Expert: Kevin Stohlmeyer - 6/9/2011

Question
QUESTION: I have hundreds of illustrations from a science book that was developed on the Mac with the latest version of Illustrator available in 2000.  I now have new illustrations that I need to add to the same book.  I have since switched to Windows and would like to use the Windows version of Illustrator instead--this would require the old Mac-based illustrations to be converted to Windows.  In the past, when the Mac illustrations were converted to Windows (by saving as Windows file), they did not all convert with the same quality.  I believe the fonts will be lost anyway.  I have a choice of buying a Mac and the Illustrator for Mac and staying with the Mac by doing the new illustrations in Mac.  This is, of course, expensive and I will have to work on both Mac and Windows simultaneously, creating other problems as well.

Is there a way to convert the Mac Illustrator files to Windows in a way that changes are not noticeable?

Thank you so much.

ANSWER: Ashim,

There are no changes when opening native Illustrator files between Mac and Windows. Never have been, with the exception of fonts. The artwork and paths, shapes, etc. will all remain exactly the same and has been this way for a very long time. There is no "Mac" or "Windows" Version of an Illustrator file. This is a non-issue. Im not sure how you are saving your Mac files, but if you save as a native Adobe Illustrator, EPS, or other vector format, you should never notice any changes.


Thanks

Kevin



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you.  That was extremely helpful.  I will go back and do them both ways (Mac and Windows) to see why I saw some differences.  I was using the eps figures in a LaTeX scientific word processing document.

ANSWER: It could be the word processing program not being compatible with certain file types. But there are no Mac or Windows versions. When you save, you will notice it only gives you version numbers, not OS options.

Kevin

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I have since followed your advice and used a set of .eps files that were converted from Mac to Windows format--the figures seem to have come over just fine.  The question I have relates to text, even though they seem to have come over ok as well.  The text does not come through as is and Illustrator forces you to update.  I have seen this when staying exclusively with Windows machine but when I update to a newer version of Illustrator.  I believe the fonts get some sort of bitmapped as they are brought from legacy versions.  My question is, as the text came over from Mac to Windows, 1) would I expect any quality deterioration (I do not see any now, at 1200 dpi, on a laser printer)? 2) Should I expect missing fonts(since they all get bitmapped, there should be no reason for a missing font, I think).  3) A related one--if the font used in the Mac version is missing in Windows, does it substitute fonts or just uses bitmapped version?

Thank you so much again, for your help.

Answer
Hi Ashim,

Fonts are always an issue when going between Mac and PC. Only Open Type font files are compatible with both. Otherwise Mac fonts will not translate over to PC and vice versa. Missing fonts will not become bitmapped - they will just be defaulted to Myriad Pro so no worries about that. There are no bitmapped fonts in Illustrator ever.

Thanks!

Kevin