Adobe Illustrator Questions

[WVB]

Just curious to know what file formats most you save your files in ai or eps. When I was using AI9.0 eps thumbnails would show in explorer. Now that I have gone with CS2 eps files do not show thumbnails only ai will.

I noticed all files on brands of the world or any other site saves in eps formats as well. Flexi has no problems importing either one of these. When I do drag/drop, import, or open ai/eps files saved in cs2 version I have to unmask then unclick and click the black box and delete it. With AI9.0 I did not have to unmask with ai formats only eps formats. So just curious to know the differences between the preference of ai/eps formats.

 

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

Sorry- no answer here, I'm interested in the reasons too!

In Acdsee 4.0, all eps files show as thumbnails, and can be looked at, but ai files can't be seen either.

 

[Bobby H]

The only time I save Illustrator artwork in EPS format is if I intend to place it within a page layout application that may not handle native Illustrator files well, such as QuarkXpress.

Most of the time I usually save in different versions of Illustrator. Sometimes I'll save PDFs directly from Illustrator.

On the EPS thumbnail thing, I've never seen Windows Explorer show preview thumbnails as icons, or even regular thumbnail previews either. I remember previous versions of Illustrator generating thumbnail previews for .AI files though. They don't seem to do so now. All I see in Explorer is icons for the file, regardless if the view is large icons or thumbnails.

OTOH, I suspect Adobe has changed something to get more people to use the Adobe Bridge application. I use it quite a bit. It generates thumbnail previews for vector file formats like AI, EPS, PDF & WMF. It doesn't do it for CorelDRAW or Freehand files though. Just about any raster based file format will show a thumbnail, even video clips.

Bridge has a lot of features, but one thing I like is the slider that can scale the size of thumbnails up or down. It's kind of handy when you're looking through a folder of clip art images or archive files.

 

[Derf]

1) When exporting to Flexi to cut I save as AI 3x
you don't want any extras such as Encapsulated PostScript or any other code extras when cutting a simple graphic used in a vinyl cutter.

2) When exporting to RIP to print I save as a Photoshop PDF

The PDF file has the the best Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) and color management technology available to date, all in one nice package. To top it all off the PFD file gives you endless options of compression and security.

PDF Kicks Ass...

 

[WVB]

I too always save as ai format. But I think your right Bobby as version 9 would show thumbnail previews for eps formats, now with CS2 they must have changed something as they do not anymore. I have yet to have a chance to get to know Adobe's Bridge but will look into it. I found a link on here yesterday for a site that has video how to's. And one of those from the link was about Adobe Bridge. The Russell Brown Show

 

[Fred Weiss]

On some later versions of both Illustrator and Windows, a thumbnail image appears in the File Properties window.

 

[3CGraphics]

Sorry if this is a repost - I got this link from somewhere (if here again not trying to steal credit) - no affiliation - but it has a free 30 day trial and works very well
http://www.softfields.com/

thumbnail viewer for most all file types