Need Dev Help for Tiff export workaround

[MADubs]

As part of my work, I need to provide a tiff file for every vecor-based graphic that I create (many each day) in Adobe Illustrator. The process right now involves opening the .ai in Photoshop, setting the appropriate resolution (300-1200 dpi, depending), resizing the canvas, and saving as a tiff file with LZW compression, which gives me a nice compact file. When I try to export a tiff out of AI, however, even at the lowest resolution acceptable and even with LZW compression, the output tiff file is many times large that it would be from PS. I am willing to pay for a workaround for having to use PS for every single job I do. I think this would involve installing a local imageMagik server, and finding an Objective-C or Python programmer to write a Daemon/Service that would auto convert all tiff files exported from Illustrator into a specific directory or something like that. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

[fmw42]

Have you tried to output your .ai file and do the rest of the processing with compression for tiff at the end in Imagemagick? If you do not have imagemagick, you could upload an example ai file to dropbox.com (public folder) and put the URL here. The we might be able to see what kind of file size results in IM.

[MADubs]

Thanks for the response! Apparently public sharing is disabled for non-pro accounts in Dropbox now, but if you give an email address, I can share the link with you through dropbox. I have an example of an Illustration that when saved as a tiff using PS results in a 8.9 MB file, but when exported via AI results in a 61.4 MB (!) file. I have no experience using ImageMagick but am open to learning if it can solve this problem, assuming the post-processing would save time over using PS. Thanks!

[fmw42]

Are you sure about that. I opened my free account (Basic account) and I have a Public folder there and can copy and paste the link anywhere. Here are the instructions


he Public Folder lets you easily share single files in your Dropbox. Any file you put in this folder gets its own Internet link so that you can share it with others-- even non-Dropbox users! These links work even if your computer’s turned off.

Step 1: Drop a file into the Public folder.

Step 2: Right-click/control-click this file, then choose Dropbox > Copy Public Link. This copies the Internet link to your file so that you can paste it somewhere else.

That's it! You can now share this file with others: just paste the link into e-mails, instant message conversations, blogs, etc.!

If you'd like more help with sharing files, head here: http://www.dropbox.com/help/16

Happy Dropboxing!
- The Dropbox Team

Note: You can only link to actual files within your Public Folder, not to folders.



If that does not work, then just email your ai file only directly to me to --- fmw at alink dot net

[fmw42]

This is the IM command that I have used. If I process similarly in PS, I get the same resulting file size of 2.3 MB.

Code: Select all

convert -density 300 DKNRBRPJ_Fig2.ai -background white -flatten -compress lzw DKNRBRPJ_Fig2d.tif

[MADubs]

Thank you very much! I have never used IM before, so I will have to figure out how to even get to this point. Is it possible to batch covert in this way?

[fmw42]

Thank you very much! I have never used IM before, so I will have to figure out how to even get to this point. Is it possible to batch covert in this way?

Yes, such a command can be done using mogrify rather than convert as long a you use the same density for all the ai images a given folder. The syntax would be slightly different. see http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/basics/#mogrify

What platform are you using --- Windows, Mac or Linux?

see binary files for easy install at http://www.imagemagick.org/script/binary-releases.php

Alternately, one can write a script to loop over each image you want to process from some directory structure. But each Windows an Linux/Mac have different syntax for script.

[MADubs]

I am using a Mac with Mavericks...sadly, I don't even know the basics with IM, but I am certainly willing to learn. This is a huge help!

[fmw42]

I am using a Mac with Mavericks...sadly, I don't even know the basics with IM, but I am certainly willing to learn. This is a huge help!

Be sure that you have X11 installed on your Mac. It usually comes with XCode Tools, but can be downloaded from Apple's developer web site.

Then download the Mac binary (it is for Mavericks, I believe) and follow the instructions to install. Once you have it installed, try

convert -version

then

convert logo: logo.tiff

to be sure they work. logo: (with the colon) is an internal Imagemagick image. See http://www.imagemagick.org/script/forma ... tin-images

For new users, see
http://www.imagemagick.org/script/comma ... ptions.php
http://www.imagemagick.org/script/comma ... -tools.php
http://www.imagemagick.org/script/comma ... essing.php

and
http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/reference.html
http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/

I am on a Mac, but install via the source code, which requires downloads of support (delegate libraries such as for tiff, png, etc) from for example MacPorts. But, you can also install IM via MacPorts (or one of the other Mac Installation Helpers like FINK or HomeBrew) if you think that is easier. You would have to first install MacPorts. Installing the binary from IM or MacPorts is generally easy and includes all the delegate library support you probably need, including tiff.

[MADubs]

Likely a dumb question, but where do you download MacBinary from? Edit: nvm...i found it

[fmw42]

Likely a dumb question, but where do you download MacBinary from? Edit: nvm...i found it

If you have trouble, let us know. You will probably want to edit your .profile file to hold all the exports that are suggested.

You can also download and install MacPorts and then it is just a simple MacPorts command to install IM. It modifies your .profile file for you.

.profile is a simple text file in your personal home directory (e.g. Users/fred). But it is a hidden file because of the period. I use BBEdit to modify these files. But you can probably use the free less complete version called TextWrangler (though I have not tried it). See http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/ I do not think TextEditor allows access to hidden files.

[MADubs]

I think I am close. I was able to create a tiff file from logo:. The issue I'm having now is how to tell IM to search in a different directory for a file. I am trying to use the command line you gave me, but it is not finding that .ai file...I know it just doesn't know where to look. Do I need to define the directory?

[fmw42]

use the path to the file with the filename

Code: Select all

convert -density 300 inputpath/DKNRBRPJ_Fig2.ai -background white -flatten -compress lzw outputpath/DKNRBRPJ_Fig2d.tif

inputpath is the path (absolute or relative to where you are running the command) where the input file is located

outputpath is the path to where you want to place the output file, but the directory must already exist. It also can be absolute or relative.

[MADubs]

Thanks again. Can you help interpret this error?

Michele-AWs-MacBook-Pro:~ MOBERLE$ convert -density 1200 Users/MOBERLE/Desktop/Figures/Submissions/DKNRBRPJ_Fig2.ai -background white -flatten -compress lzw Users/MOBERLE/Desktop/Figures/Submissions/DKNRBRPJ_Fig2test.tif
convert: unable to open image `Users/MOBERLE/Desktop/Figures/Submissions/DKNRBRPJ_Fig2.ai': No such file or directory @ error/blob.c/OpenBlob/2657.
convert: no images defined `Users/MOBERLE/Desktop/Figures/Submissions/DKNRBRPJ_Fig2test.tif' @ error/convert.c/ConvertImageCommand/3187.

[MADubs]

Duh..I missed the slashes before Users. The next step is to figure out how to do it in batch with mogrify. Will experiment with that later. You have been a life saver!