Making TIFF and EPS files

In the worlds of electronic publishing and video production programs, the need for TIFF or EPS formatted files is a necessity. Unfortunately, most of the imaging work done in research for presentation is done in PowerPoint, and this format simply cannot be used in most situations for these three ends.

Files can be generally be saved or exported (by using either Save As or Export under File) into TIFF, PICT or JPEG files from PowerPoint, drawing, word processing and graphing programs—all called vector programs—but the results are often poor in resolution (in Photoshop these are shown as having a resolution of 72dpi when opening the Image Size dialogue box: under Image on the menu select Image Size).

Here are four ways to save as TIFF (generally the way in which image files are saved) or EPS (generally the way in which files are saved which contain lines or text):

Option 1. Use the Program’s Save As or Export option.

If it exists, use the Export or Save As option in your vector program. This only works well when a dialogue box appears so that specific values for height, width and resolution can be typed in (as in the programs Canvas and CorelDraw). Anti-aliasing should be checked. Resolution values of 300 dots per inch or pixels per inch is for images, 600 dpi is for images with text and 1200 dpi is for text, graphs and drawings. If no dialogue box exists to type in these values, go to option 2 - 4.

Option 2. Scale to 4 times the dimensions, save as PICT or BMP.

1. Make the file 4 times as large as desired in the vector program. For example, if your file is at page size, arbitrarily enlarge the file to 4 times those dimensions Under File, select Save As or Save. Look for the option to save as PICT (Macintosh only) or BMP (Windows only). Avoid saving as a JPEG because the resulting file will have information that is thrown away and some blurring can be introduced.

2. Open the PICT or BMP file in Photoshop. Now reduce the size of the file to its original dimensions by selecting Image Size under Image and type these values into the Width and Height boxes. If these are going to a publisher, the width and height of columns can be found on the jouirnal’s instructions to the author. Be sure that Resample Image and Constrain Proportions are both checked. For resolution put in

300 pixels/inch for images

600 pixels/inch for images and text

1200 pixels/inch for text and graphs and drawings

Note: this method may not yield adequate resolution. See page 4 for information on how to evaluate resolution.

Option 3. Save as Acrobat file, then make a TIFF/EPS file in Photoshop.

If files cannot be saved as PICT, TIFF, EPS or BMP using either option above, or if you wish to know one means for working with nearly every application (as long as the application has a Print function), it is worth your while to learn how to convert files to the Acrobat format. This method will consistently yield the best resolution and the most favorable color matching. See the next page for information about the use of Acrobat.

Option 4. Print the Screen.

When print functions do not exist on the program and no means is available for high resolution saving or exporting, the only option is to print the screen. Go into your control panel and set the screen resolution as high as possible given your display card and monitor limitations. Make the image fill the screen as much as possible.

On a Macintosh: Hold down the Command (Apple) key, the Shift key and the number 3 key at once. You may hear a click. Go to your hard disk and look for a file (or several files if you pressed these keys more than once) named Picture 1, Picture 2, etc. Open these images in Photoshop by first opening Photoshop, then finding these files (versus the “normal” way of double clicking on the file itself).

On a PC: Press the Print Screen button. Open Photoshop, under File select New. You will see a dialogue box. Leave values where they are, but you may want change the Mode at the bottom of the box to either Grayscale (if it is a grayscale image) or RGB Color.

You will have to crop out extraneous image information using the Crop tool in the toolbar. Outline the area of interest and double click inside the outlined area to complete the crop. If the image doesn’t have to be reproduced at larger than a column width, this means can work fairly well. Set image size to 300dpi for images, 600dpi for text and images and 1200dpi for text, drawings and line art. Under Image select Image Size to do so.