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READ.ME
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1994-10-27
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EPSWMF
What it is:
===========
EPSWMF is a Windows program that marries WMF preview images to EPS files.
If the world were a perfect place, your software that exports EPS files
would allow WMF preview images as an option, just as it now probably
allows TIFF preview images.
The world is not a perfect place, but I took it upon myself to pretty up
this one small corner of it.
Why WMF?
========
Most programs export EPS files with no preview or a TIFF preview image.
TIFF images are either low resolution or they're large and ponderous.
To get a reasonably detailed preview, even in black in white, you're
committed to a TIFF image that makes your EPS file much larger than it
needs to be, and which slows redraws in the app you import it into.
WMF previews have these advantages over TIFF previews:
1) they're typically much smaller
2) they're resolution independent ... they don't fall apart on
screen when you scale them up or down
3) they're higher resolution ... you can see what you're doing
much better
4) they're in color
5) they print well on non-PS printers
Disadvantages:
1) WMF previews won't work on Macs as a rule. When you add a
WMF preview, you lose portability.
2) They're not as universally supported as TIFF previews.
Some of your software will stare at you and drool
when you ask it to import these EPS files.
How you use EPSWMF:
===================
From Corel Draw, Freehand, etc, export your drawing first as EPS
(with or without TIF preview image) then immediately, and without
changing anything, export your image again as WMF (with or without
placeable metafile header) to the same directory as the EPS export, and
with the same base filename. In other words, once done with this stage,
you might have on your disk:
C:\EXPORTS\MYFILE.EPS
C:\EXPORTS\MYFILE.WMF
You then run EPSWMF, click Choose Files, point it at MYFILE.EPS and
MYFILE.WMF, hit the Go button and you're off to the races.
EPSWMF assumes that you want to attach a WMF preview with the same base
file name as the EPS file, but you may choose any other WMF file
instead.
Once it's done, it saves the new EPS file with your WMF preview attached
as MYFILE.EPS (ie, the new file takes on the name of the original EPS
file) and saves your original EPS file with the same name, but with EPB
as the extension.
If you check the box marked Delete source, EPSWMF will delete your
original EPS and WMF files once it's done creating your new WMF'd EPS.
Until you've tested EPSWMF with your particular mix of programs, we
STRONGLY suggest that you clear the Delete source box before hitting the
Go button.
Possible antisocial behaviours you might encounter:
===================================================
Some programs won't accept EPS with WMF preview images. We've tested
with PowerPoint, Persuasion, Freelance, MicroSoft Word 6 and PM5. I'm
told that pre-Corel versions of Ventura Publisher work also.
Neither Corel Draw (4/5) nor Corel Ventura Publisher (4.2/5) can display
WMF previews from EPS files. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Shame on them.
Freelance gets silly in the head if you import, then ungroup EPS files
with WMF previews. It separates the preview image (and will actually
let you edit it) and also leaves a blank "PostScript Object". Whatever
that might be. I haven't tested to see whether either, both or none of
these print.
Workaround: Don't do that.
If something bad happens when you do, it's not my fault. By the way,
you should *always* check the "Make PostScript Object" box when
importing EPS files into Freelance. If you don't, the import filter,
braindead child of ImageMark that it is, will generally mess up.
Freehand 4. I haven't really looked into what provokes this exactly,
but it tends to make enormous WMF previews. Gradient filled objects are
one of the culprits. And heaven help you if you choose "Convert text to
curves" in the WMF export dialog ... the one time I tried it, I got
something like 1.5 megabytes of WMF file! No thanks, Altsys. Oddly, if
you convert the text to paths before performing the export, the WMF is
nowhere near as large.
We haven't yet tested the case where you allow Freehand 4 to include the
Freehand document within the EPS file. Beta testers, that was a HINT.
Apart from that, EPS and WMFs from Freehand 4 work well with EPSWMF.
With large WMF preview images, you may run into problems with specific
apps. Word will accept e.g. Freehand's previews and display them in the
Insert Picture dialog, but (at least on my puny home system) won't
display them in the document itself. Might be my computer, might be
Word, might be that FH's WMF images are just too big.
