applying a color to EPS

[david_postelnik@adobeforums.com]

How to add collor to a black and white EPS file in InDesign CS on Windows XP?

[Steve_Werner@adobeforums.com]

You can't. But if you save it as a TIFF you can.

Only PageMaker did that, which was a stretch for an EPS file since one of the reasons for that format was to lock in the appearance (E = Encapsulated).

To color a B/W TIFF select the content with the Direct Selection (hollow arrow) tool, and select a color.

[Bob_Levine]

As Steve says, but note that this won't work if the TIF contains
transparency.

Bob

[mikewitherell_at_jetsetcom_dot_net]

Steve and Bob,

Won't this now also work with a PSD file? Presumably in B/W or grayscale? By that I mean selecting the PSD with the Direct Selection tool and clicking a Swatch color to colorize it?

Mike Witherell in Washington DC

[Bob_Levine]

I think so, but I never do it so I can't be sure. But the caveat about
transparency stands. It won't work if the file contains transparency.

Bob

[Peggy_Bjarno@adobeforums.com]

So where in the process of creating the tif do you either designate "NO transparency" or get rid of whatever is there? I believe that this has been the source of many problems for me in designing for print, and if you can solve this for me I will be forever grateful (AND AMAZED!!)

Peggy

[Bob_Levine]

What version are you of Photoshop are you're using. In CS if you attempt
to save a layered TIFF or one with transparency, you'll get a dialog box
asking if you want to do that or discard the layers and trasparency.

Bob

[Peggy_Bjarno@adobeforums.com]

I'm using Illustrator 9 (CS on order) and I get a dialog box that tells me that saving a file with transparency might give me unexpected results, but it doesn't give me the choice to change it, only to say OK, or no, don't save. I can't figure out where to go from there.

Peggy

[Bob_Levine]

We're talking Photoshop, not Illustrator.

Bob

[Peggy_Bjarno@adobeforums.com]

So Sorry! I have much the same conversation going on in a different forum for Illustrator. I have a problem regardless of where I bring my files from -- Illustrator or Photoshop, when I take them INTO PageMaker (7.5) or InDesign (CS.) I've gathered so far that it has to be a tiff, and I assign the color IN PhotoShop?

[Bob_Levine]

You can assign a color to a non-transparent grayscale TIFF in InDesign.
You can't assign a color to an EPS.

Bob

[Gernot_Hoffmann@adobeforums.com]

If nothing else helps:
Open the EPS by a text editor and replace

"g setgray" by
"r g b setrgbcolor" or
"c m y k setcmykcolor"

The numbers:
g=0..1 black to white
r,g,b=0..1 each channel from nothing to full (0..255)
c,m,y,k=0...1 each channel from nothing to full (0..100)

This simple method fails if the color is defined by
"setcolorspace"

It´s of course not so recommended to convert a vector file
into a raster file.

Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann

[mikewitherell_at_jetsetcom_dot_net]

Peggy wrote: So where in the process of creating the tif do you either designate "NO transparency" or get rid of whatever is there?

Answer: Layer > Flatten Image for simple non-layered pictures. A flattened image will label the one layer as Background (in italics). If your PSD or TIF file is in layers, having one bottom layer as the background is still a non-transparency file. IOW, if you see no checkerboarding, there is no transparency in the file.

Again, to get back to colorizing, save the file as a 1-bit (aka B&W) or 8-bit (aka grayscale) graphic in either TIF or PSD format. Place into InDesign. Click on the graphic with the Direct-Selection tool and click on a Swatch color. Ba-boom. Colorized.

Mike Witherell in Washington DC

[Peggy_Bjarno@adobeforums.com]

You make it sound so easy! I will try it tomorrow when I'm back at work. The job goes to press on Tuesday, so we shall see what I can do!
Thanks -- MANY thanks.

Peggy

[mikewitherell_at_jetsetcom_dot_net]

PS:

Interesting to me is the fact that you can save non-flattened layered files in grayscale mode in either TIF or PSD and still colorize them in InDesign ... and PageMaker 7, too!

Mike Witherell in Washington DC

[Bob_Levine]

As long as there's a background layer.

Bob