exporting from mac to PC

[billposters]

I have used Freehand on Mac for years, but have always had difficulty in
getting a file exported to somebody who only uses a PC and Microsoft Word as
many clients do. They can't read an eps or place a JPEG or resize a PDF. It's
essential this file I'm trying to export to the PC user retains all its detail,
colour etc as they will be printing from it when they have placed it in their
file - if they ever get that far! They will need to resize it in their file. I
have never found the answer and find Freehand Help no help either. I am still
on F'hand 8 and on Mac OS9.2. Thanks!

[David Plank]

You MUST use filename extensions when giving a file to a PC user.
(filename.eps, filename.jpg, etc.

EPS files have a preview for on screen viewing. FH Mac files have
a Mac preview (Illustrator will let you select the preview image
type). A PC user may just see a reference rectangle on their
screen but the image will print to a Postscript printer.

You can use a JPEG or BMP image but the file size will be larger
and the image may not be as sharp.

dp

billposters wrote:

> I have used Freehand on Mac for years, but have always had difficulty in
> getting a file exported to somebody who only uses a PC and Microsoft Word as
> many clients do. They can't read an eps or place a JPEG or resize a PDF. It's
> essential this file I'm trying to export to the PC user retains all its detail,
> colour etc as they will be printing from it when they have placed it in their
> file - if they ever get that far! They will need to resize it in their file. I
> have never found the answer and find Freehand Help no help either. I am still
> on F'hand 8 and on Mac OS9.2. Thanks!
>

[billposters]

Thank you dp. I do always save a file with filename.eps etc, but my PC user
clients still can't get the file into their Word document (insert: picture:
from file). Also they do not have a postscript printer, just a common old
bubblejet. Still stuck - any further hints?

[Danny Whitehead]

The short answer is that you will never satisfy *all* your criteria if
your client only has 'office' software and hardware, not your
professional graphics equipment.

There are a few formats in which you can supply artwork so your client
can use it, but it depends on what the artwork is and how they want to
use it. For instance, if they want to print documents, unchanged, to
their office printer, PDF (created using Acrobat Distiller) would be the
way to go. If it's a logo they want to incorporate into their own
attempts at artwork, a high-res JPEG, GIF or TIFF, or maybe MS's limited
vector format, WMF (which you'd need to bring your art into Illustrator
to produce).

EPS is Encapsulated Postscript, so it's of no use to your non-Postscript
client.

--


Danny

[billposters]

Thanks, I'll try with the JPEG as my client needs to resize etc on his own
documents (yes, it's a logo), but it's a shame it loses its lovely freehand
crispness...the hassles of dealing cross platform.

[Danny Whitehead]

billposters wrote:

> Thanks, I'll try with the JPEG as my client needs to resize etc on his own
> documents (yes, it's a logo), but it's a shame it loses its lovely freehand
> crispness...the hassles of dealing cross platform.
>

That'll probably be your best bet - export/copy special as EPS, open
in Photoshop at 600 or so PPI, and save as a maximum quality JPEG.

It's not really cross-platform that's the problem, but cross-environment
(graphics/office). Professional graphics software and Postscript
printers are available for Windows too, but most offices can't justify
their expense.

--


Danny

[billposters]

Thanks danny - I'll do that.

[James E. Talmage]

Billposters,

> They can't read an eps or place a JPEG or resize a PDF.

Why can't they insert a JPEG?

> I'll try with the JPEG as my client needs to resize etc on his own
> documents (yes, it's a logo),

You do realize, don't you , that JPEG is a compressed raster format, not
vector?

Since your recipient wants to print to non-PostScript printers, EPS is
out--and frankly, scaleable resolution-independent vector art is out. (Meta
formats can contain vectors, but their accuracy is limited and problematic.)
This is the eternal problem with Office apps. There is no robust vector
format which they support. (I have long wondered why PDF or single-frame SWF
could not be used as a format for vector spot graphics. If Microsoft's web
browser can display an SWF on a web page, why can't they write a similar
capability for Word?)

That, in a nutshell, is the reason why Adobe went with PNG as the format for
AI's Save For Microsoft Office feature. PNG is a lossless raster format. It
allows full color (unlike GIF) and 8-bit transparency. (In my goofing
around, JPEGs with alpha from FH don't work when displayed in Office apps.)

The measure of "success" is satisfaction among your Office-using recipients.
Mine seem to be blissfully happy when I give them three judiciously-sized
(which I actually name "sml", "med", & "lrg") PNGs. Each is saved at 288 ppi
(giving them some fudge-room for reasonable on-page scaling). The resulting
images look good on screen and when printed to office printers. They are
"transparent", so they can use them on top of other page elements without
the white bounding box. The "transpancy" is actually 8-bit, so it can be
graduated, and the graphic can contain opaque white areas yet still be
transparent in the non-image areas.

When Adobe did AI's Save For Microsoft Office feature, they reluctantly
opted out on making it default to using alpha transparency because of a bug
in Office apps which they had no control over. As a result, I don't use AI's
Save For Microsoft Offiice command, but instead use the Save For Web
command. This is just as convenient, and lets me turn on the alpha
transparency. I have not yet encountered a problem of the recipient not
being able to use the files, or with the transparency aspect failing to
work.

I don't remember if FH8 exports PNG with alpha (kinda doubt it). If not,
copy/paste the art into Photoshop, letting it rasterize to 300 ppi or so.
Use Photoshop's Save For Web feature.

To do it from FHMX:

1. Make 3 copies of the logo at three convenient sizes (example: 2" wide, 4"
wide, 6" wide).

2. Select the small one.

3. File>Export. Type:PNG. Selected Object Only.

4. Click the Setup button.

5. Resolution 300. (Or thereabouts. I typically use 288, figuring this is 4
times screen res. But actually, I'm not sure if this is impacted by
Windows's lower 96 ppi default. Gotta figure that out one of these days).
Turn on the Include Alpha Channel checkbox.

6. Click More.

7. Select 32-Bit With Alpha.

8. OK out of all the dialogs. Save the file as "LogoSml.png" (always include
the file extensions for Windows users). Repeat the process for the other two
sizes.

9. Forevermore receive accolades and attaboys from your hippy-happy office
users.

10. Tell yourself to ignore the fact that you have not given your recipient
vector art, and accept the fact that they ARE going to perform some degree
of on-page transformation of the raster PNGs. Just live with it. If it makes
you feel better, supply them a text file admonishing them to--for best
results, use the size image (sml, med, lrg) closest to the desired final
size, and do not scale "excessively."

JET