All things being equal, the quality is the same.
There are many reasons why one file format would be chosen over another.
It’s workflow specific as well as job specific.
There is no be all end all, you gotta use one over the other.
They both have benefits as well as limitations.
The best thing to do is for you to test both with your workflow.
For example, our workflow requires us to have EPS files when using Quark, we can however use TIFFs with InDesign
Rene,
Can you elaborate on why that is. It’s been my experience that prepress houses that insist on eps do so based on tradition – what they might have had to do ten years ago, when you actually did have to use eps for things like clipping paths. I haven’t used anything but tif for images except for spot color or vector for at least a couple if not more years now, and not a single problem. And it’s all Xpress, no ID at all. I’d love to hear where people are having problems with specific formats.
I haven’t used dcs2 (exclusively) in a while because the last two shops I worked for were scared of it, but it’s still my all-time favorite format.
(printing one color at one time to film is one of my favorite postscript error solving methods : )
EPS is best cropped and sized to fit the layout.
TIFF is great for printing small portions of large images.
I thought the differences between the two was that TIFF’s could be color managed and eps’s couldn’t.
PS manual and online help have very good explanations on file formats.
I thought the differences between the two are TIFF’s can be color managed and but not EPS’s.
PS manual and online help have very good explanations on file formats.
Peter,
We have to use EPS because our colour managed workflow uses Praxisoft’s Autoflow. This sofwtare will take files from any number of hot folders and convert to the appropriate output profile. Now when Quark writes a PostScript file with a TIFF file, it rewrites the image data, but strips what it considers to be unnecessary data, including the embedded colour profile. This does not happen with EPS files, wince they simply get copied into the PS document, so they keep their profiles.
Tim, both can be colour managed without a problem, as long as the EPS file is a raster image and not a vector one (from AI for example)
So are you all telling me that it really does not matter unless it is a workflow issue, instead of a vector or raster issue.
We are currently checking out workflow systems and we have narrowed it down to Artworks and Hiedleberg. These programs seem use pdfs for the most part, so is a tiff going to cause problems in the workflow?
I have gone to PS online and that is where it specifies tiff for rasters and eps for vector. So is this the best way?
So are you all telling me that it really does not matter unless it is a workflow issue, instead of a vector or raster issue.
Pretty much yes.
TIFF files have to be raster, EPS files may be raster _or_ vector.
Veryone uses what works best for their workflow.
Remember Photoshop eps files are not vector files in the way that Illustrator or Freehand files are, but they may contain vector elements, such as type. If your file is all type (a logo say) you might be better off using eps with vector information saved.
Thank you all for your help.
