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Working with other files & applications
While all design and printing can be done within Illustrator, in many situations designers
create files from Illustrator for placement in another application, or place components into
Illustrator. This section details how to best save and input EPS files, manage linked files, and
understand the ins and outs of working with other applications, specifically Adobe InDesign,
Adobe Photoshop, and QuarkXPress™.
Creating EPS files
Illustrator CS offers three different ways to create EPS files for placement in other applica-
tions.
Save As: As with previous versions of Illustrator, you can save an Illustrator EPS file by
Best Practice:
You should always
choosing File > Save As. This option saves to Illustrator CS EPS format, the only version of
place Illustrator
EPS that preserves text using the new text engine.
artwork as native
Illustrator CS format
or PDF 1.4 or 1.5, if
Export: Other file formats are available for output using File > Export." Saving to earlier
possible, to retain
versions of EPS can be done from File > Export by selecting Illustrator Legacy EPS. Since
live artwork and
editability. Both Adobe
earlier versions used the older text engine, saving to Illustrator Legacy EPS will likely cause
InDesign and Adobe
text reflow if Preserve Text Editability is chosen as the Export option. You also have the
Photoshop place
native Illustrator files.
option to Preserve Text Appearance which retains the appearance of the text both on screen
and in print, and will not cause text to reflow. For details, see "New Adobe Text Engine."
Live transparency is preserved in the Illustrator 9 or 10 EPS formats for later editing in
Illustrator. These EPS files are considered flattened if placed into page layout applications. If
you save as Illustrator 8 or earlier, text will be converted to outlines, spot colors will be con-
verted to process, and transparency will be discarded or flattened. You are given the choice
to Preserve Paths, which discards transparency, or Preserve Appearances and Overprints,
which flattens transparency in the artwork. Illustrator CS uses the currently selected flatten-
ing preset to determine what settings to use for flattening.
Using EPS files from other applications
It is generally better to link images rather than to embed them, especially when updates may
need to be made later. Illustrator CS does not require that you embed images. Rather, linked
images retain spot colors and can interact with transparency as described earlier.
Embedded EPS: You can embed EPS artwork into an Illustrator document by using the
Open command, the Place command (which can also link the file), the Paste command, or
the drag-and-drop feature. Keep the following points in mind when embedding EPS artwork.
•
When you open or embed an EPS file, Illustrator converts all objects to native Illustrator
objects. If the file contains data that Illustrator doesn't recognize, some loss of data may
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