Expert: Amy - 4/7/2005

Question
I am a beginning illustrator user. I have illustrator cs. My question to you is - If I get an .eps file made from freehand, corel draw, or flash, as I understand, all vector-based programs, will I still be able to manipulate the graphics in illustrator.

Thanks for answering my question.

Answer
Hi Ruth,

The short answer is yes, you will be able to open and edit most EPS files in Illustrator. Most other vector-based programs can generate EPS files and some can even export to AI files.

Sometimes, a program will generate data that Illustrator cannot interpret correctly. For example, I know of a guy who colors elements burgundy in Flash but finds they appear as black when opened in Illustrator. And every now and then you run into some weird problem with a specific element in a document that makes the document unreadable in AI. When that happens, you fix it on the spot or call the person who created the file and ask them to retrace their steps and re-save the document as EPS, eliminating any suspect artwork.

This happened to me recently (in reverse) when I submitted some work to a company that makes billboards. I use AI, he uses Corel. For some reason, some of the stroke widths in my document were reinterpreted and set to zero.  We simply had to find all those and reassign the proper width... luckily he noticed the error because I submitted a jpeg of my artwork along with the AI file. I suggest you ask for printouts or jpegs of anything that's submitted to you!

Have a great day!
Amy