TIFF to EPS

[Laser Rat]

Greetings;

I am, by trade an acrylic fabricator. We have Universal Laser on order (anxiously awaiting delivery) and I am in the process of educating my self on how to prepare/generate/edit graphic files
for vector cutting and raster engraving. A bit of an uphill battle for a newbie. I have a copy of Coreldraw and so far have been able to import an EPS from a client, scale it, e-mail to another laser firm and have it cut, so I know I have the rock bottom basics down. What I am having real difficulty with is trying to use files that come to me as an EPS but open as a TIFF. Is there any way to convert a TIFF to a scalable vector file? I realise this might be a big question and more than willing to do the prerequisite searching if someone could point me in the right directions.

Cheers, Rat

[tamlin]

Hi there and welcome to BioRUST.
As this is, in your words, a big question, I'm going to move this thread into the Illustration, Sketching & Vector Art forum, where I think it more properly belongs.

I am by no means an expert in this field, but I have done a little searching and found the following - don't know if it's the sort of thing you were looking for:

How to convert TIFF to EPS | TIFF to EPS converter

[stiney51]

You can convert a .TIFF file to an .EPS file but I'm pretty positive that it won't be scalable. I would assume that the .eps files you are opening that convert over to a .TIFF are ones that were saved as an EPS file out of photoshop (or a similar program). These are probably rasterized files that will distort when you enlarge them.

I'm sure Corel Draw has a save as command that would allow you to convert it, but again, it wouldn't be scalable.

If you had an example of one of the files, then post it, or e-mail me (bryan@hockeyworld.com) a copy, I can take a look, but naturally can't promise anything.

[Laser Rat]

Thanks for the input. Only now am I realising what a big question this is. What I have learned is that likely my client had a TIFF file and when I e-mailed and requested an .eps I think they simply saved the file in that format. Yeah,... so the extention is .eps but you're right, it's not a vector file and it definitely is not scalable. When I called to day to explain what I needed, the client said sweetly" oh, you wanted a Vector File?" Lesson learned. Now I know what to ask for. This looks like a well informed and well run community. Looking forward to being a member.

Cheers, Rat

[stiney51]

Expect a lot of that... Generally (and only partially sarcastically) speaking you're going to deal with a lot of clients who don't understand why you can take the logo off their website and make a billboard sign out of it...

I hate to say it because i'm usually a glass half full kind of guy, but expect the worst from your clients and you won't be dissapointed!

[notjustgraphics]

Originally Posted by stiney51

you're going to deal with a lot of clients who don't understand why you can take the logo off their website and make a billboard sign out of it...

I assume you meant to say "CAN'T" take the logo off their website and make a billboard out of it...

Sorry, couldn't resist...

As a side note, just wondering if anybody has used Illustrator CS2's Live Trace function to overcome this problem? If so, how well does it work?

Mike.

[HenZen]

well,...
it is good idea to LIVETrace it, but i thought there is only coreldraw available.
So you have to use Coreltrace which is also including in the corelsuite. Probably you'll have to manually adjust some points in the resulting path but it will be much easier than do it all by hand.

By the way which version of CorelDraw is it.

[Laser Rat]

I ended up using the Trace tool (function?) in CorelDraw 12 and it did a reasonable job of cleaning up the TIFF. Good enough anyway that I was able to enlarge the image a bit to show the client a rough version of what their final piece would look like. Still rough but better. I'm sure, as I become more conversant with CD that I'll be able to do more "smoothing".

Cheers, Rat