In this post it is announced about the new Inkscape version 0.46 that:

It can also import EPS, PostScript, and most bitmap formats

I downloaded the new version (Windows), but until now I did not succeed to import an EPS file.
I did (amongst others) the following:

I made a simple SVG file, with some shapes, some lines of text and an imported bitmap.
I saved it in EPS format. This was already possible in version 0.45.
I tested the EPS file by opening it in Adobe Photoshop Elements Editor. This converts the file to bitmap format, but the result is as it should be.
Than I tried to open it in Inkscape, hoping to get back the original picture in vector forrmat.
But EPS is not in the list of posible formats, and if I choose all files, and than click the eps file I get an error message: loading file .... did not succeed.
( in Dutch: "Het lukte niet om het bestand C:\Documenten Wobien\Mijn afbeeldingen\inkscape\test.eps te laden")

Am I missing something?

Of cource reconverting back to SVG a file I first converted from SVG to EPS is not very usefull, my goal is to import EPS files I recieved in the past, so that I can modify them.

Thanks for any help,

Wobien

I can confirm that it doesn't work for me either on Windows.

Checking the release notes the only mention of EPS support was in this statement related to the Save dialog:

Save dialogs have been modified to clarify that they Save as SVG, so people using Inkscape to edit PDF, EPS, and other file formats will be less confused at the default behavior when saving files.

Other than that the only mention of EPS support is the Google Summer of Code project to include the support. So I don't know if it's an oversight or a bug - perhaps it's a Windows only issue. Check the Launchpad site (I would do this myself but I can't access it).

As a work around, I found http://convert.neevia.com/ which is an online PDF converter which can convert an EPS to PDF. You can then edit the PDF in Inkscape.

I think that for EPS import to work in Inkscape you need pstoedit, including the shareware SVG plug-in.

On the other hand, UniConvertor claims to do EPS to SVG conversion, so you may be to use that instead. But you would then need to edit the file eps_input.inx (in your Inkscape share\extensions directory), since it's set up to use pstoedit.

In order to import .eps files you would need pstoedit and skencil, however I think skencil only works on Linux.

On windows I found that for most eps files you would need
1. ghostscript 8.61 is the current version for windows,
2. gsview This the graphic interface for ghostscript

3. And with the additon of pstoedit (this is the part that does the conversion of eps files) I do not use the shareware plugins.

I can open most eps files and convert them to .pdf and then open in inkscape and save as .svg (I have yet a reason to convert to .eps again after making changes I just saved as .pdf)

Thanks to you all for your prompt replies.
microUgly, your tip about convert.neevia.com was the first I tried, and it worked perfectly.

Wobien

Neevia works great. Thanks!

microUgly wrote:As a work around, I found http://convert.neevia.com/ which is an online PDF converter which can convert an EPS to PDF. You can then edit the PDF in Inkscape.

Thank you! This worked.

Just as a side note the current development builds import eps file just fine as long as you have ghostscript installed and in the environment path. See Bug #305594:

Hello everyone.

All you need to do is rename the .eps file to .pdf, and the conversion is done.

I used gsview (link is in an earlier post).

Open the file with gsview.
Under File -> Convert... , use the 'pdfwrite' "Device" and save with the .pdf extension.

I could then import the new pdf to inkscape.

Thank you MicroUgly, that link to http://convert.neevia.com/ worked for 2 out of the 3 EPS files I needed to use.

Thanks!
Mike

capnhud wrote:In order to import .eps files you would need pstoedit and skencil, however I think skencil only works on Linux.

On windows I found that for most eps files you would need
1. ghostscript 8.61 is the current version for windows,
2. gsview This the graphic interface for ghostscript

3. And with the additon of pstoedit (this is the part that does the conversion of eps files) I do not use the shareware plugins.

I can open most eps files and convert them to .pdf and then open in inkscape and save as .svg (I have yet a reason to convert to .eps again after making changes I just saved as .pdf)

How do I shot web?

Dammit why does Ghostview hafto be soooo troublesum!

How do I use this pstoedit?

I wanto to install 1 program and then convert eps/ep to pdf! Why does it hafto be so hard! Dammit you all programmers can you do this extension PLS
>_<

grrr wrote:

capnhud wrote:In order to import .eps files you would need pstoedit and skencil, however I think skencil only works on Linux.

On windows I found that for most eps files you would need
1. ghostscript 8.61 is the current version for windows,
2. gsview This the graphic interface for ghostscript

3. And with the additon of pstoedit (this is the part that does the conversion of eps files) I do not use the shareware plugins.

I can open most eps files and convert them to .pdf and then open in inkscape and save as .svg (I have yet a reason to convert to .eps again after making changes I just saved as .pdf)

How do I shot web?

Dammit why does Ghostview hafto be soooo troublesum!

How do I use this pstoedit?

I wanto to install 1 program and then convert eps/ep to pdf! Why does it hafto be so hard! Dammit you all programmers can you do this extension PLS
>_<

Me again...
I followed the instructions a little bit better and found in ghostview how to convert to vector ... but still Inskscape... get eps ps import into the next version PLS PLS PLS YOUR GREAT PLS YOUR GREATNESS HELP US WHO LOVE YOUR PROGRAM!

Mac OS X has a neat feature that lets anyone create a PDF from any file using the print command. HOWEVER, when I try to import the PDF into Inkscape, none of the colors are right. Everything has a green tint, even though there's no green in the original file. Help! I have a mountain of Canvas files that need to be updated, and need some reliable way of getting from Canvas to Inkscape.

BTW: Would somebody get the latest release compiled for Tiger?

