Illustrator EPS import issue

[affinity200]

I'm not a pro, so excuse me if my terminology is incorrect - but I didn't find any solution to a specific problem with opening Illustrator EPS files in Affinity Designer.

When I opened the original EPS (a stock vector image purchased from Depositphotos) in Affinity Designer, instead of the smooth surface I expected, Affinity opened it with a mesh in its place, and also, some parts (see the right "hand" of the robot) being transparent where they shouldn't have been:

I don't know the reason for this difference, but since I needed to make the image work, I tried every conversion method I could think of, including converting it into a pdf, etc. - nothing worked.

As a final resort, I ended up downloading a trial of Illustrator, and saving the EPS (which opened perfectly in Illustrator, just like the jpg on the right) with different settings. What I found made the difference was this setting:

Again, I'm not a pro, so I don't really know how the transparency of the "preview" is related to opening the file correctly. I tried it both ways, the "Transparent" setting results in a smaller file that opens incorrectly in Designer, the "Opaque" setting results in a larger file that opens correctly in Designer, i.e. looks the same way it did in Illustrator.

I would be grateful if someone who understands this could shed some light on this:

1. Can the above "mesh" and transparency problems be solved after opening the file in Designer, i.e. is this just a setting? Or is the file actually read differently, and there is no setting in Designer that can fix this issue? Obviously going back to Illustrator and re-saving it with different options, as I just did, solves the problem, but I don't have Illustrator and the trial only lasts 7 days... so this is not a permanent solution.

2. If the only way to solve this is to re-save the file with the "Opaque" preview option, then is there any other way to do that that doesn't require Adobe Illustrator?

Since this is not the first time this has happened, and I'm sure it will happen again, any solution, workaround, etc. would be appreciated. I know that there is a chance that it's a very simple issue with a simple solution, but since I'm a graphics newbie, I'm not even sure what's happening here and even much less how to solve it.

Thank you.

 

Edited June 4, 2019 by affinity200
removed unnecessary image

[Wosven]

Hi,

And the EPS file is made of vectors? I thought it was perhaps due to EPS unable to handle complexe gradients (=> mesh of images).

[v_kyr]

See this thread here and there especially the answers from Mattp and MEB. - It might be that this Illustrator originated image contains an Ai file format part and not just a common PDF stream, in that case AD's EPS parser can't read and interpret that EPS contents correctly. You usually can find out if you open that EPS file inside an text editor (if the file isn't too big) and look through it's contents.

[affinity200]

2 hours ago, Wosven said:

Hi,

And the EPS file is made of vectors? I thought it was perhaps due to EPS unable to handle complexe gradients (=> mesh of images).

 

1 hour ago, v_kyr said:

See this thread here and there especially the answers from Mattp and MEB. - It might be that this Illustrator originated image contains an Ai file format part and not just a common PDF stream, in that case AD's EPS parser can't read and interpret that EPS contents correctly. You usually can find out if you open that EPS file inside an text editor (if the file isn't too big) and look through it's contents.

Thank you for both tips. I checked the thread referenced, and I also understand that there is the complexity of gradients. However, I still can't tell what's going on because all the above things are way over my head - in other words, even though I understand the words, I'm still lost as to what I am supposed to check or look for.

Let me post the file here and see if it helps someone smarter than me to see what is going on. Thanks in advance.

0_Q0NfVEVUUk9OX0JQXzAxX0NvbmNlcHRfMDMzLmpwZw.eps

[Wosven]

If you've read the other thread, try, as suggested to save from AI to SVG, PDF or EPS with compatibility mode, until you have a file you can work with in AD.

(If the EPS file isn't free,  you should delete it from the previous post).

[firstdefence]

Are you on Mac or Windows?

On Mac you can use Preview to export to PDF instead of Illustrator, on Windows you might be able to find an app to export to SVG or PDF. 

On Mac Inkscape will see the EPS in a similar way to how Affinity interprets it, it's likely the Windows version will do the same. 

[Wosven]

I suggested first to do some conversions with Illustrator since Inkscape couldn't open the file.

[v_kyr]

5 hours ago, Wosven said:

I suggested first to do some conversions with Illustrator since Inkscape couldn't open the file.

On Win you might need a properly installed Ghostscript (with ENV setting) in order to open EPS files in Inkscape, see for example ...

