The Encapsulated PostScript filter exports Encapsulated PostScript files .EPS files.
File Description
An encapsulated postscript file is more-or-less a self-contained, reasonably predictable PostScript document that describe an image or drawing, that can be placed within another PostScript document. EPS files also frequently include a preview picture of the content, for on-screen display. The idea is to allow a simple preview of the final output in any application that can draw a bitmap. Without this preview the applications would have to directly render the PostScript (PS) data inside the EPS, which was beyond the capabilities of most machines until recently. EPS files are commonly used for illustration and DTP applications, bitmap and vector data interchange.
File Format
At a minimum, an EPS file contains a BoundingBox DSC comment, describing the rectangle containing the image described by the EPS file. Applications can use this information to lay out the page, even if they are unable to directly render the PostScript inside.
Identifying EPS files
Because of the different ways in which EPS previews are handled, there is no one way to identify an EPS file.
· A Windows-format EPS file containing a TIFF or WMF preview must start with the four bytes containing, in hexadecimal, C5 D0 D3 C6. Bear in mind these files are widespread on all platforms.
· In all other cases an EPS file must start with a line %!PS-Adobe-a.b EPSF-c.d where a, b, c and d are all single digit numbers.
· A Mac-format EPS file is accompanied by a resource fork. The preview is a PICT resource with ID 256. An EPS file on the Mac is expected to have a file type code of "EPSF", whether or not it has a preview.
· An EPSI file will contain a line starting %%BeginPreview: in the DSC prolog.
· In many cases no preview is present at all.
File Name Extensions
.EPS
Export Method
Choose the File | Export command or select an image module and choose the File | Save Data command.
Export Options
Specify the export options in the Export Options dialog and Encapsulated PostScript .EPS Export Options dialog. The Size and Color page is not available when the File | Save Data command is used to export the file.
See Also