Expert: Amy - 12/27/2007

Question
Hi Amy,
I'm using Illustrator CS2 with Mac OSX 10.4.10.
I hope you can help me with a problem that has had me scratching my head
for a couple of hours.
Basically when I try and save an eps file I get the error "can't save the
illustration. Can't print the illustration".
The part of my illustration that I managed to isolate as being the "rogue
element" was copied and pasted into a new window. The original illustration
without this "rogue" saved successfully. Oddly, the "rogue" on its own also
saved successfully, yet when I put them on one document, I get that pesky
error message!
When I last worked on the combined illustration before Christmas, I didn't
have any problems at all. BUT (and here may lie the answer), the colour
swatch I used was Pantone Process Coated - but when I saved it as a pdf to
send to my client it looked really washed out, so I fiddled with the work
spaces, etc to give my illustration a more "natural look" - I found that I was
using the "matches illustrator 6" option which gave my illustration a really
bright and zingy appearance, which is what I wanted, so when I saved it as a
pdf and saw it washed out I needed to change not only the work space but
also the Pantone swatch to Pantone Coated - a swatch I am more familiar
with.
I hope I'm not confusing you!
So today I have gone through all the elements of my illustration and changed
the colours from Process Coated to just Coated, and the colours on-screen
look OK now.
Is this what has caused the problem? If it is then why would the separate
elements save successfully when in isolation, but not combined?
Thanks in anticipation,
Dave  

Answer
Hi Dave,

Nope, you didn't confuse me. And I think you're right - there is a swatch conflict. But there shouldn't be.

A couple questions - are you using spot colors because the final print job calls for it or because you are matching something of just cuz? And do you need to preserve the spot colors or can you convert to CMYK for the final job?

Are you working in CMYK color mode? You should be.

Why don't you try this first... quit AI, locate the AIprefs and AI Color Settings files and move them to the desktop. Then restart AI, go into your Color Settings and set your color space preferences again, then open your documents. See if you can save them together now. If not, quit AI and move your two files back to their original location. Overwrite the new files that will have been created. If it fixes it, wonderful. Throw away the 2 files on the desktop.

Also, in the swatches palette, locate all unused swatches and delete them. There's an Action in the Action Window that does this automatically if you want to use it instead of doing it manually.

I'd like to see the two individual files and see if I can't save them together. I work in CS2 at work, so if I am successful, I can send you a CS2 file tomorrow. I work in CS3 at home (where I am now) and I'm afraid if I try to save down to CS2, your artwork will suffer. But I'll try that, first!

Can you send them to my yahoo address > AmyLynPace@yahoo.com

I'd love to take a look!
Amy Pace