-sheets in FrameMaker: blocks of text, and every now and then an .eps graphic. Just tried to do another one, using the same approach as I always have done, and suddenly it falls over: Save as .pdf outputs completely blank pages for every page with a referenced graphic. The .eps (well, its preview image) shows up in FM. Any ideas how I can start working out what's gone wrong? FM 9.0p255, Acrobat Pro Extended 9.4.1

[Otiw_Zo]

Just an idea:

If enabled, disable "Generate Tagged PDF" on the tab "Tags" in the "PDF Setup" window.

Otiw

[Michael_Müller-Hillebrand]

Niels,

Since PDF creation is based on PostScript (still) and EPS contains PostScript, which is a powerful programming language, the embedding has reportedly failed in the past (although seldom), and therefore the EPS may »leak« onto the rest of the page. How is this EPS created and with what settings? I would assume that not every feature of the latest version of Illustrator may pass the process. FM9 was released January 2009 and Illustrator 14/CS4 was current then.

- Michael

[Bob_Niland]

How is this EPS created and with what settings? ...  FM9 was released January 2009 and Illustrator 14/CS4 was current then.

I concur. What EPS version is selected when saving or exporting from the EPS generating ap?

I'm still using EPS version 9 for all my work, because I haven't taken the time to qualify later versions with Frame 7.1. This practice resulted from a previous experience where the then-current version of Illustrator was generating EPS that was incompatible with the then-current version of Frame.

Another possibility is a problem in the EPS itself, such as an Operator that affects the global state, or presence of a Showpage in the EPS.

________

So what do EPS versions 10 and later bring to the table?

I'm guessing OpenType and full  Unicode support, which I don't need yet.

[Van Kurtz]

For what it is worth...

We use Fm 9 and Acrobat 9. We still import eps files made many moons ago on an older version of Illustrator. I cannot recall having a problem with any of the eps file. They all look good in the final PDF. Distiller seems very good at handling any flavor of PostScript, which is what eps is.

As long as the header information in the eps file is OK, Fm should simply pass it through to Distiller. If Distiller does not like it, then a Distiller error should generate.

[Dov Isaacs]

There is no such concept of EPS version 9 and EPS version 10? What exactly are you referring to? The version of FrameMaker? A version of Illustrator? The format of EPS itself has not changed in any way whatsoever since the advent of PostScript language level 3 in 1996!

          - Dov

[Bob_Niland]

There is no such concept of EPS version 9 and EPS version 10?  What exactly are you referring to? The version of FrameMaker? A version  of Illustrator? The format of EPS itself has not changed in any way  whatsoever since the advent of PostScript language level 3 in 1996!

Illustrator

Save As > EPS > EPS Format Options

Compatibility: [Version 9]

The Illustrator 10 version I run at home has "version" options from 3.0 to 10.

The CS5 I use at work has "versions" above 10.

That the "version" is Illustrator (and not EPS) is not stated in the dialog. The Help narrative makes the distinction a bit clearer, and also makes it apparent that some other applications are sensitive to this EPS "version", and gives only a couple of examples of what down-selecting might do to the EPS content.

Does there exist a list or table of what these AI versions do?

[Dov Isaacs]

When you save to EPS from Adobe Illustrator, beyond the PostScript graphics operators, Illustrator also puts in private data as PostScript comments that are the actual Illustrator graphic objects plus all the digital assets (such as palettes, patterns, preferences, etc.) associated with the Illustrator document. This private data's contents and format is not documented and differs from version to version of Illustrator as new features and graphic object types are added to Illustrator in new releases.

          - Dov

[Bob_Niland]

... Illustrator also puts in private data as PostScript comments ...

Thanks for the background info. This makes it all the more surprising that any apps would be sensitive to Illustrator EPS version. I would expect them to completely ignore comments unless the app was coded to look for specific private data. All that should really matter is PostScript Level, and maybe preview image encoding.

I ran some tests to explore FM7 sensitivity to later AI EPS versions, and have nothing to report as yet, largely because I ended up spending time rediscovering an old Windows FM problem that surprisingly doesn't seem to be mentioned in the Framemaker forum archives. A similar issue is mentioned in other forums, such as Lightroom, so it's possible that it arises from some common Adobe DLL.

The problem: Windows Frame can't print to PostScript if the (.fm) document file name or parent file path contain a comma. Unix Frame, which is what I use daily, doesn't have this problem, which is why I forgot about it.

On Windows, FM7 throws a "can't print some images" dialog, and quits.

I see that the problem was not fixed in FM8 or 9. Can't say about 10.

On Windows FM9, Frame no longer throws an error dialog. It just silently generates a zero-length .ps file.

[AxialInfo]

Another troubleshooting step would be to send the .eps file to Distiller, to see whether it will distill correctly by itself. If so, then as a test try importing the PDF into FM instead of the .eps, and again doing your save as PDF.

One of the advantages of printing to the distiller printer rather than doing Save As is that it's easier to see the distiller log. Are there any messages in the distiller log that might hint at what's wrong?

Have you rebooted to be sure cobwebs are removed?

[FieryPantone]

Thanks for all the information! I thought I'd try distilling the original .eps files, to get a better idea of where the problem starts, and Distiller produced .pdfs without batting an eye-lid. Just the usual/familiar messages about font substitution, which have not hitherto indicated that the output will be unusable.

[Maike_Roder]

Hi Niels,

is there any other result if you select "CMYK print as RGB" in PDF settings?

- Maike