marmar@mtk.UUCP (Mark Martino) (10/20/89)
We have hundreds of EPSF files that we received from an outside contractor that were created using GEM Artline. We use Adobe Illustrator. We thought that since they were in EPSF, we could open them in Illustrator. This is not the case. (Don't ask me how this all happened. I'm trying to help another department.) Has anyone out there figured out how to do this? The headers from both applications seem to conflict and Illustrator refuses to recognize the files as usable. Thanks for any help you can provide.
jpd00964@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (10/24/89)
/* Written 10:32 am Oct 20, 1989 by marmar@mtk.UUCP in uxa.cso.uiuc.edu:comp.sys.mac.programmer */ /* ---------- "GEM --> Illustrator ?" ---------- */ >We have hundreds of EPSF files that we received from an outside contractor >that were created using GEM Artline. We use Adobe Illustrator. We >thought that since they were in EPSF, we could open them in Illustrator. >This is not the case. (Don't ask me how this all happened. I'm trying to >help another department.) > >Has anyone out there figured out how to do this? The headers from both >applications seem to conflict and Illustrator refuses to recognize the >files as usable. > >Thanks for any help you can provide. /* End of text from uxa.cso.uiuc.edu:comp.sys.mac.programmer */ Your not going to like this, but from my measly 1 year experience with Illustrator, and many many attempts to do what you are asking, I can only say that there is no way to do what you want. What I have figured out, which I am sure Adobe will be "happy" to correct me if I make any mistakes, is the following: 1> The header info is only used to see if it is an Illustrator file. It is then ignored. 2> The header info is used to explain to your printer what the illustrator tokens mean. 3> Your file actually needs to be in Illustrator tokens. These are simple to figure out. What you might be able to do (might is the key word) is manually insert your existing code into an illustrator shell, then go through and convert their tokens into illustrator tokens. This assumes they set their code up similar to illustrator. I have had marginal success at this method. You also might want to try a different program. FreeHand can import postscript, but I think that is all it can do. LaserTalk will load the file and allow you to manipulate it, but it's a mess at that point since it is a postscript debugger, not a drawing package. Or, you could just use the program the figures were drawn in. I will be very happy to help, If I am able to that is. Michael Rutman SoftMed jpd@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
lsr@Apple.COM (Larry Rosenstein) (10/25/89)
In article <227700049@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu> jpd00964@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu writes: > You also might want to try a different program. FreeHand can import postscript, Illustrator 88 will import EPSF files. You can only stretch, rotate, etc. the file as a unit, however. (Ie, you can't edit the internal parts of the illustration.) I think your analysis of what Illustrator can read is correct. It defines its own Postscript operators and has its own header defining those operators. It isn't possible (in general) to recover the high-level illustration structure (in terms of retangles, ...) from an arbitrary Postscript file. There are programs on the Macintosh that generate the corresponding Illustrator files from PICT files or from font files. If GEM EPSF files have a regular structure to them, then in theory one could translate the GEM definition of a rectangle to the Illustrator definition. You might need to do some experimentation to figure out the respective formats. Larry Rosenstein, Apple Computer, Inc. Object Specialist Internet: lsr@Apple.com UUCP: {nsc, sun}!apple!lsr AppleLink: Rosenstein1