Comments on: Preserving Vectors in Photoshop Files

By: TIFF vs PSD vs EPS vs PDF vs… | InDesignSecrets

TIFF vs PSD vs EPS vs PDF vs… | InDesignSecrets — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 23:13:21 +0000

[...] it in PDF or AI (see below). The only reason to save a Photoshop document as a PDF is if you have vector type or “shape” layers. (No other format, besides eps, can save vector info from [...]

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:36:37 +0000

Hi i am preparing a file to be printed on a Man Roland Press. However I layout the texts in Indesign, and uses photoshop to convert and touch up pics then bring them into indesign. When I finished the layout i then export all the pages separately as PDF for the CTP machine in the prepress room. Now the CTP is rejecting the PDF files. I then had to open the PDF files in Photoshop as CMYK then save it back as PDF from Photoshop. Now I know that this is not the way things should be done but the CTP didn’t have a problem it just burn the plates and then went to the Press Room. Everything printed out and it looks alright But when i look at the black texts through a magnify glass it was not pure black. Now can anyone tell me what i did wrong? I would appreciate it since i am working at a printery in Guyana.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:49:05 +0000

We use InDesign to separate our PDF files and some of the PDF files are knocking out black text. Is there anyway within InDesign to fix this. I have created an action in PitStop that does the trick but then we have to open each file to perform the action or purchase PitStop server for $$$ just to fix that one problem. Any thoughts ideas or suggestions would be great.

By: Alan

Alan — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 06:12:16 +0000

Thanks, David. I just found Ann-Marie’s post a few minutes ago. Should have thought of PDP… I have “PDP” so firmly associated with early Unix boxes that it never crossed my mind. (Old dogs. New tricks. Ah, well…)

By: David Blatner

David Blatner — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 21:04:39 +0000

Alan, check out Anne-Marie’s post here: http://indesignsecrets.com/make-edit-original-use-the-right-program.php

By: Alan

Alan — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 06:42:26 +0000

I encountered this tip a while back, and rely on it. The only frustration (applies also to TIFFs) is that it defeats the Edit Original function, to which I have become addicted. InDesign doesn’t have a way to override its (and the OS’s) default file associations, so all flavors of PDF open only in Acrobat. Not too useful. Worse: TIFFs open in whatever the default picture viewer happens to be.
So I work around it by retaining the PSD format until the design is finalized and client has blessed it, then do the conversion.
If there are too many such files (most times, there aren’t) then this would be counter-productive, but for the most part it’s been a decent compromise.

By: David Blatner

David Blatner — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 15:53:37 +0000

Great question, Liliana. InDesign understands clipping paths in EPS, PSD, and TIFF files. However, I tend to use TIFF when saving Photoshop files. Strangely, PDF files do not appear to retain the clipping paths from Photoshop properly (unless you use vector layer clipping masks, but that’s a different subject).

Whether you use TIFF or PSD, in InDesign you can use Object > Clipping Path to choose that Photoshop path. (In fact, InDesign can see all the paths that you created in Photoshop’s Paths palette, so you can choose which path to use as a clipping path if there is more than one.)

While many people still use EPS files for images with clipping paths, I shy away from that because they aren’t very flexible. (For example, it’s dangerous to put more than one clipping path in them.)

By: liliana

liliana — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 12:18:41 +0000

If you want to preserve the vector capabilities of a clipping path do yoy have to import it in In Design as a PDF or an EPS file, what happens if I import it as osd file?

By: David Blatner

David Blatner — Sun, 28 May 2006 20:15:31 +0000

I completely agree with Steve's comments about EPS. That said, I should mitigate my own comments: EPS will never really "die." It's an important file format and many people will rely on it for years. I should have said that I recommend avoiding EPS when possible but that people should go ahead and use it when they need to. For example, I do not recommend people create PDF files if there's a chance they'll end up in QuarkXPress 4 or 5. I feel slightly more comfortable importing PDF into QX7 (because of the apparently tighter integration of Quark with Global Graphic's PDF and flattening technology), but I haven't really tested it enough. So, if I'm sending a file to someone using QX, I send an EPS file. EPS also has a number of features that are completely lacking in PDF. For example, EPS can contain procedures (little programs that create effects) while PDF cannot. (That's why the PatternMaker plugin creates EPS files. They're tiny, they're efficient, and they make really cool effects. But for most cases, in an InDesign workflow... I stick with PDF most of the time.

By: Steve Werner

Steve Werner — Sun, 28 May 2006 13:51:02 +0000

Why EPS is a dying format:

(1) Designed for PostScript printers. Those without PS printers only low-res previews (except in InDesign, which can rasterize the PostScript)
(2) Doesn’t support transparency (even QX 7 now supports transparency)
(3) While raster EPS can support vectors and text, it’s one-way only. If you open a PS EPS, the vectors are rasterized
(4) The information is encapsulated so it can’t be changed. This doesn’t work well for a color managed workflow