Regarding linked images...

[m***@adobeforums.com]

Is there any way of defaulting aics so that NOTHING I bring into my ai(cs) stays linked to another program, or is linked in any way.
Thanks

[j***@adobeforums.com]

On my system Link is off by default when placing images, so it ought not to be problem. Do you mean you want to make it so that it's not even possible to link placed files?

[m***@adobeforums.com]

yes, and since I recently did it again, I will follow up with this question... I am fairly new to ai, I have a file in illustrator that contains an image that I created in photoshop. The problem is- the photoshop file is long gone, and the image that I clearly see on my ai file that I currently am working on and needs to go to a client very soon gives me the error message of can't find linked image. Because I don't like passing on files that will open up with error messages to clients, what do I do? (can I embed in any way without the source file? Again, the image clearly shows up in ai after I get past the error message- I just want to make it so that there is no error message when the client opens it up.
If this makes any sense, thanks for any replies

[L***@adobeforums.com]

michael,

Check Rick Johnson's Graffix website for his Untransform Raster Ojbect script which will extract a raster image from a file. It returns a 72dpi image which can be reimported into PS and resaved.

Larry

[j***@adobeforums.com]

The script sounds great.

If you're new to AI I'll just mention, in case you weren't aware, that if you place your files with Link unchecked, it should import all the raster data directly into your AI file without any link. The problem will only occur when the image is placed with the Link box checked. (Remember that this option will increase the size of your Illustrator files quite a bit)

If you have existing files with links, you can select the linked item, then open your Links palette. Click on the circle with an arrow at the upper right, and select "embed image." This will work only if the link is unbroken. For files where the original linked image is lost it sounds like the script may be the way to go.

[m***@adobeforums.com]

I guess the part I don't understand is... since I am so used to wyswyg, when I get past the error message I am looking right at my artwork in illustrator. What am I looking at?? It looks perfectly fine, it has to be somewhere, doesn't it. Maybe i'll try pulling it out of ai and placing back in with link unchecked, why wouldn't this theory work?
thanks for your input

[J***@adobeforums.com]

Curious:

What type of file is this that you have the link in? Illustrator.eps or Illustrator.ai?

And what are you doing when you get the error, and what are your options in the error window, and how do you respond?

If it is an Illustrator.eps then all placed files are embedded, even if they were only linked to begin with.

When opening an Illustrator.eps file that was saved from an Illustrator.ai with linked Photoshop.eps images, Illustrator would still ask for a path to the original link, even though it was embedded by the save to EPS... and in that missing link dialog you were given the options of:

Replacing (which you can't do if you don't have the link anymore

Ignore and Cancel which seem to do the same thing... link comes up with a question mark in the links palette.

Extracting the placed image, which does just that but does so without making a preview, to get that back you have to open the extracted image in Photoshop and resave it, then update in Illy.

None of the methods above produce a screen image of the missing link when you first open the file, so I wonder what you did. Unless of course this no screen image behavior is different in more recent versions of Illy... I tested at home in v8.

So for linked Photoshop.eps files they are emdedded into Illustrator.eps files but only embedded for the purposes of placing the file into a layout and printing. If you reopen the same Illustrator.eps that prints fine from your layout, Illy looks to find the link and maintain it as a linked file in the links palette.

The odd thing is, if you place a Photoshop TIFF file linked, save the Illustrator as EPS, and close, then delete the Tiff file that you had linked, Illustrator does NOT report the link missing but opens the file without a hitch, and you will see your places image in the links palette as an embedded image.

So that means linked tiff files get "really embedded" when you save as AI.eps, instead of "kind of embedded" when you place PS.eps.

[m***@adobeforums.com]

the image was created in photoshop7 and "placed" in aics and saved as ai. when I receive the message stating can't find linked image, I can open up the document selecting anything and clearly see the image exactly as it was created. I can go into the linked image prompt, and of course the image that we are talking about is not there as an image but instead a question mark. I know of the linked image "box" when I place artwork, and I usually have it unchecked, but on inconvenient instances of coarse somehow it ends up checked, and because I am not paying attention to it I get "screwed" by losing the artwork. I am the only one using this computer, and on this instance I already re-created the artwork, but still am very curious on how I can see the artwork that is not really there.
thanks for your input.

[j***@adobeforums.com]

"If it is an Illustrator.eps then all placed files are embedded, even if they were only linked to begin with."

In AI10 (and probably earlier versions, but I don't remember) it is possible to save an eps file without embedding images, but it warns you pretty thoroughly that you're doing so. You can also embed linked files when saving an .ai through the save dialog.

