PS CS5 not saving preview for EPS files

[intriguegraphics2]

I'm running a trial version of CS5 Design Premium on a brand new Core i5 iMac with 8GB RAM and running SL 10.6.3. So far, I haven't noticed any major glitches, except for the following:

When I save an image as EPS, I usually choose the standard Mac 8 bit preview. This way, when bringing it into Quark, I can see the image. On my previous iMac, in CS3 and Leopard 10.5.8, this worked fine when importing into Quark 7.5.

Now, however, when importing into Quark 8.1.6, the EPS does NOT show a preview. It even indicates that no preview is included in the "Import Picture" window before bringing it in, even though I can see the "preview" in the little preview window. All I get in Quark is a gray box with the filename written inside. This is a bit bizarre!

Then I thought, maybe it's a Quark issue. I tried importing the same EPS file into my old iMac using Quark 7.5 and it does the same thing - no preview.

What's even more strange is that I took an old EPS which HAS a viewable preview, and resaved it (after a resize), and changed no other settings. The preview no longer shows up in Quark. Boom! Gone! Brand new files behave the same way.

Another thing I tried: I saved it using a TIFF preview. That seemed to work, although the preview looked very low-quality. That might work in a pinch, but it doesn't solve the problem of why my EPS files are not saving previews even though they are supposed to be included with the basic Mac Preview options.

Resaving the EPS as TIF also works fine, but again, doesn't solve the problem.

Is this a bug or am I missing something?

[Guest]

Eps is rather redundant file format these days, use psd files mainly. And indesign 😉

Whats the reason for using eps? clipping path? not sure if you can place psd in quark but could be worth a go.

[intriguegraphics2]

In general, I personally prefer not using EPS files either. However, many of our clients like to supply files that way. I'd rather stick with TIF, since I have fewer issues with it, AND it supports layers like PSD files do. Also, we DO use InDesign as well. I didn't test the preview problem there, though.

But regardless, something that has always worked correctly, should not be broken - the way it appears to be in CS5. I verified this problem on a second iMac and it was doing the same. I'm still looking for the proper channel to send this issue to Adobe. I've  got a full copy of CS5 Design Standard that I will install and test very soon. I'll see if the problem happens there too.

[Guest]

If they are pixel eps files you could setup an batch action in ps and convert them all to tif/psd.  I just find psd easier workflow wise to be able to place your layered psd file in artwork rather than saving out copies to place.

[intriguegraphics2]

In our particular situation, doing a batch conversion would only help temporarily. The client keeps sending us new versions, and they come in as - you guessed it - EPS files.

But, still, that is a "workaround" that shouldn't be necessary if this is, in fact, a bug in CS5.

Can someone please test this issue on their end and let me know if they experience the same problem?

Thanks!

[J453]

We're investigating this issue. Thanks!

[arrowstotle]

EPS preview still not fixed in the 12.02 update.

This and corruptions converting PDF to Tiffs is a major problem for our customers and has restricted our purchase/use of CS5.

[cm_spirit]

GOOD.... as this is also DRIVING ME NUTZ

[Andre Schneider]

I've been having a similar issue. After upgrading to CS5, my PSD files stopped saving a preview of the file. So all I had was the system preview, and that is kinda annoying when I open a folder with 100 PSD files and it has to create the preview of all of them. On preferences it was right, to always save the preview. I then tried and change the preference to "Always ask", saved a file and then went back to "Always save" on preferences. It seems to work now, I don't know if it might help you.

Andre

[Was DYP]

Andre Schneider wrote:

I've been having a similar issue. After upgrading to CS5, my PSD files stopped saving a preview of the file. So all I had was the system preview, and that is kinda annoying when I open a folder with 100 PSD files and it has to create the preview of all of them. On preferences it was right, to always save the preview. I then tried and change the preference to "Always ask", saved a file and then went back to "Always save" on preferences. It seems to work now, I don't know if it might help you.

Andre

Too bad this won't work for the Icon/Thumbnails.

Doyle

[Andre Schneider]

Actually I guess I expressed myself wrong... I meant the icon/thumbnail. On my computer at home it wouldn't save the thumbnail, which is really frustrating. I then switched the preferences from "Always Save" (default) to "Ask always", saved once and then changed it back to "Always Save" and it made it work. At my computer at work, thou, it doesn't work even after changing the preferences.

