Placing / Pasting pictures in Illustrator

[Jason_De_Donno@adobeforums.com]

Hi

I have a few questions about the placing and pasting of pictures in Illustrator 11.

1. Is pasting the same as placing?

2. Is it possible to specify if I want to embedd pictures in AI, or link them? Sometimes it's useful to do, sometimes the other.

3. A blank A4 Illustrator 11 document is 390KB. This seems unusually high.

4. I prepare a JPEG in Photoshop that when saved as a file on my hard disk was 60K. When I placed it in to a blank Adobe Illustrator 11 file, the Adobe Illustrator file size increased to well over 1MB. Why is this? How can I get round this problem?

Many thanks
Jason

[Eric_Schwartz@adobeforums.com]

Jason, in my limited knowledge, here is what I can share:

1. No. Pasting uses the Windows clipboard and "placing" is essentially the same as importing.

2. Yes. When you place certain file types, you have the option to "link" them in the dialog box. Some metafile formats automatically embed and can't be linked. Use the LINKS palette for managing the imported objects and type "placing artwork" without the quotes in the online Help menu for more details.

3. I agree. Not sure why Adobe has bloated the file format when you don't have any objects to bloat! It appears the file format itself saves data whether it is needed or not.

4. JPGs are compressed. When you open a JPG in a program like Illustrator or Photoshop, they will uncompress the data. You'll see the same file size issue in Photoshop if you open a 60K JPG that was compressed.

[Harron_K._Appleman@adobeforums.com]

Jason,

Some additional info, for what it's worth:

1. Pasting and placing often yield the same end-result, but placing is preferable for a number of reasons -- e.g., you get the option to link or embed, as Eric explained, and you're presented with layer options if you're placing a PSD file. Pasting always embeds and flattens.

3. See <http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/2a7d6.htm> , in particular the section on Adobe Illustrator startup files. Note, also, that saving options, such as compression and PDF compatibility, will affect your AI file size.

=-= Harron =-=