Saving raster files for service bureau reproduction using OS X?

[jhutchison]

ok - here is yet another issue regarding printing in the OSX platform. We can now print to our plotter just fine out of OSX. However, we would like to find an OS X native solution for saving a raster file so we can send to our service bureau for reprographics work. GraphicPak in OS9 did this wonderfully. However, I just spoke to Microspot, and the OSX version of GraphicPak does not/will not support the "Save as Raster" command. I have tried sending pdf's to the service bureau, but that only works if they print to a plotter----not a high speed reproduction machine like an Oce. Our service bureau has informed us they need raster files (a "cad-complient tiff") in order to use the high volume machines. Does anyone have any recommendations? Is there a way we can trick our computers into thinking we have a driver that can write to raster? What driver would that be?

[aersloat]

Ah yes...

Preview will save a pdf file OR a tiff file. In fact, when you click "preview" out of the print dialog and the Preview.app launches, if you just click Save as... , as opposed to Save as PDF, you will get a TIFF file, just what you were looking for.

Hope this helps

Another thing... if you have the full version of Adobe Acrobat you can extract TIFF images from sheets in a pdf file.

[ 04-03-2002: Message edited by: aersloat ]

[ 04-03-2002: Message edited by: aersloat ]

[jhutchison]

Well, I was able to save as a tif using preview, but my service beureau said that the file is not being recognized by their oce software as being a compatible raster image. So far the only way I have been able to give them a compatible raster file is by using the raster program that comes with GpahicPak 5.1.2. Any other suggestions?

[aersloat]

Sure... I don't know what their OCE thinks is a compatible TIFF file, but one way to find out would be to "borrow" a TIFF file from them and open it up in GraphicConverter. GC can open almost anything, and will tell you a little about the file as well. There is a good chance that you could take your Preview-generated TIFF and convert it to an OCE-friendly TIFF. GC is shareware so you can try this out w/o cost www.lemkesoft.de

[CEA]

I don't own GraphicConverter, but I tried it out in an Apple Store, and I noticed that it offers an option of saving a file as a HP-GL file.

Has anyone tried using GraphicConverter to generate HP-GL files from Vectorworks to send to a service bureau?

[aersloat]

Way back in the day I tried using GraphicConverter to output HPGL files into one of those windows-based squiggle programs. It didn't really work very well, but who knows, maybe things have improved. Maybe I will play around with that later. Unfortunately, I don't know of an HPGL previewer on the Mac.

By the way, GraphicConverter is a fantastic program. It has been well carbonized and works well under OSX. It is shareware and I don't think the unregistered version has any features disabled, it just takes a while to launch. You should try it out. It is a great software value.

[johncruet]

quote:

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Originally posted by jhutchison:However, I just spoke to Microspot, and the OSX version of GraphicPak does not/will not support the "Save as Raster" command.

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When I contacted Microspot their OS X solution was the Microspot X-RIP driver. It seems to work on HP 500, 800, and 2000 machines only. Far as I can tell, there is no such thing as a GraphicPak that is OS X compatible.

You may be better off using the GraphicPak solution for creating raster files in OS 9.x until such time that Microspot or others come up with a real solution that is other than a substitute for a PostScript RIP.