ai vs eps

[Kyle Blue]

Can I use ai files to print from? I'm using a Mimaki JV33 printer and Onyx version 7 software. We've always printed from eps files but ai files are so much smaller. Will psd and ind files work too?

 

[J Hill Designs]

drag em in and try?

 

[WrapperX]

you can sometimes open AIs in Onyx but generally you won't get good results. Something to do with the way it reads the data. I'm not exactly sure what the specifics are.

The printer is inconsequential. It's a matter of your rip program.

 

[Fred Weiss]

You can save a fair amount of file size with EPS if you resave them without a preview.

 

[J Hill Designs]

and by fair amount he means 95% smaller if no raster data is included

 

[Fred Weiss]

and by fair amount he means 95% smaller if no raster data is included

Depends on the dimensional size of the saved vectors. The large the dimensions the larger the low resolution preview that is saved with it ... which isn't used in production for anything.

 

[Kyle Blue]

Thank you for all the input. Definitely no more previews for files and I'll stick to eps files for printing.

 

[iSign]

Personally I convert 99% of my vector graphics to RGB .tiff files before printing. I have found this to work well for me, and eliminate all potential for font issues, layer malfunctions, and almost any other import related irregularities in the minutes before printing, where a different guy is opening & sending the prints, who may not have been in the design or revision loop...

 

[daveb]

Personally I convert 99% of my vector graphics to RGB .tiff files before printing. I have found this to work well for me, and eliminate all potential for font issues, layer malfunctions, and almost any other import related irregularities in the minutes before printing, where a different guy is opening & sending the prints, who may not have been in the design or revision loop...

What he said

 

[Tim Aucoin]

Personally I convert 99% of my vector graphics to RGB .tiff files before printing. I have found this to work well for me, and eliminate all potential for font issues, layer malfunctions, and almost any other import related irregularities in the minutes before printing, where a different guy is opening & sending the prints, who may not have been in the design or revision loop...

 

[Bly]

Onyx won't print .ai files.
You'll get better quality from cmyk files in Onyx.

 

[jmcnicoll]

Converting to tiffs does work well and eliminates almost all things that could go wrong. However, you do lose some print quality level in the vector information that is in the file. I usually only convert to tiff if the rip doesn't like something in the file. Now, for most sign applications the quality level doesn't matter, but for trade show or interior work the quality does matter to us.

Jim

 

[signswi]

Use a PDF workflow, Onyx supports it pretty well. All other options have downsides. PDF/X-4 is recommended usually though I think the SWOP color space is a bit small (I calibrate my own color spaces and created my own workflow). Illustrator->PDF, InDesign->PDF, Photoshop->.tif (with embedded profile, again I use a custom color space). You could go Photoshop->PDF too but that gets a bit silly as all you're doing is encapsulating raster data in a PDF.

Downsides to an all EPS or TIFF system:
EPS - No color management, large file sizes
TIFF - Rasterizing before it hits the RIP (not ideal), large file sizes, and unless you're rasterizing at full dpi won't be as crisp as it would be maintaining vector to the RIP. Also creates production files that are hard to modify in the future, causing you extra steps for minor changes

Of course you'll need to learn PDF preflighting but that's another thread. Now if art comes to you already as an EPS, go with it, same with an image (jpg, tif, etc.). No need to convert into a PDF then unless you want to fit it into a specific preflight workflow (say if you like doing color management conversion pre-RIP).