Eps file printing high...not sure why

[jdwilliams1]

I have a 4x18 inch graphic I am trying to print and I have centered it to the art board and all looks centered and good. Then when I save it as eps and then try to print is from raster link on my large format mimaki flatbed printer it prints high on the sign so there is a small margin on the bottom of the print surface. Any thoughts on why this might be happening?

 

[John Butto]

Have you ever had this problem before or did it just occur. Is your Artboard, if you are designing in Illustrator, the same size as the piece you are printing on. Cannot you see it on your RIP as to where it will print.

 

[jdwilliams1]

Hi john....this is my first try. Was using Lexi master software. The aluminum blank is 4x18 inch and so is graphic according to illustrator. The preview in my rip software shows the image as good

 

[Fred Weiss]

When this has happened to me in the past, it has always ended up being a spurious point outside of the image area. This will happen often when the type cursor is touched to the workspace and no text is entered. Try doing a marquee select without touching the image in the area where you are getting the extra margin.

 

[John Butto]

In Illustrator it is under Select /All if you are looking for stray points as Fred suggested.

 

[jdwilliams1]

Thanks guys but I still do not see anything

I have attached the image so you can see it...I have to move the blue graphic area down a bit along with the text just so it will print correctly on my sign

 

[John Butto]

Did you use a clipping path in the artwork.

 

[bgraphics]

I would check your origin on the flatbed... could it be off? Also, when something goes wrong with an .eps or .pdf, I turn it into a HQ jpeg... that solves all problems.

 

[jfiscus]

It's not high, it's centered; you just have something below your artboard that you cannot see that is moving your piece "up". It could be anything from the software not recognizing the clipping path correctly to a stray point you never even knew you clicked.

Do a "select all" and see if anything outside of your expected selection is selected.

 

[jdwilliams1]

still no luck.

I have attached an image and i see nothing outside the box when i select all the sign blank is 4x18 and the image is 4x18

 

[John Butto]

Even if you select all and it does not show the clipping mask with the artboard, it is still there. Go to Preview/outline and then you might see it as it will print.

 

[jdwilliams1]

Even if you select all and it does not show the clipping mask with the artboard, it is still there. Go to Preview/outline and then you might see it as it will print.

Sorry this is new software to me...where would i find that? Again thanks for your time.

 

[J Hill Designs]

view -> outline

 

[jdwilliams1]

everything seems to be 4x18 inches

 

[J Hill Designs]

is all of the stuff in the border (trees, snowflakes, whatever) clipped using a clipping path?

 

[jdwilliams1]

I have to save as eps to print....tiff does no good

 

[jdwilliams1]

is all of the stuff in the border (trees, snowflakes, whatever) clipped using a clipping path?

I am not sure i can try that...any tips

 

[Fred Weiss]

Try adding these two freeware Illustrator add-ons to your Illustrator. They will help you find whatever is causing the problem.

These are freeware for Adobe Illustrator and are very useful for finding and removing invisible, unfilled paths caused by some Pathfinder commands in Illustrator.

Select is a plugin that adds a number of object selection capabilities to the Illustrator Select Menu including the ability to select unfilled paths and open paths.

WR-removeDuplicates is a Javascript that will look for overlaid paths with no fills in any selection and remove them automatically.

I usually use both for finding and removing these paths because the WR-removeDuplicates script is good but not perfect.

 

[jdwilliams1]

Try adding these two freeware Illustrator add-ons to your Illustrator. They will help you find whatever is causing the problem.

These are freeware for Adobe Illustrator and are very useful for finding and removing invisible, unfilled paths caused by some Pathfinder commands in Illustrator.

Select is a plugin that adds a number of object selection capabilities to the Illustrator Select Menu including the ability to select unfilled paths and open paths.

WR-removeDuplicates is a Javascript that will look for overlaid paths with no fills in any selection and remove them automatically.

I usually use both for finding and removing these paths because the WR-removeDuplicates script is good but not perfect.

thanks for the effort but neither one of those even open and I have no idea how to use them or what they are suppose to do after I click the link

 

[jdwilliams1]

This could take weeks to properly diagnose......why don't you just size your artboard to what you actually want to print them make sure your save/export settings are set to "artboard".

Either that or, as already mentioned, export as a tiff or jpeg.

how do i make sure the setting are set to "artboard"

 

[xxaxx]

how do i make sure the setting are set to "artboard"

When you click save as, choose type eps then right below that click the checkbox for use artboards. Then it will save 2 files one will be the full file name "FILE.eps" and the other will be "FILE-01.eps" that 01 is your artboard save. Try that out.

 

[Fred Weiss]

thanks for the effort but neither one of those even open and I have no idea how to use them or what they are suppose to do after I click the link

Both files should be unzipped. Once you have done that, copy SelectMenu.aip to your Illustrator Plugins folder and WR-removeDuplicates to your Illustrator Scripts folder. Read whatever instructions are in each zip folder. Relaunch Illustrator.

You will now find a bunch of extra choices in your Illustrator Select menu. The first one I would run would be the select stray points. You can also select all in your job workspace and run the WR-removeDuplicates from the File > Automate menu in Illustrator to see if there are any hidden paths causing your problem.

I am assuming that you understand how to unzip a file. If not, you should look it up on Google.