Powerpoint eps problems (not due to preview!)

[Wong Yung]

Hi guys

I'm currently having problems importing certain eps files into
powerpoint. You can't see them, but you can click on the blank white
space which defines their "shape" and if you convert the ppt file to
pdf you can see them in the resulting pdf. At first I thought it was
just the old preview problem. However, I regenerated the eps files,
this time making sure they had bitmap previews enabled. However I
still have the same problems.

To make things even odder, Powerpoint can handle older eps files I have
on my laptop I used in previous presentations OK so it seems it's just
these particular eps files.

Now, I created the eps files in the exact same program for the older
eps files and for the current ones (GIMP on my Linux box at work).
The exact same copy of GIMP on the exact same Linux installation on the
exact same computer using the exact same method and settings. But just
in case it really was a problem with GIMP I saved the images as tiff
files, transferred them to my Windows laptop, and using both Adobe
Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator converted the tif files to eps. Still
the exact same problem.

Nothing else seems to have problems with these newer eps files and
Powerpoint doesn't seem to have problems with the older eps files I
have, so I am well completely without a clue. I need to use eps
because I want to print the ppt file out as a poster and bitmaps don't
turn out very well in my experience.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Hopefully someone has some advice for me
on this odd problem!

 

[Guest]

Try converting the eps to jpg or png - better for PowePoint. Must you use eps?

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Hi,

What version of PPT are you using? And since it may apply in some cases, do
you have, or have you ever had another version of PowerPoint installed?

Other things I can think of that might have an effect on this:

- Have you chosen binary EPS format in the ones that don't work? Try ASCII
format instead. In a correct world, binary'd cause problems with printing, not
with viewing previews, but PPT's never handled EPS entirely correctly. Some
versions try to generate their own preview from the PS content of the EPS and
don't always get it right. Binary EPS might confuse them.

And thinking out loud, since you mention Linux ... could there be a difference
in how you transferred the older files vs. new? Binary vs ASCII ftp, for
example? If a different transfer method treated the EPS as a text file rather
than binary, it might have "helped" by converting *nix line endings to
MSDOS/Windows line endings ... adding another character. That would certainly
make the preview go away; EPS files have a few bytes at the beginning that
tell the importing app where to look for the preview image .. how many bytes
into the file it's found. Add or remove one byte from most parts of the file
and the preview's effectively gone, though the PS content of the EPS will still
print normally.

Sounds like a fairly likely one, doesn't it?

 

[Wong Yung]

Try converting the eps to jpg or png - better for PowePoint. Must you use eps?

Yes. This will be printed out as a big poster and I find bitmap files
don't work very well. I used to use massive tifs but even they had
problems. I find eps is the best image format for posters.

 

[Wong Yung]

Hi,

What version of PPT are you using? And since it may apply in some cases, do
you have, or have you ever had another version of PowerPoint installed?

Other things I can think of that might have an effect on this:

- Have you chosen binary EPS format in the ones that don't work? Try ASCII
format instead. In a correct world, binary'd cause problems with printing, not
with viewing previews, but PPT's never handled EPS entirely correctly. Some
versions try to generate their own preview from the PS content of the EPS and
don't always get it right. Binary EPS might confuse them.

And thinking out loud, since you mention Linux ... could there be a difference
in how you transferred the older files vs. new? Binary vs ASCII ftp, for
example? If a different transfer method treated the EPS as a text file rather
than binary, it might have "helped" by converting *nix line endings to
MSDOS/Windows line endings ... adding another character. That would certainly
make the preview go away; EPS files have a few bytes at the beginning that
tell the importing app where to look for the preview image .. how many bytes
into the file it's found. Add or remove one byte from most parts of the file
and the preview's effectively gone, though the PS content of the EPS will still
print normally.

Sounds like a fairly likely one, doesn't it?

Hmmm. I doubt this is the case unfortunately. I transferred the files
by sneakernet via a USB memory stick as the Windows laptop is not
connected to the network.

Also, as I mentioned I tested whether it was GIMP or Linux at fault by
taking a tif version of the picture, transferring that to Windows and
converting it to eps via both Photoshop and Illustrator. The same
problem occurred for the Photoshop and Illustrator created eps files.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Hmmm. I doubt this is the case unfortunately. I transferred the files
by sneakernet via a USB memory stick as the Windows laptop is not
connected to the network.

Also, as I mentioned I tested whether it was GIMP or Linux at fault by
taking a tif version of the picture, transferring that to Windows and
converting it to eps via both Photoshop and Illustrator. The same
problem occurred for the Photoshop and Illustrator created eps files.

Do you have any options for setting the preview size? Traditionally the preview is
at 72dpi (PreviewPixels = EPSWidth * 72). Poster-size EPS graphics might result in
a preview image that's larger than some apps are able to deal with. If you can set
a lower resolution, try that.

If you can't set a lower resolution preview, there are utilities that allow you to
strip off existing preview images and substitute other ones. Michele Mottini's
EPSF is one (though I'm having trouble locating it on the net ... I may have a copy
around if you want to give it a try. Legally, of course. It's freeware.)

What about the same EPS with no preview image? Does it import ok?

 

[Wong Yung]

Do you have any options for setting the preview size? Traditionally the preview is
at 72dpi (PreviewPixels = EPSWidth * 72). Poster-size EPS graphics might result in
a preview image that's larger than some apps are able to deal with. If you can set
a lower resolution, try that.

If you can't set a lower resolution preview, there are utilities that allow you to
strip off existing preview images and substitute other ones. Michele Mottini's
EPSF is one (though I'm having trouble locating it on the net ... I may have a copy
around if you want to give it a try. Legally, of course. It's freeware.)

What about the same EPS with no preview image? Does it import ok?

I'll try your suggestion and get back to you later on it.

Arrrgh. Would you believe last night I did some new images using GIMP
in Linux and *those* imported beautifully into powerpoint as eps files.
It almost seems schizophrenic...It works for some images and not for
others for no particular rhyme or reason. Maybe it's something to do
with phase of the moon or the alignment of the stars Still, I'm
grateful at least some images work.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Arrrgh. Would you believe last night I did some new images using GIMP
in Linux and *those* imported beautifully into powerpoint as eps files.
It almost seems schizophrenic...It works for some images and not for
others for no particular rhyme or reason. Maybe it's something to do
with phase of the moon or the alignment of the stars Still, I'm
grateful at least some images work.

Try tilting your head the other way when doing the import. ;-)

Interestingly, there's a bug in at least one PPT versions's TIFF export that works more
or less the same way; it'll generate bad TIFFs sometimes, good ones other times. No
rhyme, no reason.

Hmm. I wonder if this might be a manifestation of the same problem but at the TIFF
reader vs writer end.

 

[Wong Yung]

Hi guys

I found the solution to my problem. Basically powerpoint doesn't like
eps files above a certain size, in my case, around 1MB. Which was why
some eps files were working and others weren't.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Hi guys

I found the solution to my problem. Basically powerpoint doesn't like
eps files above a certain size, in my case, around 1MB. Which was why
some eps files were working and others weren't.

Bizarre.

Then again, EVERYTHING about the way PPT deals with EPS is bizarre if not
outright wrong.

Thanks for reporting back on this.