Tim

@Tim - please read the follow-up comments in the bug report (posting this here as you didn't subscribe in the LP bug tracker to get e-mail updates about that report ;-)

Inkscape's PS and EPS import now uses Ghostscript instead of pstoedit. If you need to open files of these types, install Ghostscript and make sure the directory with the ps2pdf utility from Ghostscript installation is in your PATH. On importing a file, you will see a preferences dialog, similar to PDF import; for multipage PS files, this dialog allows you to select which page to open.

It works only when you put both links; "bin"and "lib" from Ghostscript in : exc. C:\Program Files\gs\gs8.70\lib;C:\Program Files\gs\gs8.70\bin
Start -> Control Panel -> System -> Advanced; Click on Environment Variables, under System Variables, find PATH (or make it in the new..), and click on it. In the Edit windows

Now it works..

Followed those instructions. Checked and rechecked three times. Still won't import or open an .eps.

Any ideas? Thanks!

rbissett wrote:Still won't import or open an .eps.

Any ideas? Thanks!

How does it fail? Does the EPS open option not work, or is it not there at all? If it's not there at all, what does extension-errors.log say about it?

Also, what operating system are you using?

"How does it fail?"

Error message: Failed to load the requested file....XP

Here's the log...

Extension "AI 8.0 Output" failed to load because a dependency was not met.
Dependency:
type: executable
location: path
string: gs

Extension "Corel DRAW Input" failed to load because a dependency was not met.
Dependency:
type: executable
location: path
string: uniconv

Extension "Dia Input" failed to load because a dependency was not met.
Dependency:
type: executable
location: path
string: dia
description: In order to import Dia files, Dia itself must be installed. You can get Dia at http://live.gnome.org/Dia

Extension "DXF Input" failed to load because a dependency was not met.
Dependency:
type: executable
location: path
string: dxf2svg
description: dxf2svg may come with Inkscape, but is also at http://dxf-svg-convert.sourceforge.net/

Extension "DXF Output" failed to load because a dependency was not met.
Dependency:
type: executable
location: path
string: pstoedit
description: pstoedit must be installed to run; see http://www.pstoedit.net/pstoedit

Extension "EPSI Output" failed to load because a dependency was not met.
Dependency:
type: executable
location: path
string: ps2epsi

Extension "EPS Input" failed to load because a dependency was not met.
Dependency:
type: executable
location: path
string: pstoedit

Extension "LaTeX formula" failed to load because a dependency was not met.
Dependency:
type: executable
location: path
string: latex

Extension "LaTeX formula" failed to load because a dependency was not met.
Dependency:
type: executable
location: path
string: dvips

Extension "LaTeX formula" failed to load because a dependency was not met.
Dependency:
type: executable
location: path
string: pstoedit

Extension "XFIG Input" failed to load because a dependency was not met.
Dependency:
type: executable
location: path
string: fig2dev

Extension "GIMP XCF" failed to load because a dependency was not met.
Dependency:
type: executable
location: path
string: gimp

Extension "Text Outline Input" failed to load because a dependency was not met.
Dependency:
type: executable
location: path
string: perl

Extension "Postscript Input" failed to load because a dependency was not met.
Dependency:
type: executable
location: path
string: pstoedit

Extension "Random Point" failed to load because a dependency was not met.
Dependency:
type: plugin
location: path
string: randompnt

Extension "Random Position" failed to load because a dependency was not met.
Dependency:
type: plugin
location: path
string: randompos

Extension "Sketch Input" failed to load because a dependency was not met.
Dependency:
type: executable
location: path
string: skconvert

Extension "SVGZ Output" failed to load because a dependency was not met.
Dependency:
type: executable
location: path
string: gzip

Extension "Text Input" failed to load because a dependency was not met.
Dependency:
type: executable
location: path
string: perl

Extension "Windows Metafile Input" failed to load because a dependency was not met.
Dependency:
type: executable
location: path
string: uniconv

rbissett wrote:Extension "EPS Input" failed to load because a dependency was not met.
Dependency:
type: executable
location: path
string: pstoedit

This shouldn't happen in Inkscape 0.47. Are you using 0.46?

Works with .47...thanks! But the gradations open wrong needing to be readjusted. Any way to bring them in perfect?

I've downloaded .47 but am still having problems opening eps.

I found this bit of info here http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes047#PostScript_and_EPS_import

PostScript and EPS import
Inkscape's PS and EPS import now uses Ghostscript instead of pstoedit. If you need to open files of these types, install Ghostscript and make sure the directory with the ps2pdf utility from Ghostscript installation is in your PATH. On importing a file, you will see a preferences dialog, similar to PDF import; for multipage PS files, this dialog allows you to select which page to open.

I'm a total noob so am not even certain what directory is meant by PATH. I've put the files in C:\Program Files\Inkscape but get the following error when trying to open a file

Windows cannot open this file

File: _.at

I'm really struggling here, hope someone can help.

Thanks,

Guy

Didn't work for me on Vista and i'm not sure if it's the one your link mentions, but there is ps2pdf file in Extention folder of version .47 .

The answer (well it's working for me atleast) was right above all along.

Thanks eelke

Inkscape's PS and EPS import now uses Ghostscript instead of pstoedit. If you need to open files of these types, install Ghostscript and make sure the directory with the ps2pdf utility from Ghostscript installation is in your PATH. On importing a file, you will see a preferences dialog, similar to PDF import; for multipage PS files, this dialog allows you to select which page to open.

It works only when you put both links; "bin"and "lib" from Ghostscript in : exc. C:\Program Files\gs\gs8.70\lib;C:\Program Files\gs\gs8.70\bin
Start -> Control Panel -> System -> Advanced; Click on Environment Variables, under System Variables, find PATH (or make it in the new..), and click on it. In the Edit windows

Now it works..