• Inkscape: how to open EPS files on Windows

... on Macs Inkscape should usually open EPS files.

Further that EPS file contains a bunch of gradients and Illustrator specific things, which I doubt other third party software can handle in a pleasing manner. So any third party tool might at best can only show up the embedded image portion of that Illustrator vector drawing then without mismatch.

[affinity200]

8 hours ago, Wosven said:

If you've read the other thread, try, as suggested to save from AI to SVG, PDF or EPS with compatibility mode, until you have a file you can work with in AD.

(If the EPS file isn't free,  you should delete it from the previous post).

I got that, but since I only have a trial version of Illustrator, good for another 6 days... that doesn't solve the problem. This is not the only file this happens with, just an example, so I'm sure it will happen again. That's why I posted my question in the first place - I want to understand the reason for the problem and how it can be solved WITHOUT having to buy a subscription to Illustrator (which is what I was trying to avoid in the first place by getting Affinity Designer instead).

[affinity200]

2 hours ago, v_kyr said:

On Win you might need a properly installed Ghostscript (with ENV setting) in order to open EPS files in Inkscape, see for example ...

• Inkscape: how to open EPS files on Windows

... on Macs Inkscape should usually open EPS files.

Further that EPS file contains a bunch of gradients and Illustrator specific things, which I doubt other third party software can handle in a pleasing manner. So any third party tool might at best can only show up the embedded image portion of that Illustrator vector drawing then without mismatch.

Thank you - if that's definitely the case, then I guess it's a big gamble to buy stock vectors. 

What gives me some hope is that (as you can see from my original post) when the image was saved with the "Opaque" setting from Illustrator, it opened perfectly in Designer. All the elements were still vector shapes, so it wasn't just converted to raster, so I can see that Designer CAN open these vectors from Illustrator, but ONLY if they are saved in a specific manner, which some of my files weren't.

My problem is I don't understand WHY this is happening and if there is any other solution other than buying Illustrator.

It would be great if someone from Serif could pitch in here and shed some light on this, since this issue has a big effect on Affinity Designer being a suitable replacement for Illustrator or not. If I can't buy stock vectors and expect them to open and work the same way they would in Illustrator, then Designer can not replace Illustrator for anyone using stock vectors, most of which are created using Illustrator.

[affinity200]

7 hours ago, firstdefence said:

Are you on Mac or Windows?

On Mac you can use Preview to export to PDF instead of Illustrator, on Windows you might be able to find an app to export to SVG or PDF. 

On Mac Inkscape will see the EPS in a similar way to how Affinity interprets it, it's likely the Windows version will do the same. 

Mac. I tried opening it in Preview and saving it to PDF - even worse result, some parts have gone missing in the process and the problem was still there. I also tried to convert it to SVG (in Illustrator) but that resulted in a black canvas and only some elements, i.e. even worse. Even when Saving as... from Illustrator, the ONLY way it was saved in a format that opened the same way in Designer was as an EPS with the settings I showed in the original post. Nothing else saved from Illustrator, Preview or online file converters worked.

I am at a loss as to why... 

[Wosven]

8 hours ago, v_kyr said:

On Win you might need a properly installed Ghostscript

Interesting trick, and now my Ghostscript is updated (but opening the file in Inkscape didn't give any interesting result).

6 hours ago, affinity200 said:

I am at a loss as to why...

as said earlier:

 

There'll always be problems of compatibility at some point. We just need someone creating an online convertion service with AI in the background, where we could choose export parameters for an interesting fee!

[affinity200]

29 minutes ago, Wosven said:

Interesting trick, and now my Ghostscript is updated (but opening the file in Inkscape didn't give any interesting result).

as said earlier:

 

There'll always be problems of compatibility at some point. We just need someone creating an online convertion service with AI in the background, where we could choose export parameters for an interesting fee!

Thank you - I have seen that. However, that doesn't explain (to me at least - am I missing something?) the different results I am getting based on the Illustrator EPS save settings:

- Preview set to Opaque: EPS file works perfectly in Designer

- Preview set to Transparent: EPS file opens incorrectly in Designer

What difference does this setting in Illustrator make in how Affinity opens the file? The embedded AI file doesn't explain this, since if Affinity is unable to open the embedded AI file, then it is still opening the EPS - but in one case, correctly, in another case, incorrectly. And apparently the result depends on the "Opaque" setting when saving the EPS file in Illustrator.

