file formats

I"m a newbie to Draw.  I normally use Inkscape or AI.

I am trying to communicate with a print shop.  I can only speak with customer service, not the art dep't.  No matter what file I send, the message from the art department is that they need a vector file.  I have sent .svg, .ai, and .cdr, ensuring that the entire area is included and that nothing is rasterized.  Everything is paths/curves.

I'm using the latest Draw and AI.  I"m trying to find out what version of Draw they are using.  

I'm at a loss as to why these files aren't opening as vectored art.  I have even suggested that they ungroup and look at it again.

Ideas?  Suggestions?  

Thanks in advance. 

  • TamiB said:
    I'm at a loss as to why these files aren't opening as vectored art.

     

    Send a PDF with fonts set to curves and all vectors in the CorelDRAW file.  Just because you have a CorelDRAW file does not mean that the file contents are vector.

    • Thank you so much for trying to help.  

      Am I wrong in thinking that if it has nodes I can manipulate and enlarge infinitely (which is the case with what I"ve sent so far) that it is vectored, not rasterized?  I understand that fonts have to be changed to curves/paths in order to be vectored, but if the non-font drawing is saved as .cdr, then isn't it vectored? 

      I didn't think PDF saved as vectors?

      • TamiB said:
        I didn't think PDF saved as vectors?

        PDF usually preserves vector objects as vectors and with most print houses is usually the best file format to hand over.

        A possible exception is if you have used transparency in the design, or if you have set "render complex fills as bitmaps" in  settings > objects.

        To verify whether the PDF contains any bitmaps, try importing the PDF into a new, empty CDR file. File > document properties will tell you whether the imported file (and hence the PDF) contains any bitmaps.

        • Thank you, Sign Guy and Harry London!

          My files are huge, so that won't help :-(

          PDF is one of the original files I sent.  It was from that the artist did whatever they did to complete the proof which didn't resemble it closely enough for approval.  One portion in particular was "text" which hasn't been a font in years- I don't even have a file with it preserved as a font.  That was one of the areas which suffered the most.

          Curiously,when I try to open the pdf file (either by "open" or "import") in Draw, it now says it is corrupted.  Well, THERE's your problem!  ;-)  
          But that is only the  one file.  An earlier pdf is fine, and I can open the ai's and cdr's in Draw with no problem.  The only thing I've found is that in some I have to ungroup all before I can work with nodes/paths/curves.  Prior to that, clicking or hovering reveals only part of it in nodes/paths/curves.

          Is it possible that the artist may have an early version of Draw that can't open the newer file? 

          • TamiB said:
            Is it possible that the artist may have an early version of Draw that can't open the newer file? 

            That is a real possibility. Try to know who will receive your file, which CDGS version (s)he uses. If you can not, save your file to a previous version (X5), or even older (X3), for examples. (File/Save as.../(choose earlier version)

            • Thank you, Silvio-

              I have submitted an email question to their customer service department asking about the version of Corel.  
              Crossing my fingers... 

              • TamiB said:
                One portion in particular was "text" which hasn't been a font in years- I don't even have a file with it preserved as a font.

                If the text is a font has been converted to curves, then it is still a vector object. Losing the original font would in itself cause a problem. But I can think of several ways that could result in the text now being a bitmap:

                • If the original font was a bitmap font. Most fonts are vectors, but bitmap fonts do exist
                • If the original text has been given a bitmap pattern fill. It is still technically a vector object (while within CorelDraw) but printing or exporting it would effectively turn it into a bitmap.
                • If the text has had certain effects applied -- lenses, transparency, extrusions, drop shadows etc -- this might involve generating a bitmap to implement the effect.

                I think you probably stand the best chance of sorting this out if you can copy that text into a new file and upload it so we can see exactly what you have. If it is still too big for the forum (there's a 256Kb limit) then an alternative is to upload it to dropbox or similar, and paste the URL here.

              • Is there a way to upload a file here?

                • Hello TamiB; When you go to reply you can click on the the Options and search for the file you want to post. ( keep in mind they cant be very large files.)

                  George

              • Like some of the others said, I'd go for PDF.
                This should in most cases preserve almost everything in your original file (see Harry's post).

                Are you sending your files for printing? If so, I suppose they should be able to print also files including bitmaps.
                The fact that your "files are huge", may indicate that there are in fact some bitmaps.

                You should be able to get more detailed answers from your print shop. If they are not able to help, or not interested helping you getting it right, they are not interested in you as a customer either. Try to find another print shop in that case.

                • Hello TamiB; What you have to look at is the printer using Adobe, a lot of the printing places do and the people that work there don't understand what type of palette they are using. the Blue color can take a beating when this happens. I would probably look around for a different printer.
                    And a PDF file is the way to go you can put raster art in with the vector with out any problems, BUT I would Convert the vectors in the file to Curves.

                  What is it that you are trying to print? ( There are a lot of people here that use CorelDRAW that do printing. just tell them what color palette your using.)

                  My Thoughts, George

                  • Thanks, Sign Guy!
                    The colors weren't a problem, thankfully.  They work with a limited palette, and my design has only 2 colors, so I only had to tell them which 2 from their list.

                    The final product is a very large microfiber towel with a print area of 54x30 inches.  To my knowledge, there is only one source for these, so they kinda have the market locked up ;-)  But they do beautiful work at a reasonable price, so it's all good.  We just had a little trouble communicating.  I think they're accustomed to being given a lot of latitude in design, and I wanted exactly what I'd given them, so they couldn't just "interpret", they really needed my file to work in their system.  I'm just guessing, though.  I never spoke with the Art Dep't, only customer service.  And it is entirely possible that it was MY fault somehow.  It's all good now, though.

                    Thanks for the wisdom-

                    • TamiG; It is good that you got it worked out with them. I guess you know if you scaled it down to where one side is only 23" almost any screen printing co. could do it for you. Most places I've gotten screen print from have a 24" cutter or printer that will go at least 60". I have even made the screens and sent them so I got what I wanted.

                      George

                      • No, I didn't know that- very interesting. Thanks!