Corel Draw 4's and FH4's EPS use some unusual bounding box coordinates
that seem to confuse some apps. PowerPoint, for instance, will go
through the motions, but won't actually import the things (run through
EPSWMF or not). Turns out that the ClipArt mini-app that comes with
PowerPoint 4 is a clever little devil: you can Insert ClipArt (instead
of PPT's Insert Picture) then add the EPS to your clip art collection.
From there it inserts into (and prints from) PowerPoint beautifully.
Add that to your "Go Figure" collection.
For what it's worth, none of the above are my fault, I swear it. If you
have a Freehand EPS file with TIFF preview that will import properly
into, say, PowerPoint, but won't fly *after* you've run it through
EPSWMF, I'd like to see it. Otherwise, thump on the folks that wrote
the original EPS and/or the people that aren't importing it correctly.
The one caveat I'd offer regarding EPSWMF is this: as yet, I've not
personally tested what happens if you take an EPS file that already has
a WMF preview image and turn EPSWMF loose on it. One beta tester has
and swears it works fine. I have no reason to doubt him.
Supplied files:
===============
EPSWMF.EXE
READ.ME
VBRUN300.DLL
CMDIALOG.VBX
GAUGE.VBX
To install:
===========
No fancy install routines yet. Maybe later, maybe not.
Put EPSWMF.EXE in a directory of your choosing. The VBX files can go in
your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory if they're newer than the ones that are
already there (or if there are no files by that name there already.)
Alternatively, you can leave the VBX files in the same directory as the
EXE file.
Then, do the usual Windows drill from Program Manager of
File/New/Browse, and point it at the directory where you've just copied
these files. Why, there's even an icon!
Why no fancy install? For one thing, EPSWMF will be distributed
electronically for the most part. Doing a fancy setup for it wouldn't
be all that difficult, but to quote an ex-president, "It would be
wrong." Makes the whole distribution set several times as large. I
thought it better to let those who view CompuServe as their favorite
charity send their checks to them directly.
Besides which, installers want to copy stuff into your system directory,
and I've been bitten too many times by programs that copy their (old)
version of WHATEVER.DLL over the top of my (new, improved, working) copy
of WHATEVER.DLL, bringing all manner of mysterious plagues upon my
system. I don't want to be responsible for that, so there you are.
Support:
========
It works for us. If it doesn't work for you, see the money back offer
below.
If you have a problem with some particular app's files, let me know. If
there's a straightforward fix, I'll probably make it in the fullness of
time. At these prices, I can't promise more than that.
Legal-type stuff:
=================
EPSWMF is Copyright 1994, Rindsberg Photography, Inc.
We've made every reasonable effort to ensure that EPSWMF will cause no
damage to you, your children, your system, your relatives, pets,
livestock, files, the ozone layer or your city's water supply.
But you just never know.
If it does, we'll cheerfully refund every penny you paid for EPSWMF and
even adjust for inflation if it bites you in the indeterminate future
(the softest, most vulnerable spot on your anatomy, that indeterminate
future.)
This money-back ... no, wait, let's make that *double* your money back
guarantee is good for all time, but does not apply to shipping costs
(including connect-time or similar fees if you've downloaded EPSWMF from
an online service or bulletin board.)
There is no charge for EPSWMF, but if you continue to use it beyond the
10-day test period and find that EPS files with WMF previews are as
useful as we think they are, you are morally obliged to pound on
developers who do not support them properly (ie, who fail to import them
properly, or who don't export EPS with WMF previews.)
If enough of you make noise, EPSWMF will become unnecessary as
developers make EPS/WMF-preview exports available from within their
apps. That, ultimately, is the Grand Purpose of EPSWMF ... to cause
itself to disappear from the face of the planet in a blaze of
well-earned obscurity.
In that spirit, I heartily encourage you to distribute the program as
widely as you can. Just make sure that this READ.ME file stays with it.
Use EPSWMF in good health, enjoy the fast, high rez preview display, and
above all, have fun!
Steve Rindsberg
President, Janitor and VB potzer
Rindsberg Digital Photography
70711,55 on Compuserve
srindsberg on BIX for at least a little while longer