Mac/pc File Differences With Adobe Illustrator

[dla_001]

Good day...

I posed this question a few days ago in the design forum, but so far have gotten no response...so I'll try here if that's appropriate.

Thanks in advance...

We're a small graphics company using both Macs and PCs (OSX 10.3 & Win2K).

Most (but not all) art is created on a Mac and RIPped to the printers on PC. We have noticed that .eps files don't always appear the same on the two systems. For example, it is not uncommon that an object which shows at the front of the illustration on the Mac will be behind some other object when the file is viewed in Illustrator on the PC. Both systems running AI 10.0.3.

Also, files created on the PC and opened on the Mac often have one or more layers turned off, although all layers were visible when the file was saved on the PC.

It should be noted that most files are saved out to a network shared drive on a WinNT4 server.

What's up with this? I would expect the on-screen rendering to be the same between both systems.

Thanks in advance for your insight...

David

[JeffCGD]

Hi dla

Your issue is more likely to be issues in the Mac port of Illustrator 10 than with the EPS files themselves, UNLESS you have EPS files that are calling fonts, which may/will differ (kerning etc) if the exact same font isn't used on both platforms (often an unlicensed Truetype windows version will differ from it's Postscript brethren).

Illustrator 10 does have some issues as it was the first OSX compatible version, and I am unsure if all the bugs were worked out before version 11 came about, which I believe was much more reliable. The layering visibility issues lead me to suspect this is that case.

Your NT server should not be an issue, as the actual file data is in the data fork of the file (which is the only part of the file retained on most PC file systems), even though the resource fork (stores creator type etc) is stripped.

Your best solution is likely to be considering an upgrade to the CS version of Illustrator (Illustrator 11.x)

[dla_001]

Thanks...it's not a font thing...we always convert fonts to outlines for this type of work. I'd believe that it could be an Adobe thing...but it would be nice to get 'em to admit to it...

I >really< wish Adobe hadn't changed the .eps spec native to CS...if they needed to retain special type-engine information, they should have made that part of the .ai file format, and left .eps files alone, since they are so valuable as cross-application import/export files. <end rant>

Anyone have any other thoughts about different screen rendering between Macs and PCs?

Thanks in advance...

[garmp]

We use AI 8, 9, 10, and CS. When saving for clients, especially those pc users I generally save back to AI 8. 10 is very problematic and 9 isn't much better. CS seems to be a lot better but not everyone can use those files. We also have a very old rip and 10 & CS file cause problems. Just a suggestion.

[Natobasso]

It's not different screen rendering, it's different platforms.