Exporting Vector Graphics from PSP7
J.C. Hamlin
Paint Shop Pro 7 with the end result to send it to the printer. The
printer wants the vector information, and as it turns out there
doesn't seem to be any way of getting that information out of there:
You can see it here (reduced to 72dpi 256-color raster):
http://diablo.newmedialabs.net/dash.gif
When I save as:
.psd -> Photoshop 7.0 reads but no vector information
.eps -> can't be read by Photoshop 7.0 or Illustrator 9.0
.emf/.wmf -> loses information (shapes look wrong -- I think they are
raster!)
Is there a way to get my vector information in a file in a format I
can share with the printer? (A Save As... file format or a .psp file
format converter)?
Like CDR or DXF (or CGM, DRW, GEM, HPGL, WPG)?
I read the FAQ that says Paint Shop Pro 7 can't save, and I understand
why. I was just wondering if there was a way (any way), or a
third-party tool for converting.
Please help! Thanks in advance!
-J.C.
Dave Symes
> When I save as:
> -J.C.
Sorry I don't know any answer to that one, but it's a shame PSP can't save
out its Vectors as SVG.
But my real reason for writing is to ask a question.
PSP in most respects, is without question a wonderful app, but as as far as
Vector graphics go, it's a rather crude toolkit. So why are people using
it for serious Vector graphics work, when there are better, dedicated
Vector apps out there?
DrawPlus just to name one...
Cheers
Dave S
--
Kris Zaklika
>
> I just spent about 100 hours creating some nice vector graphics in
> Paint Shop Pro 7 with the end result to send it to the printer.
I assume the "printer" you are referring to is a commercial
printing house and not a printing device. In that case, it
is not clear to me why the printer wants vector data. Vector
data is not necessary for printing. Indeed it has to be
rasterized prior to color separation, halftoning and printing.
The only idea that I can come up with is that you are farming
out some image compositing to the printer and he or she wants
a scalable format so the image can be composed without any
degradation caused by resampling. My opinion is that you will
make far more progress solving the conundrum of your printer's
request than in what I believe will be a futile search for
ways to save vector data from PSP other than those supported
by PSP.
> The
> printer wants the vector information, and as it turns out there
> doesn't seem to be any way of getting that information out of there:
>
> You can see it here (reduced to 72dpi 256-color raster):
> http://diablo.newmedialabs.net/dash.gif
>
> When I save as:
>
> .psd -> Photoshop 7.0 reads but no vector information
>
> .eps -> can't be read by Photoshop 7.0 or Illustrator 9.0
>
> .emf/.wmf -> loses information (shapes look wrong -- I think they are
> raster!)
>
> Is there a way to get my vector information in a file in a format I
> can share with the printer? (A Save As... file format or a .psp file
> format converter)?
> Like CDR or DXF (or CGM, DRW, GEM, HPGL, WPG)?
>
> I read the FAQ that says Paint Shop Pro 7 can't save, and I understand
> why. I was just wondering if there was a way (any way), or a
> third-party tool for converting.
>
> Please help! Thanks in advance!
>
> -J.C.
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Kris Zaklika Jasc Software, Inc. The
Product Ideas: id...@jasc.com Power
Customer Service: customer...@jasc.com To
Technical Support: tec...@jasc.com Create
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Matti Vuori
> I assume the "printer" you are referring to is a commercial
> printing house and not a printing device. In that case, it
> is not clear to me why the printer wants vector data. Vector
> data is not necessary for printing.
What is "necessary" is a very relative thing in this world. With today's
offset printing technology raster graphics is a very bad idea especially
for composite images (like text + complex graphical objects), as the text
should be rendered at least at 600 ppi, preferably more. If the image is 24
bits, people would be creating 80 MB files for information that can be
included in a 100 kB EPS metafile, making email or FTP deliveries
impossible, very slow ripping times, and requiring a much faster PC. But of
course the 80 MB file cannot be printed with any more lpi than an 300 ppi,
20 MB file. So, vector graphics really are a necessity quite often, when
good quality text is small sizes (less than 12 pt) is required.
> Indeed it has to be
> rasterized prior to color separation, halftoning and printing.
> The only idea that I can come up with is that you are farming
> out some image compositing to the printer and he or she wants
> a scalable format so the image can be composed without any
> degradation caused by resampling.
Perhaps you should think again.
--
Matti Vuori, <http://sivut.koti.soon.fi/mvuori/index-e.htm>
Chris Laarman
news:bj7ejukt38snkkbsb...@4ax.com...
> On 18 Jul 2002 12:42:55 -0700, j...@citilink.com (J.C. Hamlin) wrote:
>
> >Is there a way to get my vector information in a file in a format I
> >can share with the printer? (A Save As... file format or a .psp file
> >format converter)?
>
> "Save As" dialog box click the options button and check "Save bitmap
> and vector data."
How about PostScript (.EPS)? :-)
--
Chris Laarman
(Amsterdam, NL)
Kris Zaklika
In PSP the output to EPS is rasterized.
> --
> Chris Laarman
> (Amsterdam, NL)
--
Uni
A very good point.
