Editing EPS files - help?
Brian Neale
Does anyone know of a program that will edit the text embedded in EPS
files and also extract the graphics? We have some multipage eps files
provided by a client that we need to extract the text and graphics from
so that the text can be edited in a wordprocessor and the graphics
extracted for use in other documents.
I have been able to use Adobe Distiller to convert to PDF and then use
their text tool to copy and cut text, but I have to copy one page of text
at a time. I have loaded files into Illustrator, but I only seem to be
able to access one page. The client has these eps files, but doesn't
have the original source file, nor do they know what they were created
in. If anyone has any idea of a program or utility for converting these
files please let me know.
Thanks,
Brian
b...@clark.net; nea...@finnegan.com
Steve Miller
In article <MPG.f9a8ecd5...@news.clark.net>, b...@clark.net (Brian
Neale) wrote:
If it's a multipage eps file, it's probably not from an illustrator program
(you can construct multi-page docs on Freehand, but exporting as eps
requires exporting individual pages). This likely means that you've got a
postscipt export of a file from a layout application (PageMaker, Xpress, or
similar). If you're on a Mac, CaoOpener from Abbott would handle the text
extraction. I'm not sure about the graphics. It's likely you'd only get the
preview images.
Steve Miller
In article <digiplnt-ya0240800...@news.inetdirect.net>,
digi...@inetdirect.net (Steve Miller) wrote:
Sorry, my fingers got in the way. Make that CanOpener.
brendan mcdougall
>Does anyone know of a program that will edit the text embedded in EPS
>files and also extract the graphics? We have some multipage eps files
>provided by a client that we need to extract the text and graphics from
>so that the text can be edited in a wordprocessor and the graphics
>extracted for use in other documents.
>
i've used epsConverter 1.4 by ArtAge software. their URL is
http://users.aol.com/ArtAge. the version i used supported batch
processing and translates eps files into adobe illustrator format--at the
time version 5.5.
i haven't tried to work with text inside eps files, but the program does
make each graphic item within a file individually selectrable...kind of
handy when you want to edit pieces of an eps graphic.
good luck, you are working on a difficult problem on which you'll either
spend too much time or too much money.
--
brendan mcdougall
physics department
brandeis university
waltham, ma 02154
Lenny
You can also try Tailor from Enfocus.
My experience has been that if you can't get your eps graphics into an
editable format with Tailor, Distiller, or Illustrator (6.0 and 7.0 can
give different results), you're not going to.
J J M Rudgard
..... working in windows?
Postscript files can be opened in to a text editor, e.g. WORDPAD.
At the begining of the file you may discover which software was used to
originate the EPS.
e.g.
%%Creator: Adobe Illustrator
If there are minor ammendments to be made to the text, you may get away
with directly altering the file in WORDPAD. Bear in mind that changing the
size of the file may affect the display of image thumbnails and previews.
The actual image data should be fine. You may be able to tweak the size of
a file by adding or subtracting characters from comments, denoted by the
prefixed %%.
An intermediate programmer should find it relatively easy to write a short
utility to extract text from an EPS file if you are unable to find a ready
package. Mine's still in development!
Graphics. Illustrator doesn't manage multiple pages. Macromedia Freehand
and CorelDraw do. But they do not "parse" EPS files as Illustrator does,
only embed them (you can't edit). Simply export each picture from either
Freehand or Corel singularly and import them into Illustrator.
Alernatively you may be able to work around the problem if the pages have
an identifying label,
e.g.
%% Page: (1).
Again, using WORDPAD or anyother text editor, you could remove the content
between say, "%% Page:(1)" and the character preceeding "%%Page:(2)".
Renumber the page. Easy.
The approximate format of an EPS files is as follows:-
1. The comments
2. Postscript prologue
3. Resources(embeded fonts)
4. Page begin
5. Embeded images
6. Page content (text)
7. Page end
8. Trailer
I emphasise approximately. It varies. It's worth a look as there are
discernable sections to the EPS format.
Good luck.
JSN
*** If anyone has written utilities for manipulating TIFF or EPS formats
that they wish to make available, I would like to include them on a
graphics dedicated web page to be constructed. Please drop me an e...
j...@rudgard.softnet.co.uk ***
Brian Neale <b...@clark.net> wrote in article
<MPG.f9a8ecd5...@news.clark.net>...
> Does anyone know of a program that will edit the text embedded in EPS
> files and also extract the graphics? We have some multipage eps files
> provided by a client that we need to extract the text and graphics from
> so that the text can be edited in a wordprocessor and the graphics
> extracted for use in other documents.
>
Erkki Solvak
> Graphics. Illustrator doesn't manage multiple pages. Macromedia Freehand
> and CorelDraw do. But they do not "parse" EPS files as Illustrator does,
> only embed them (you can't edit).
CorelDraw 7 and 8 can "parse" EPS files. Import them as "Interpreted
Postscript".
Erkki
SCG
So does DRAW 5.
--
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Charley Newcomer
> > files and also extract the graphics? We have some multipage eps files
> > provided by a client that we need to extract the text and graphics from
> > so that the text can be edited in a wordprocessor and the graphics
> > extracted for use in other documents.
> >
> > I have been able to use Adobe Distiller to convert to PDF and then use
> > their text tool to copy and cut text, but I have to copy one page of text
> > at a time. I have loaded files into Illustrator, but I only seem to be
> > able to access one page. The client has these eps files, but doesn't
> > have the original source file, nor do they know what they were created
> > in. If anyone has any idea of a program or utility for converting these
> > files please let me know.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Brian
> > b...@clark.net; nea...@finnegan.com
TechPool Software. It can convert PS, EPS and PDF files into several
different file formats (EPS, AI3.0, WMF, TIFF, GIF, JPEG etc.).
They have evaulation copis of the software on their web site:
http://www.techpool.com
Hope this Helps