Distiller 8.1 NOT respecting eps BoundingBox

[Aandi_Inston@adobeforums.com]

Is this a change? Did earlier versions work as you expected?

Does it work if both dimensions are 72 points or more?

Aandi Inston

[Helmut_Glunder@adobeforums.com]

Distiller 8.1 (OSX 10.4.11)
When creating a pdf from an eps file using Distiller with setting e.g. "High Quality Print.joboptions" the "BoundingBox" of the eps-file is not reflected in the generated pdf.

Of course the last DSC item is always checked in the Distiller settings!

The bounding boxes are generally quite small, e.g. 0 0 31 18.

I there a way to make Distiller respect the eps-BoundingBox information?
Can the eps-file be modified to make Distiller respect it?

Any help highly appreciated!

Best

Herbie

[Helmut_Glunder@adobeforums.com]

Is this a change? Did earlier versions work as you expected?




Don't know and BTW would it help?

Does it work if both dimensions are 72 points or more?




Just tested with BoundingBox: 0 0 144 144

The bounding box is still not respected.

Thanks anyway!

[Aandi_Inston@adobeforums.com]

>Don't know and BTW would it help?

Just a normal part of diagnosing a problem.

Ok, what is the source of these files? Are they made with custom
software, or with standard pre-press applications?

Aandi Inston

[Aandi_Inston@adobeforums.com]

Also, have you ever had it work with a different job option?

Aandi Inston

[Helmut_Glunder@adobeforums.com]

Ok, what is the source of these files? Are they made with custom software,
or with standard pre-press applications?




These are eps-files from MathType 5.1 (math formula editor).

These eps-files are converted to pdf with _correct_ bounding box when using the "pstopdf" script command for conversion. (However, "pstopdf" is rather slow compared to Distiller.)

That said, I fear the problem is not with the eps-file (but I may be wrong).

Thanks!

[Helmut_Glunder@adobeforums.com]

Also, have you ever had it work with a different job option?




No, I tried several job options without success.

Thanks!

[Aandi_Inston@adobeforums.com]

Here is a minimal EPS file. You can see if it works if you copy/paste
this into an EPS.

%!PS-Adobe-3.0 EPSF-3.0
%%BoundingBox: 0 0 72 72
%%Page: 1 1
1 0 0 setrgbcolor 10 10 52 52 rectfill showpage

If any of the %% lines are missing, this will not be recognised as
EPS.


Aandi Inston

[Michael Kazlow]

Helmut,

Why not print to pdf, rather than save as eps and distilling. What type
of eps are you creating with Mathtype 5.1. You have a choice of EPS with
no preview and eps with a pict preview. If I remember correctly, the eps
with pict preview is more of a pict with eps content than an eps with
pict content. Don't ask me why I remember things that way, but I do. Try
to convert the eps without the pict preview.

Mike

[Helmut_Glunder@adobeforums.com]

%!PS-Adobe-3.0 EPSF-3.0
%%BoundingBox: 0 0 72 72
%%Page: 1 1
1 0 0 setrgbcolor 10 10 52 52 rectfill showpage

If any of the %% lines are missing, this will not be recognised as EPS.




Dear Aandi Inston,

in fact "%%Page: 1 1" was missing from the eps-files (again a flaw of MathType)!

Since I'm altering the eps-files anyway, it poses no problem to include the missing entry.
Problem solved!

thank you very much for your help.

Best

Helmut

[Helmut_Glunder@adobeforums.com]

Mike,

thank you for your interest!
Actually, your question leads to a different topic, namely MathType and InDesign CS3...

Why not print to pdf, rather than save as eps and distilling.




"OSX print to pdf" from MathType
1. produces rather _large_ pdf-files but that indeed better respect the eps bounding box
2. don't allow me to alter the eps-content and now you might like to know why I should wish to do this (see below)

What type of eps are you creating with Mathtype 5.1. You have a choice
of EPS with no preview and eps with a pict preview. If I remember correctly,
the eps with pict preview is more of a pict with eps content than an eps
with pict content.




You are right:
In fact, the MathType eps-content is very concise -- actually somewhat too concise, i.e. it is missing e.g. the "%%Page: 1 1" entry.

Don't ask me why I remember things that way, but I do. Try to convert
the eps without the pict preview.




Yes (of course), I save the eps-files without the preview.
---------------

Besides the fact that my problem has been solved by Aandi Inston, here is some background of what I'm doing:

(1) MathType doesn't include fonts with the eps-files.
Therefore, I should like to use pdf-files (that include the fonts).
This is for situations where the files are transfered to another computer that doesn't know the propper fonts.

(2) To place MathType eps-formulas in InDesign CS3 works nicely, but if you print InDesign pages with MathType eps-formulas that contain scaled fonts, e.g. those in super- or sub-scripts, then you get a postscript error concerning "makefont".
(I could trace the underlying eps-problem down to the definition "\ns {cf sf}" that is very likely responsible for this mis-behavior.)

(3) I like to use an Opentype (ps1 flavour) Symbol font (Adobe:Symbol Std Medium) in MathType that MathType doesn't display.
(Tried it for hours, even using the MathType SDK.)

(4) MathType adds some leading and trailing space to every formula that I should like to reduce (by shrinking the bounding box).

That said, you may understand better why I wish to
(1) edit the MathType eps-files and then
(2) convert them to pdf-files.

Best

Helmut

[Michael Kazlow]

Helmut,

Design Science claims to be in the process (and has for years) of
upgrading Mathtype for the Mac. They are very good about their beta
testing program (or used to be). If you contact them about your issues
you may be able to get them to fix it before the next release.

Mike

[Helmut_Glunder@adobeforums.com]

Mike,

thanks for your reply and advice!

Design Science claims to be in the process (and has for years) of upgrading
Mathtype for the Mac. They are very good about their beta testing program
(or used to be). If you contact them about your issues you may be able
to get them to fix it before the next release.




Well this is again another story and one that obviously doesn't quite fir to this forum.

Anyhow, since very many years I'm a user of MathType and till about last year I used it for formula entry to MSWord 4 and to Intellidraw. Good old and happy days, because the workflow regarding my publishing needs as a scientist were perfectly met. Things not only became different with OSX but also much more complicated, time consuming and costly.

About a year or so ago I bought the MathType update and since then I try to register the update in oder to get support. The problem is that from Germany I'm unable to reach the US-registration page and the one once available in German is brocken. Since about a year I try to communicate this problem to the "Design Science Technical Support" without success, at least until this morning. You won't believe it it seems to work now!

Besides I've posted at least 3 suggestions concerning the issues mentioned before to MathType's Suggestion Box but without any response.

I fear the MathType crew is somewhat absorbed with the problems regarding MSWord 2008. Because a stripped down version of MathType comes with MSWord I can understand that this is bread and butter business and much more important than issues with Opentype fonts and InDesign CS3 compatibility. But now that I can register I shall try to communicate the problems once more and to make some suggestions for perhaps making integration of MathType more elegant.

For the time being and thanks to Aandi Inston, I now have a good but not perfect solution based on a script-droplet that adapts the MathType eps-files and produces nice pdf files by calling Destiller. The drawback is that editing formulas is less elegant: You can't rightclick the equation in InDesign to open it in MathType for editing. Let's call all this the costs of progress.

Best

Helmut