I apologize if this has been answered already, I did a search and didn't find it. I read somewhere that "Upcoming v0.47 has an improved exporter to EPS." I am wondering if this means that gradients created in Inkscape will no longer create bitmaps when the .eps is opened in Adobe Illustrator 8? I understand that currently, vectors created in Inkscape which include gradients will have bitmap elements when opened in AI 8 which makes them unusable for stock sites. I don't really want to buy Illustrator just to be able to use gradients, so it would be great if the new version provides this compatibility.

Thanks

I don't use AI so I don't know exactly but I know that eps doesn't support transparency, so objects that aren't opaque will be rasterized.

If I create an eps with opaque gradients using Inkscape and open that eps in Inkscape I get bitmaps of objects with gradients. This still doesn't have to mean that you'll get bitmaps if you open it in AI. Here is a very very useful thread to get a better understanding of how eps works and where problems between applications occur: http://coreldraw.com/forums/p/6641/24540.aspx (try using AI filter when importing the eps file.)

If you need the file to be opened in AI why not save it as AI? It would probably be a much better option than to use eps, since apparently eps isn't a format intended to be editable.

I am wanting to make vectors to submit to stock websites, so I am limited to their policies as far as what format things have to be uploaded in. Specifically I need to upload vectors as .eps and have it not rasterize anything when opened in Illustrator 8, which is still the industry standard for some reason. I was aware that transparency would rasterize whether I used Inkscape or a newer version of Illustrator, but Illustrator 8 does support gradients--it's just that saving as eps in Inkscape specifically causes some problem. It can be circumvented by saving the Inkscape vector as .svg, opening this in Illustrator, and then resaving as .eps--however, this still requires having Illustrator. I'm not keen on dropping 600$ on a program that does the same thing as Inkscape just to get gradients to work, if that's the only choice then I guess I won't be using gradients. But I had hoped that the new version's supposed improvements in export to .eps might solve the problem for me. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Here's some more info that can help, report back with what you find https://answers.launchpad.net/inkscape/+question/51217

Stonefury wrote:Specifically I need to upload vectors as .eps and have it not rasterize anything when opened in Illustrator 8... I was aware that transparency would rasterize whether I used Inkscape or a newer version of Illustrator, but Illustrator 8 does support gradients--it's just that saving as eps in Inkscape specifically causes some problem.

Your weakest link here isn't Inkscape or Illustrator, it's EPS. EPS is simply not a suitable format for preserving vector information. Even Illustrator will rasterise many elements of a drawing when saving as an EPS. If you don't want any rasterisation you have to adopt a different format. If you can't adopt a different format then you must live with rasterisation--changing tools won't make a difference.

Unfortunately I have to both retain eps format and avoid rasterization, whether this is a sensible policy or not is something the stock sites should reconsider I guess. I will look into the pdf to eps conversion though, and I'll let you know if that works any better.

To clarify further, the EPS format does not support many features of more modern vector formats. For example, it can't describe transparency. So your editor either has to remove the transparent object completely, or convert them to a bitmap. It's accepted that an EPS will mix vector and raster information in an effort to preserver details from the original format--I don't think any professional service expects an EPS that is pure vector, only very simple logos and clipart could be achieved with that limitation.

Unfortunately that is exactly what they require if you want to submit as a vector rather than jpeg. I understand the need to avoid using transparency and I'm fine with that, but I know that gradients are possible in AI8 compatible eps format because you can do it with Illustrator.

PDF to EPS conversion seems to take me to the next step, but there are problems there too. Saving from Inkscape as PDF produces a vector that looks good and isn't rasterized. However, using a couple different PDF to EPS conversion methods I found that one (converted with Verydoc PDF2Vector) looked good but would not open in AI8, and the other (converted with Imagemagick) would open in AI8 but its gradients were sliced up with thin spaces between the strips of the gradient. I understand that saving as PDF avoids rasterization by converting the gradient into discrete strips, but somehow after conversion to EPS they show these thin gaps between them. I'm not sure if it is a problem with the EPS or just a quirk when displaying it, so it may or may not be a real problem. There was an error message during conversion that said the PDF had errors in it ("too many Q's", whatever that means).

I also found that saving as PS rather than EPS and then converting to EPS produced a result that looked pretty good and opened in IA8--but the file size went from a few kB to 12MB, for a very simple test file with a single gradient.

So I still haven't found an ideal solution. It seems like it should be possible.

Stonefury wrote:Unfortunately that is exactly what they require if you want to submit as a vector rather than jpeg.

I think you've missed my point that an EPS can be either vector or bitmap or both at the same time.

Stonefury wrote:but the file size went from a few kB to 12MB

That's a good sign that your image was rasterised when saving a PS.

I haven't had any problems uploading eps gradients from inkscape to microstock, the only problems I've ever had was with transparencies. Eps will rasterize transparencies. I did have a random problem with a symbol button where inkscape just would not save a gradient on the 'line' and a ifferent gradient on the 'fill', but that was a one off. Also some of the microstock sites accept newer versions of ai & eps formats which do support all effects, much better that ai8 eps.

So, is there a simple how to export an inkscape svg to eps and to avoid in order to produce an AI8 (microstock) compatible eps?

Thanks in advance,
Mike

Has there been any progress on this issue?

I too would like to submit EPS files to the microstock sites but currently can only sell jpeg versions due to the loss of transparencies and blur effects of which i use quite heavily in my illustrations.

Since the transparency and blur effects have to be rasterised, there's not a lot of advantages to having the vector portions anymore anyway--it's no longer a resolution independent image if some portions of it pixelate when you increase the size. So I don't think it hurts to rasterise the entire image.

I would lean on your microstock sites to support SVG.

Was eps only for print to postscript 4 color? For InDesign or Quark? What about Giff for online art and gradients? I thought Jpeg and eps had trouble with white boxes, thinking a way back here.