Why do fonts saved from Illustrator appear blurry when imported into QuarkXpress

[Donna_Earl@adobeforums.com]

I have used version 9 and 10 and I have the same problem. I have created text in illustrator and coverted to outline and saved as EPS. I then import the EPS into quark (4.1) but it is not sharp. It also prints as it appears on screen.

Has anyone come across this problem please?

[Steve_Werner@adobeforums.com]

When you save an EPS file, you create a 72 ppi screen image to display on screen. An EPS file is designed for a PostScript printer (EPS = Encapsulated PostScript). If you're printing on a non-PostScript printer, all you'll print is the low-resolution preview.

Try saving a bitmapped format from Illustrator (like TIFF) at the resolution of your non-PostScript printer instead.

By the way, if you were using Adobe InDesign, it could create a high-resolution image from the EPS which would print fine from a non-PostScript printer.

[Just_A_Mac_Guy@adobeforums.com]

The blurry preview you see in Quark is due to their outdated display code. This should have been fixed ages ago and is a major pain for new users. Long time users have gotten used to it and it does not bother them... {much}

The blurry printing is most likely a non-postscript printer issue as noted.

Saving as a tiff will work in low end applications but defeats the purpose of using resolution independant vectors.

If your final desination is high end printing, stay with vectors, if you are digital printing, Tiffing it may suffice.

[Donna_Earl@adobeforums.com]

Thanks for the tips. I am indeed using a non-postscript printer. I'll email it to work where we do use a postscript environment and see how it goes. I was always used to it looking bad in quark but it usually printed OK. I have only recently been doing work from home.

Thank you.

[Scott_Falkner@adobeforums.com]

If you have Acrobat (full, not just Reader), you can made a PDF and print that. You can also try saving an EPS, opening that in Illustrator, then printing that. Sometimes a line of text decides it wants to migrate, and some dashed paths don't come through properly. You also can only save on EPS at a time, and print one page at a time, so it's a painful workaround for large documents.

[jonf@adobeforums.com]

If you want to trick Quark, you can make the Illustrator file much larger than necessary and scale it down when importing into Quark. Since the preview file is 72 ppi at the size it's created, when you reduce in size you have those same pixels but fewer inches, so a 72 ppi image reduced in Quark to 50% will view and print at about 144 ppi. Reduce it more and the ppi of the preview gets effectively higher.

It's not an optimal way of working, but if you need to have clearer on-screen views of your AI files and better non-postscript prints you can get acceptable quality this way. As long as you're not using raster data in your Illustrator files it should have no effect on Illustrator file size.

The low-resolution preview helps keep files sizes in Quark smaller, which some users prefer. But in today's world it would be nice to have the option of using higher resolution or full-resolution previews if we know our system can handle it.

[Joe_Duhamel@adobeforums.com]

I'll second that method, jonf. Increasing the size of the artwork and then reducing the image in Quark - works like a charm.

However, if your illy files reach over 2 feet in length, you might run into diffculty with file size. I was running into all sorts of errors and problems with map files (over 3 feet in length), due to the way Illy 10 generated previews. Illy 8 worked fine on the same files. I don't know if the problem was fixed in CS.

[Michael_Gianino@adobeforums.com]

Also, Quark will only scale an image down to 10%, so in the unlikely event that you want to make the Illy doc more than 1000%, you won't be able to scale it back to real size in Quark.

[Steve_Werner@adobeforums.com]

Of course, all these tedious workarounds can be left behind when you UPGRADE to InDesign. Then you can use your time more creatively ;-)