Convert PPT to EPS or TIFF?

[Peter Frank]

Hi,

I need to convert some Powerpoint slides to a format providing good
quality for printing. The printing service accepts EPS and TIFF (300
dpi). Powerpoint's own TIFF saving capability is insufficient because
it only yields low resolution TIFF files. I found a tool called SnagIt
(actually a screen capturing tool) that allows "printing" the
Powerpoint slides to EPS or TIFF.
My question now is: Which format should I choose? Which provides the
best printing quality based on the source? I see that it wouldn't make
sense to convert a photograph to a vector-based format, but I am not
sure how things are here. Would I benefit from converting to EPS rather
than a high resolution TIFF?

Peter

 

[Echo S]

I would do a File/Save as, choose WMF, and then open the WMFs in Illustrator
and save as EPS files. That's assuming you have Illustrator, of course.
CorelDraw would work just as well, I suspect, but the fact remains that
you'd still need a third-party tool of some sort. I just think these might
work faster than using SnagIt (as much as I love SnagIt!) to screengrab a
bunch of slides.

Generally, I think the vector stuff (EPS) is better for printing PPT text
and graph slides. Vector makes the text much more smooth than raster does.

"Improve PowerPoint's GIF, BMP, PNG, JPG export resolution"
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00052.htm should be a helpful resource
for you as well.

 

[John O]

Will the printer accept a PDF? Exporting a pres to PDF provides great
quality, especially if you have some controls in your PDF-generation tool.
If, by chance, you have Acrobat loaded after Office, there's already a
button on your toolbar for this.

-John O

 

[Peter Frank]

Will the printer accept a PDF? Exporting a pres to PDF provides great
quality, especially if you have some controls in your PDF-generation tool.

Unfortunately, the printer does not accept PDF. This would have been
my preferred format, too (another reason being that there are some
pretty good free PDF converters available).

Peter

 

[Peter Frank]

I would do a File/Save as, choose WMF, and then open the WMFs in Illustrator
and save as EPS files. That's assuming you have Illustrator, of course.

That worked just fine except for some minor corrections I had to make
before saving as a WMF file. Some graph labels got flipped when I
opened the WMF file in Illustrator. I fixed this by converting the
graph to a Microsoft drawing (ungrouping) and correcting the few
quirks in Powerpoint before saving it as a WMF file.
Thanks for the tip.

Peter

 

[Peter Frank]

<smacks forehead>

Sure, and if you have Acrobat, you can open the PDF and export EPS from it if
the printerperson won't chew PDFs directly.

Yes, you are right, that would be another option. But I don't have
Adobe Acrobat, I always used free conversion tools for creating PDFs,
which unfortunately do not offer export to EPS.

Peter

 

[Echo S]

That worked just fine except for some minor corrections I had to make
before saving as a WMF file. Some graph labels got flipped when I
opened the WMF file in Illustrator. I fixed this by converting the
graph to a Microsoft drawing (ungrouping) and correcting the few
quirks in Powerpoint before saving it as a WMF file.
Thanks for the tip.

Very cool, Peter. Glad to hear it worked for you.

 

[John O]

Will the printer accept a PDF? Exporting a pres to PDF provides great

tool.

Unfortunately, the printer does not accept PDF. This would have been
my preferred format, too (another reason being that there are some
pretty good free PDF converters available).

A printer that won't accept PDFs! What are they, cavemen? <jk>

-John O

 

[Peter Frank]

A printer that won't accept PDFs! What are they, cavemen? <jk>

Well, seems like it. ;-) It is for a scientific journal and they say
for figures they only accept TIFF and EPS.

Peter

 

[John O]

Well, seems like it. ;-) It is for a scientific journal and they say
for figures they only accept TIFF and EPS.

They've probably been burned before, and there are also ways of making PDFs
(with Adobe products) that won't work for certain production approaches. If
they had a recent copy of Acrobat they could accept then PDFs and export
whatever they want, as Steve mentioned.

-John O