Uni
Kris Zaklika
>
> Kris Zaklika <kzak...@jasc.com> wrote in news:3D371F1C...@jasc.com:
> > I assume the "printer" you are referring to is a commercial
> > printing house and not a printing device. In that case, it
> > is not clear to me why the printer wants vector data. Vector
> > data is not necessary for printing.
>
> What is "necessary" is a very relative thing in this world. With today's
> offset printing technology raster graphics is a very bad idea especially
> for composite images (like text + complex graphical objects), as the text
> should be rendered at least at 600 ppi, preferably more. If the image is 24
> bits, people would be creating 80 MB files for information that can be
> included in a 100 kB EPS metafile, making email or FTP deliveries
> impossible, very slow ripping times, and requiring a much faster PC. But of
> course the 80 MB file cannot be printed with any more lpi than an 300 ppi,
> 20 MB file. So, vector graphics really are a necessity quite often, when
> good quality text is small sizes (less than 12 pt) is required.
You haven't established necessity, only desirability.
Put yourself in this guy's shoes. He has a graphic he
has put a lot of effort into. He can't save it in a
format that (a) retains all PSP vector information and
(b) can be read by his printer's Adobe software. Saying
he needs vectors for small text (of which he has little
if any in his image depending on how you define "small")
solves no problem.
> > Indeed it has to be
> > rasterized prior to color separation, halftoning and printing.
> > The only idea that I can come up with is that you are farming
> > out some image compositing to the printer and he or she wants
> > a scalable format so the image can be composed without any
> > degradation caused by resampling.
>
> Perhaps you should think again.
I did. Perhaps you can solve this guy's problem.
> --
> Matti Vuori, <http://sivut.koti.soon.fi/mvuori/index-e.htm>
--
J.C. Hamlin
Ignorance I guess? I already have PSP 7 and I'm sort of familiar with
it since I've been using it for awhile. But I'm not an artist by any
means, and I actually very rarely use any graphics tools -- I'm a
consultant and I spend most of my time programming and managing
projects and a consulting company.
I found raster images of most of what I wanted and traced around them
-- I can trace (can't anyone)? PSP 7 really gave me about everything I
wanted for a vector program (could have used 2, 4, and 8-way mirroring
to keep node positions in sync but I did pretty well with copy, flip,
copy, paste). I thought since I could export into eps or psd I could
get the vector information out of there. Guess what? *EVERYTHING* PSP
7 saves as is raster except the PSP file format and the proprietary
shape library export of a vector selection. Yeah, it is too bad it
can't export in SVG or something -- too bad JASC wrote a whole new
tool (WebDraw) instead of enhancing PSP's vector ability. I hope in
the next version of PSP they include the feature.
Until then I've thought of a couple of alternatives:
A) provide the printer with 600dpi raster and live with the quality.
All of the images fit in a 7/16" bounding box, so that would give
about 262x262 pixels of image quailty for each icon. Probably enough
detail. The file will be 15600x3000 pixels (46.8 million pixels).
B) export all the PSP files as 1200dpi raster and re-trace them in
Illustrator (of course, I'd have to learn another tool, or pay someone
else to do it -- any need to exchange time for money?).
C) find a PSP -> (other vector format) conversion tool
D) find a tool that does an exceptional job of converting raster
images into vector (like outline tracers). I've seen a few, but don't
know how any of them would work well. I used Photoshops path trace
tool, and it did okay (some deviations up to 2-3px), but not the same
quality I produced when I made them.
E) use the published PSP 7 file format specification document and
write my own converter. ;-) (probably too much work but it's what I'm
best at). Unfortunately the spec doesn't really say how the vector
information is stored... at least not exactly.
Thanks again! I'll keep checking back here for updates.
-J.C.
J.C. Hamlin
PSP will export vector paths in WMF format, but they will all be
tangental line segments (WMF doesn't support curves). As well, it is
resolution dependent. The higher number of pixels you have in your
image, the higher resolution the WMF will be (more line segments).
These look really bad.
PSP will also export vector paths in EMF format. Simple objects (i.e.
any object with a single closed path) will be exported and imported
without loss of data. Any complex objects -- multiple paths,
hollowed-out objects (like the letters "O" and "g") will be converted
to tangental paths and look pretty bad.
You can dramatically reduce your WMF/EMF file size by deleting the
raster background layer. It will then just save the path information
to a very small EMF file.
Adobe Illustrator can't import these EMF files! ;-( (PSP must have
written a bad format or something, Word can open them though... I've
heard AI's support for WMF/EMF is pretty poor anyway).
So, here's what I did:
1) In PSP< scale the images to very high resolution (like 2400dpi)
2) save as a tif
3) trace to an ai file using Adobe Streamline 4.0
4) open with Adobe Illustrator 9.0 or XaraX and enjoy!
Adobe Streamline 4.0 is actually a very nice trace program, and does
an excellent job of tracing. My shapes were very accurate, and almost
the same number and placement of control points as my hand drawn
vector shapes! Of course, my vector objects were basic font-like
outline shapes, so your results may vary.
My many thanks go ouy to Jessica Slater [jester...@virgin.net] for
all her help figuring this out and doing the conversion work!
Good luck everyone! And enjoy!
-J.C.
Uni <plg...@usa.net> wrote in message news:<3D37301E...@usa.net>...