[Guest]

File > Save have problem when saving icons to images. We're investigating this issue. Thanks!

[cm_spirit]

seriously? this comment was made in 2010...
Has it been resolved yet.?

[intriguegraphics2]

No, I haven't had any issue with PSD's not displaying a preview. As a rule, I always made the change to "Always Save" in the preferences whenever I installed a new Photoshop. Personally, I think that option should be switched on by default as I'd think more people would want a preview than not.

But anyway, the issue I'm having is strictly pertaining to EPS files. I hope this will be fixed with a future update, preferably soon!

[Guest]

I tried on Quark and can reproduce your problems, but I think there is a workaround for this:

Select Item > Preview Resolution > Full Resolution can solve your problem?

Thanks,

Polly

[intriguegraphics2]

Polly,

I gave it a try, and can confirm that this workaround is successful. Thank you for that tip.

When I bring the EPS in, Quark still claims there is no Preview attached. Changing to a TIF preview works as well. Sigh....

[Guest]

When saving the eps file on the 2nd window that gives you the Previews type choose TIFF 8 Bit instead of the standard

Mac 8 Bit. You will get previews in Quark after that.

[intriguegraphics2]

Yes, I know TIF previews work. But that's not the default setting - which does NOT work. As I mentioned, I can do that as a workaround, but there is still a glitch here.

[Guest]

Yes. I agree. Definitely a problem. It should work in the default settings.

[Guest]

Thanks for the workaround for a problem that has been DRIVING ME CRAZY!! I agree with other posters that Adobe needs to correct this problem ASAP--I  hate it when software takes a step backward when supposedly moving forward.

[Dave_Polaschek2]

If you're running the 64-bit Mac version, I think the problem is that PICT (which is the format used in the standard Mac preview) is no longer supported by Apple in 64-bit applications, and we're silently failing when trying to write the preview.

It should work if you launch Photoshop as 32-bit, or you can save the TIFF preview as was already mentioned.

Updated: Nope. Doesn't work in 32-bit, either. Sorry.

[intriguegraphics2]

Dave,

Thank you very much for the technical insight as to the cause of the problem.

So is it an oversight on Apple's part that support for PICT was dropped or did they intend to do that? Do you know if they intend to replace the default Mac Preview with anything else, ie: PNG (since Mac screenshots now use that format)?

Could Photoshop be modified to take this problem into account so that it will either alert the user to the problem, or change the default preview option to TIF (or other supported format)?

It's nice to know that there is another workaround, thanks for the suggestion. However, the workaround to launch in 32 bit mode would be like taking a 12 cylinder Ferrari engine and disabling half the cylinders. Yes, the car will run, but the performance will not be what you paid for.

I've really enjoyed working in 64 bit with gigantic files open simultaneously - it's remarkable. So to have to disable that ability, just to do something as simple as saving a preview, it's obviously much less than ideal.

Is there anything that can be done - on Adobe's side of the equation - that can fix this to function as it used to?

[Dave_Polaschek2]

That's something that Apple meant to do. PICT is based on QuickDraw, and supporting that in a 64-bit world would have been a huge amount of work for them.

I suspect we'll change the default to TIFF or something, but I'm not which path the engineer working on that will take. At a bare minimum, we should probably remove that option and change the default to TIFF. That should work with just about all the applications out there that ingest EPS files. When you'll see such a change, I can't say.

As for my suggested workaround, that doesn't actually work. Sorry to get your hopes up. I was basing that on a half-remembered hallway conversation from some time last year, and it turns out my memory doesn't match today's reality.

[intriguegraphics2]

Dave,

Ah, ok. No problem. Thanks anyway. TIF preview it'll have to be...

Now that I think about it - it is very ironic to have the option of saving a "TIF" preview inside an "EPS" formatted file!

Getting back to PNG for a moment - just out of curiosity, is it gaining any traction in the real world as a format (ie: other than on Apple's platforms)? Is it fully supported and readable across all platforms or is it technically limiting in some way?

[Dave_Polaschek2]

PNG is pretty well supported in general, but I don't think that helps in this case, since PNG as a format of the preview for an EPS isn't used by any apps I'm aware of. But PNG is really more of a replacement for GIF than of TIFF, since it doesn't (as far as I know) have layers. That is, it's fine as an image-only format, but if you want to save layers or selections with the image data, you'll need to use TIFF, PDF, PSD or similar.