RE: eps problems

[Dov Isaacs <isaacs@xxxxxxxxx>]

Karl,

Yes. FrameMaker officially supports import of PDF files. In the case
of FrameMaker 6, it supports PDF 1.3 (Acrobat 4.0x and earlier). In
the case of FrameMaker 7, it supports PDF 1.4 (Acrobat 5.0.x and earlier).
Internally what happens is that the PDF file is converted into EPS and
placed into the FrameMaker document. A key setting, which PostScript 
language level the PDF is converted into, is stored in the maker.ini
file under Windows (and who knows where on the Mac ... I think in a
resource somewhere; let's not go there). And of course, this PostScript
language level is defaulted to "2" which is quite wrong if you are
subsequently creating PDF or printing to a PostScript 3 device.
Gradients and some other graphics elements get munged unless you fix
the setting and restart FrameMaker.

I personally believe that there is just too much uncertainty with
this process and too much that can go wrong. I believe that the
better solution is to export/save EPS from Acrobat (fonts embedded
and TIFF preview) and THEN import the EPS via reference into
FrameMaker.

On the other hand, if you are also an InDesign user, I will tell you
that unconditionally, if given a choice and assuming you already have
a PDF file, you should import PDF over EPS when at all possible!
No funky conversions are done to possibly ruin your day (or your
document).

        - Dov




At 2/5/2003 04:27 PM, Karl Schmidtmann wrote:
>Dov:
>This raises a question. I was working on a client site where they
>standardized on PDF as the graphic format for import into FrameMaker. I had
>never run into this, and argued against it, though truthfully speaking,
>other than the fact that the guy that decided it was a good idea was a
>butthead, I don't really know any reason not to do it. 
>
>The files displayed fine, and printed fine, though the distilling was VERY
>slow.
>
>Any thoughts on this?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Karl 
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Dov Isaacs [mailto:isaacs@Adobe.COM]
>Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 4:06 PM
>To: Matt Sullivan
>Cc: framers@frameusers.com; framers@omsys.com
>Subject: RE: eps problems
>
>
>ABSOLUTELY! There are indeed drawbacks! I would strongly recommend AGAINST
>it!
>
>Officially, FrameMaker really doesn't support "native" .AI files.
>What it does recognize are PDF files. Thus, if you save your .AI file
>with the option of including PDF content and embedded fonts, FrameMaker 7
>might recognize it. If you miss either of these, you can easily get
>messed up. Also, there is no guarantee of future compatibility.
>In other words, FrameMaker 7's recognition of Illustrator 10 .AI files
>is more by accident than by plan.
>
>Better to save Illustrator artwork as EPS and import that into FrameMaker.
>The EPS workflow is standard and for purposes of FrameMaker graphic
>placement,
>is not at all lossy compared to placing .PDF or .AI.
>
>        - Dov
>
>
>At 2/5/2003 03:59 PM, Matt Sullivan wrote:
>>I'm actually surprised Dov didn't extoll the virtues of placing a native
>>Illustrator 10 .ai file into the Frame doc. It not only prints well, but
>>previews faster in Frame, eliminating the delayed scrolling effect.
>>
>>To Dov, any drawbacks to the native .ai approach?
>>
>>-Matt
>
>
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