Why?

[v_kyr]

6 hours ago, affinity200 said:

My problem is I don't understand WHY this is happening and if there is any other solution other than buying Illustrator.

Well probably most people which do vector based design stuff and the like do rely on the Adobe tools suites when creating such things. So it's no surprise that offerings for those is the biggest overall market and thus mostly you will see somehow done with Adobe tools mainly reusable with Adobe tools (PS, AI, ID etc. are still dominating this graphics/print domain). Also most industry wide used vector based file formats (PS/EPS/PDF) do have their roots at Adobe and got over time some proprietary enhancements by certain Adobe tools. Thus it's hard for third parties to keep up with those file formats at all or to handle them in a similar behaving manner.

[v_kyr]

4 minutes ago, affinity200 said:

Why?

Since Illustrator then writes out and exports the EPS file in a different way, which the Affinity EPS parser can treat and interpret/understands format wise in a much better manner. - It's pretty much the same as when you export as Inkscape SVG or basic SVG from Inkscape, Affinity will be able to deal with the later standard SVG, but will have problems and generate mismatch when it tries to parse the proprietary Inkscape own SVG document format.

[affinity200]

7 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

Well probably most people which do vector based design stuff and the like do rely on the Adobe tools suites when creating such things. So it's no surprise that offerings for those is the biggest overall market and thus mostly you will see somehow done with Adobe tools mainly reusable with Adobe tools (PS, AI, ID etc. are still dominating this graphics/print domain). Also most industry wide used vector based file formats (PS/EPS/PDF) do have their roots at Adobe and got over time some proprietary enhancements by certain Adobe tools. Thus it's hard for third parties to keep up with those file formats at all or to handle them in a similar behaving manner.

Yes, you are 100% correct. But this is a technical issue I don't understand and I wonder if anyone does. A simple "Opaque" setting when saving from Illustrator and the result is the exact same file opening perfectly in Designer. Set the same thing to "Transparent" and Designer no longer opens the file properly. I'm trying to understand the reason for that.

[affinity200]

2 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

Since Illustrator then writes out and exports the EPS file in a different way, which the Affinity EPS parser can treat and interpret/understands format wise in a much better manner. - It's pretty much the same as when you export as Inkscape SVG or basic SVG from Inkscape, Affinity will be able to deal with the later standard SVG, but will have problems and generate mismatch when it tries to parse the proprietary Inkscape own SVG document format.

Yes. That's the exact thing I'm trying to understand - what does this "Opaque" setting do? What is different in the resulting file? This seems to be the key to this issue, and my original question if a file saved with the "Transparent" setting can be "fixed" in any other way than re-saving it from Illustrator.

[v_kyr]

You would have to compare the generated layers of those EPS files and their contents, or diff the generated EPS file contents, in order to see where the differences exactly are and what certain option settings finally through out then. - The transparency will add something here to the EPS code Affinity and other third party app parsers will have difficulties to deal with or to convert into any äquivalent representation then.

[affinity200]

Just now, v_kyr said:

You would have to compare the generated layers of those EPS files and their contents, or diff the generated EPS file contents, in order to see where the differences exactly are and what certain option settings finally through out then. - The transparency will add something here to the EPS code Affinity and other third party app parsers will have difficulties to deal with or to convert into any äquivalent representation then.

Cool - thank you for that idea. I will check the layers and see if I can find out anything interesting from what's going on there.

[affinity200]

Well, I looked at the files, but I'm not much smarter other than seeing that the way Affinity Designer opens an EPS file is radically different from Illustrator.

For example, I noted that several curves that were just a single element in Illustrator, opened as dozens, sometimes hundreds of slices, each on different layers in Designer.

I'm losing hope that this is a problem that can be solved. It seems like Affinity Designer can be a great replacement for Illustrator if you create original work, but for opening Illustrator-created EPS files... the result is often an unpredictable mess and there isn't a lot you can do about it, other than buying Illustrator.

[MikeW]

Illustrator is opening an AI file inside of the EPS.

If that EPS did not have the AI file portion, it would open the same in AI, as meshes (which is what the gradients are made of), are not a valid EPS constructs (same goes with PDFs). They are always broken into pieces in order to emulate the meshes.

