Export as EPS or PDF ? whats the difference ?

[bannertime]

We use PDF, TIFF, and JPEG for RIP files. EPS only gets used when sending files from Flexi to Illustrator. The whole artboard/pdf issue is annoying, so sending as EPS saves a few steps and gets the job done. I don't see any reason to use EPS for production files.

Like said before, we have a master file and a RIP file. The RIP file gets deleted once the job is completed or picked up. We'll use PDF for most items, except those with lots of shadows and gradients and such, then we'll use TIFF LZW. I'll use JPEG on some things just to make it a tad faster. Mostly outdoor promo banners that have funky art. Export full size, 100dpi, RGB JPEG and it prints well enough.

 

[shoresigns]

PDF is the most versatile format, so we use it for all production files. If you're going to be in this business long-term, I'd advise you learn how PDF files work, and how to pre-press them in Acrobat. You won't likely ever have a reason to use other formats like TIFF/JPEG/EPS.

P.S. I've written a lot of tutorials on PDF files and pre-press here, if you dig through my post history.

 

[bannertime]

You won't likely ever have a reason to use other formats like TIFF/JPEG/EPS.

Eh, we're by no means pre-press experts, g7 certified, or anything like that. We've got orders that require we hit certain colors, and we'll do the whole proper color management workflow, but if I got a "cheap" banner that's got gradients and vecteezy graphics and god knows what kind of file this customer supplied logo, then that thing is getting TIFFed and not another thought about it.

 

[shoresigns]

if I got a "cheap" banner that's got gradients and vecteezy graphics and god knows what kind of file this customer supplied logo, then that thing is getting TIFFed and not another thought about it.

TIFF might save you a few seconds, but if you want to keep a consistent workflow, you can easily do the same thing with a PDF. If I was getting files like this often, I would create an Acrobat droplet to deal with them. Drag and drop any PDF file onto the droplet, and it automatically outputs a new PDF with all the artwork flattened and rasterized in your preferred format (i.e. CMYK 150ppi w/ JPEG max compression).

 

[Ardor Creative]

97% of the time I use PDF because I've designed my prints specifically to have the artboards used. I have enough clients who end work that has stray points and clipping things that when loaded as an EPS all that information goes along with it. I also use PDF's because I can keep notes and info beside the artboard and I know they won't print.

 

[Reveal1]

We’re PDF only. No problems with PDF and I’ve found more people have adobe reader than can open eps files.

With regards to file size, have you ever tried just a file - save as and saving as the same file type? For some odd reason every now and then we get huge indesign files and a save as tends to make them a lot smaller for no apparent reason.

 

[Reveal1]

Oops - sorry for phantom post. Regarding file size, you can play around with setting in PDF when saving to reduce size of embedded images. There are also preset settings such as 'High Quality Print'

 

[WYLDGFI]

When you go to PDF from Indesign and the file is a LOT smaller, have to be careful with compression in how you save the file. A lot of times you may hit screen res which would be bad. In most cases, save as the best res you can. I have a setting we use here at our shop when exporting...No downsampling, no color conversion & no compression for print ready files.

We have received files from clients that the compression makes things rezzy. Do a "save as" and copy....no compression and things look much better.

 

[Bingleardicus]

I have a Roland printer and since 2013 I've always exported as EPS , finally I've hit my max disk space and with 2tb full of files I figured I'd try to print PDF ..and it doesn't seem to have any quality differences so I may continue like this .

What format do most of you all print in ?

Most of my work as color critical as it is i prefer eps, for jobs requiring a PMS match of up to 10 colors.

I chose to do this because eps files carry CMYK values by default. Its typically more verasatile output accross many digital printers.

Also, why not back the files up or delete them?

If eps ever gave you trouble i sometimes go with the "High Quality Print Pdf" preset in Ai

 

[ikarasu]

File size has nothing to do with disc space. File size that takes 20 minutes to RIP is unacceptable! I've sent some pdf's to print and when my print tech tells me it's taking a long time to RIP I'll throw a tiff at 'em. RIPs in seconds.

Valid point, I guess it depends on what you're doing! We're a sign company... so 90% of the stuff we do is fairly non complex and quick to rip. We've done a lot of high res graphic files that were about a GB each... They ripped pretty quick, even when we had 20-30 of them. Usually we just queue them up and come back in 5-10 mins if its a huge job like that.

one thing often overlooked in a rip PC is an SSD HD - It doesnt have much storage so people throw their rip work folder on a regular HD... It slows it down soooo much. Right now our bottle neck is the GB ethernet that copies the file from the server to the SSD before onyx starts processing it..ripping is quick, the minute or two it takes for onyx to copy a few gb to its work dir is the slowest part in our process. Not that it matters if you keep your file sizes down in the first place, though.

 

[ikarasu]

We use PDF, TIFF, and JPEG for RIP files. EPS only gets used when sending files from Flexi to Illustrator. The whole artboard/pdf issue is annoying, so sending as EPS saves a few steps and gets the job done. I don't see any reason to use EPS for production files.

Like said before, we have a master file and a RIP file. The RIP file gets deleted once the job is completed or picked up. We'll use PDF for most items, except those with lots of shadows and gradients and such, then we'll use TIFF LZW. I'll use JPEG on some things just to make it a tad faster. Mostly outdoor promo banners that have funky art. Export full size, 100dpi, RGB JPEG and it prints well enough.

We have the master file, (EPS with the proof in it, as well as artwork) The rip file (Proof removed, crops / bleed / etc added) , and then the onyx-processed file which saves all the profiles used, color changes, any tiling... grommets, etc.

For $15 a month you can get unlimited backup... Storage is so cheap these days, you can buy an 8 TB HD That'll likely store years of files for $150... I'm probably the biggest data hoarder here, so I can see why people don't archive as much as me... But I can see benefit in keeping the rip file, at least for us... Theres a few times we need to go back and re-print a tiled job, all our tiling is done via onyx so without the rip file we'd be screwed.

 

[bannertime]

For $15 a month you can get unlimited backup... Storage is so cheap these days, you can buy an 8 TB HD That'll likely store years of files for $150... I'm probably the biggest data hoarder here, so I can see why people don't archive as much as me... But I can see benefit in keeping the rip file, at least for us... Theres a few times we need to go back and re-print a tiled job, all our tiling is done via onyx so without the rip file we'd be screwed.

I've been toying with the idea of using something like Sync or Tresoit for cloud storage. Which is generally about 1tb. Our current "working" harddrive is about 1tb, but that could be cut down. So we've considered adding a NAS or even a legit server, but we're not at that point yet.

As for the actual RIP file, we've tried that with Flexi and have never seen duplicate results. Are you able to save the file from Onyx and have it produce duplicate results when you bring it back in, without changing anything?

 

[ikarasu]

I use google... Their business suite is $15, and gives unlimited. It's technically only unlimited if you have 5 accounts... but I'm using a single account, and I'm at a usage you'll likely never achieve and they havent done anything... ;p it's a little known secret they give everyone unlimited on their google suite.

And yes... Thats one reason I hated flexi. Onyx will copy the .eps, .pdf or whatever to its work folder, and a settings file for each image - You can back that up... then just drop it back into the work folder and it'll save all your color adjustments, which media you used, tiling... every single setting you changed or used to print it. It's really useful, and we use it a lot..A lot of our clients need custom colors, and I'll admit I'm on the lazy side and just change the value in the rip... Works good for me!

 

[Marshallmax]

EPS used to be the go-to way for vector graphics and was pretty much designed for Adobe. I have EPS’s that print better than PDF files and the other way around as well. PDF is the way to go if you want to ensure everything transfers accurately When sending from one program to the next