"how can I see the artwork that is not really there"

You're seeing the preview. The preview is a stripped down version of the image so you can see how it will look, but doesn't contain all the data in itself to be able to print the file at it's best. It may seem a bit confusing, because it can look about the same as the embedded image on screen. The difference is in how AI handles the data and saves the file. The linked file keeps the AI file small, but needs the linked image available so it can send the extra data to the printer or RIP.

[J***@adobeforums.com]

And the fact that you are just seeing the preview means you will never get back the original.

Rick Johnson's untransform script is really only useful for extracting images that have been embedded, and you don't have the original to edit, which brings up a good point:

When you choose to embed all your placed images in AI, not only do you make all your .ai files unnecessarily larger, you make it very difficult for anyone down the line to edit said embedded images if they have to.

Instead of the knee-jerk reaction, "THAT'S IT!!! I'M NEVER GONNA LINK IMAGES AGAIN!!" why not just accept the lesson that you have been taught and make sure you keep all your linked images?

If you ever do any work in a layout program, you probably know enough not to delete your placed images, or you know not to delete fonts that you need, or any other type of files needed to make a project work, so this is no different.

In AI10 (and probably earlier versions, but I don't remember) it is possible
to save an eps file without embedding images, but it warns you pretty
thoroughly that you're doing so.




Yeah you can even do that in 8, but I can't imagine the average user breezing by the warning you get when doing this... for that matter I'm not sure why one would ever save an eps without the images... kind of negates the "encapsulated" part.

[S***@adobeforums.com]

Yeah you can even do that in 8, but I can't imagine the average user breezing
by the warning you get when doing this... for that matter I'm not sure
why one would ever save an eps without the images... kind of negates the
"encapsulated" part.




I do it all the time, when saving EPS files with a linked tracing image on a template layer.

And the Encapsulated refers to the PS code being stored within the prerendered bitmap preview (or the other way around, I forget).

[J***@adobeforums.com]

I do it all the time, when saving EPS files with a linked tracing image
on a template layer.




Now that makes perfect sense. Every once in a while I get Illy.eps files that have those layers set to invisible, but the images are written into the file, sometimes big images, and you feel dumb printing all that data for nothing.

OK now I have another question:

How does one even arrange that a screen image remains when the linked image can't be found?

Every time I have done this, I get a blank image on screen.

Happens that way for me in v8 on a PC, and in CS on a Mac.

[J***@adobeforums.com]

Late addendum to the original poster, should he return.

Correction to the previous posts that suggest you are seeing a screen image of the linked file that you deleted:

This simply can't happen.

If you are looking at the artwork in Illustrator, then you either embedded it, or it is linked and Illustrator found it where ever you had it.

See this <http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?128@@.3bb3b789>

[j***@adobeforums.com]

Correct me if I'm wrong. If you rasterize a linked image after it's been placed, it seems it's just rasterizing the preview. Is that not correct? If so, then the link can be lost and the preview remain.

Or try this. Place a file into an AI document as a link. Leave the AI file open. Go to your desktop, and move, rename, or throw away the linked file. Go back to your ai doc. When it tells you the image is missing and asks if you want to update, say "No." Now, what is showing in the AI file? I still have a preview there. Worse, if I save as an eps and tell it to include linked images, it saves it with the image and seems to think it's still there when I re-open it. But my original linked image is gone. What gives? What am I seeing on screen, then? I'm assuming that's a rasterized preview file, but could it have saved all the data from the original after I'd deleted the original?

[J***@adobeforums.com]

OK I get the same result.

But I don't think that is what this guy was doing.

Who goes and deletes the linked image right after they just placed it?

Try saving a .ai file, close it, delete the link, then reopen the .ai file.

I imagine the image you see when you do what you suggest is only stored in RAM, and will remain in RAM, while you are working in Illy, but it does not get saved with the file, so when you reopen, it needs to regenerate the preview from somewhere.

[m***@adobeforums.com]

Wow, I am always lurking around the forums and noticed all of the response to the embed/not embed. Although, my original problem is fixed (I just rebuilt the item in PS), I guess my follow up question is... because most of my work is passed to others why would I keep links? It is probably a very dumb question, and I know links would keep my ai documents much smaller, but if everything is passed along it seems it would be more inconvenient for the person that receives my work to get seperate documents containing the linked items rather than just getting the ai document with everything all in place (and even the chance of the other parties opening the ai document and because the see the previews, think that everything is complete and throw away the other documents and then be screwed when they are ready to print and the artwork is gone). I must be missing something because if I am creating a document of any sort, I want everything "THERE", safe, and no problems. Like I said, I know I must be missing something, because I am fairly new to this.
Hope there is more response.