Stock image sites should have a warning anytime a user uploads an EPS that contains embedded AI portions that have meshes in them clearly stating what will happen if opened in an application other than AI.

I don't know of any application that can open an EPS made with Illustrator that contains meshes and have those meshes remain intact. That includes CorelDraw. However, if that file is resaved as an AI file with or without the embedded PDF portion, CorelDraw retains the meshes. The screen shot is from within CorelDraw:

Even when AD has mesh capabilities, what you are getting in AD is what you will always get (pieces parts of the meshes) because the meshes are only to be found in the AI portion of an EPS and AD will likely never be able to open an AI file directly (especially the embedded AI portion in an EPS file).

Sorry.

Mike

[affinity200]

4 minutes ago, MikeW said:

Illustrator is opening an AI file inside of the EPS.

If that EPS did not have the AI file portion, it would open the same in AI, as meshes (which is what the gradients are made of), are not a valid EPS constructs (same goes with PDFs). They are always broken into pieces in order to emulate the meshes.

Stock image sites should have a warning anytime a user uploads an EPS that contains embedded AI portions that have meshes in them clearly stating what will happen if opened in an application other than AI.

I don't know of any application that can open an EPS made with Illustrator that contains meshes and have those meshes remain intact. That includes CorelDraw. However, if that file is resaved as an AI file with or without the embedded PDF portion, CorelDraw retains the meshes. The screen shot is from within CorelDraw:

Even when AD has mesh capabilities, what you are getting in AD is what you will always get (pieces parts of the meshes) because the meshes are only to be found in the AI portion of an EPS and AD will likely never be able to open an AI file directly (especially the embedded AI portion in an EPS file).

Sorry.

Mike

Thanks a lot for the explanation, Mike - this is very clear. I guess there is no other option at this point than re-exporting from Illustrator, although even that is giving me trouble with some of the files (re-saving into EPS in Illustrator messes up some elements beyond recognition).

I may try your CorelDraw recommendation if I can't solve it with a simple Illustrator export and some subsequent fixing in Designer. Thank you for the advice.

[MikeW]

1 minute ago, affinity200 said:

Thanks a lot for the explanation, Mike - this is very clear. I guess there is no other option at this point than re-exporting from Illustrator, although even that is giving me trouble with some of the files (re-saving into EPS in Illustrator messes up some elements beyond recognition).

I may try your CorelDraw recommendation if I can't solve it with a simple Illustrator export and some subsequent fixing in Designer. Thank you for the advice.

You're most welcome.

Do note that while I wasn't actually recommending CD, if you go that route, please download the trial and use the heck out of it to discover any issues you may face. If you are using a Mac, Corel just released a Mac version for the first time in a decade. It isn't necessarily garnering rave reviews. I would also suggest reading on their forums a bit to see issues others may be facing, especially as regards the newest version. I am still using the 2018 version and have not upgraded as of yet due to some unresolved issues that affect why I use CorelDraw to begin with.

Take care, Mike

[affinity200]

2 minutes ago, MikeW said:

You're most welcome.

Do note that while I wasn't actually recommending CD, if you go that route, please download the trial and use the heck out of it to discover any issues you may face. If you are using a Mac, Corel just released a Mac version for the first time in a decade. It isn't necessarily garnering rave reviews. I would also suggest reading on their forums a bit to see issues others may be facing, especially as regards the newest version. I am still using the 2018 version and have not upgraded as of yet due to some unresolved issues that affect why I use CorelDraw to begin with.

Take care, Mike

Thanks! I actually didn't know there was a Mac version of CD again... thanks for the tip. I'll check it out.

[MikeW]

7 minutes ago, affinity200 said:

Thanks! I actually didn't know there was a Mac version of CD again... thanks for the tip. I'll check it out.

You're welcome. I hope...

But do note what I wrote above...CD will also import an EPS with mesh fills just like AD (though the size of the pieces may vary). So unless a particular stock site also has a downloadable AI file (as opposed to just EPS), then you will be in the same boat as regards EPS file handling as AD. Which, if only an EPS file is available, places you directly in the same boat.

I get around the issue mainly by having a perpetual license AI CS6 running on Windows which has not yet made it so my CS6 applications are worthless. I only rent CC if/when I have to.