Printer says my Illustrator file is not vector

[Jocelyn_Warchol@adobeforums.com]

I developed a file in Illustrator 10 (Mac OSX) and then saved as an EPS. The printer called and said that the file appears to be vector at first but that it's really a bitmap. It appears to be vector to me when I play with it. Does anyone know what could be causing this? Is there a way to post the file so that one of you experts can check it out? I have no idea where to go from here or how to fix it.

Thank you in advance for any advice/help.
Jocelyn

[Larry_Grohman@adobeforums.com]

If the file you have is indeed vector. (Choose view>outline and if you see
paths, it is probably vector) then something happened to it in transit.
Perhaps the printer opened it in Photoshop or in some other way rastered it.
You could send me the file if you like.

Larry

[Jocelyn_Warchol@adobeforums.com]

Now, there is a middle man involved which always complicates things but from what I understand, they opened it in Illustrator so it shouldn't have rasterized. My next step is to send the file in native format and see what happens... I can't comprehend how something could 'masquerade' as a vector which is how they put it.

Thanks for the speedy response!

Jocelyn

[John_Kallios@adobeforums.com]

Are you backsaving the eps file?

[Jocelyn_Warchol@adobeforums.com]

OK... I'm really new to Illustrator so I don't even know what that means. Sorry. Can you fill me in?

Jocelyn

[Scott_Weichert@adobeforums.com]

fyou are using a great many transparecy features then simply saving as an eps, the file is going to flatten and can easily become full of raster elements. If all yoru elements use transparency then it certainly can look like a completely raster file.

[Gary_Newman@adobeforums.com]

If your file contains any transparency attributes, and your "middle man" oepns it in AI 10 and then resaves it in Illustrator 8 format, it will become largely rasterized.