[Dee Holmes]

I rather have you send a file linked and including the original PS file. I'm in prepress and if I have to make a minor adjustment to that file for our printing purposes or find a mistake, we can fix it quickly and update the file.

Say there is a bitmap .tiff embedded in your AI file and I have to fix something. Now I have to export it as a grayscale to open it in PS, fix it, then make it a bitmap again. Which usually loses crispness of edges.

Why can't you export as a bitmap file in AI anyway?

[G***@adobeforums.com]

My Illustrator workflow:

All images are PSD. Period.

All images are linked during the design and production process. This is important for a lot of reasons, but a major one is that I can have several different logo treatments, for example, and swap them in a whole folder of Illustrator documents by simply changing the name of the image file.

Unless specifically asked to do otherwise, I always embed the images before sending to the client or the printer. First, if the image must be altered, I want to do it. Second, nothing to get lost or worry about color modes. If I'm asked to provide a linked image by someone like Dee, that's fine, but to me, there's no such thing as "a minor adjustment." That's why I have a high-speed internet connection. I don't mind being bothered by minor adjustments; as the designer, that's my responsibility.

Dee- When you refer to a "bitmap .tiff," I assume you mean a 1-bit image, in which you have only white and black pixels. When you embed such an image - even in a CMYK document - in Illustrator, you can isolate it by hiding everything else, and export it as a PSD file. When you open this in PS, it will be in CMYK mode, but it's till just the exact same solid black and white pixels, with no loss of crispness.

[Dee Holmes]

Thank you Gary! I'm dieing to try that tomorrow.

I wish we could just contact the designer to fix their artwork, but we have to go through the distributor first, then they contact their client, and then the client might have to contact their artist.

This could take days. We have an incline of 3-5 day rush services, so mostly they tell us to fix the art. Sometimes it is simple other times it is not. And when working with poly, not everyone knows the process. For example we have to lighten alot of halftone images because the gain on press is like 30%. Plus with our flexo plates we can't have 1 & 2% in the halftones at all. For regular screens we can't print cleanly over 40% at a 55lpi. So we have to do adjusting.

Thank you for the tip about the psd files.

[J***@adobeforums.com]

...and Dee's story is a perfect example of why linking files and sending the links along is the better way to go, IMO.

Sure, Gary wants to be the one to edit all his files, he doesn't want any prepress monkeys messing up his work.

That's great, but when the 11th hour is up and a deadline is looming, the inability to easily make edits is a detriment.

Incidentally Michael, you never did respond to the fact that the scenario you described above (seeing images of deleted links) is not possible.

[W***@adobeforums.com]

That's why I like the Scoop plug in.

though a collect for out put should be included with AI it need not be a good as Scoop but there should be something.

[m***@adobeforums.com]

I thought I would travel back and see if there were any more responses to learn from, and the items posted primarily are showing both sides of the picture. I guess my way of doing things were just like Gary described. After my work goes to client, I specify that any problems that the printer has... have the printer contact me. It was my job and my responsibility to correct any problems. Also, like I mentioned, I embed everything because if my links are messed up by another party, it makes me look bad. So I kind of see both sides of it. Now going back to John's last comment, everytime I opened the document (before I recreated the photoshop image), there was an error message, however when I opened the document- the image looked perfect. I don't know what made that possible, why couldn't it be a "preview" as described in earlier responses? I guess I will take this farther and ask Wade what the scoop plug in is? After I finish writing this I will be going right into the manual, and if it is part of what ai loads, no need to respond it will answer my question, however if it is a third party plug in tell me about it. I enjoy items to which save me time, or add quality to my work.
thanks for your responses, I love learning.

[J***@adobeforums.com]

Now going back to John's last comment, everytime I opened the document
(before I recreated the photoshop image), there was an error message,
however when I opened the document- the image looked perfect. I don't
know what made that possible, why couldn't it be a "preview" as described
in earlier responses?




Try it yourself michael.

Make a Photoshop file, link it to a .ai file, save and close the .ai file, delete the Photoshop file, then reopen the .ai file.

You will not see an image of the Photoshop file that you just deleted.

It is simply not possible.

If you were seeing the art, then it was either embedded or it was still linked, meaning you did not delete the Photoshop file.

My guess is that the message related to some other piece of placed art that you did not see when you opened your .ai