Exporting vector graphics (EPS, PS, PDF)

[ryan]

I've been trying to insert a CmapTools concept map as an EPS file in PowerPoint, however, the export function of CmapTools does not appear to work properly for EPS, PS or PDF files. Many of the export options have no effect, such as embedding fonts and preview.

To clarify and support my problem, I offer the following:

1) Inserting an EPS version of a concept map into PowerPoint 2003 gives the following error message:
"An error occurred while importing this file.
C:\PATH\FILENAME.EPS"

2) The same error message occurs when starting with an exported PS file after conversion to EPS using GSview v4.9.

3) Examining the file properties (using Adobe Reader v9.2) of a PDF exported with Type3 fond embedding shows no fonts used in the document (and indeed text is not selectable).

I've tried various combinations of export options (e.g., varying page size, fit to page, embedding, preview, etc) but to no avail.

Anyone experienced this or have any suggestions?

I'm using CmapTools v5.03 on Windows 7 x64 with 4GB RAM.

[acanas]

Ryan,

The libraries used to export Cmaps simply grab the drawing commands that are sent to the Java Canvas and map them to the corresponding export format (PDF, EPS, PS...) These exported files never see any font information because it never draws text directly to the Java Canvas. It first convert the text to lines and then draw the lines. We do this so that the visuals in Java scale appropriately. So if you have a problem because fonts do not exist, then we won't be able to help. This is also why no visual text is selectable in these exports. So the option of embedding fonts doesn't have any effect as there are no fonts to embed.

[ryan]

Thanks for you reply, acanas!
It's good to know why exported PDF files don't have selectable texts (though unfortunate for those with whom they are shared).
So it sounds like the CmapTool options for embedding fonts was a planned feature will probably never come to fruition? I'm not one to complain about free software, but why not then remove the options?

OK, then what about the EPS/PDF/PS file preview option having no effect? I thought I was making some headway in a PowerPoint import by adding a preview using GSview as described in Option 4 of the following:
http://www-d0.fnal.gov/~blevan/howto/eps2ppt.txt

However, not only does this require replacing an import filter with the one from Office 2000 (see attached and the instructions at http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00525.htm ), but the resulting figure quality is worse than JPG (probably due to GSview's poor Window Meta-File implementation).

Any chance of getting the file preview to work?

[rcarff]

With respect to the "Options" dialogs of the export dialog, these are provided by the library which converts the map to the selected output format. We do not have the ability to remove options like "embedded fonts", but I guess we should have had a warning dialog about issues like this. (i.e. ones that do not work or do nothing because we do not include fonts)

As for the file preview option, what exactly are you trying to do? What do you expect the preview option to do?

I took a look at importing a Cmap into PowerPoint and found that the best option was to export the Cmap from Cmaptools using the "Windows Enhanced Metafile (.emf, .emz)" file format located in the image export dialog. This will create a file that can be dragged and dropped onto a PowerPoint slide. I did notice two issues with this.

The first relates to images in the Cmap. If there are any images in the Cmap (Resource Group Icons, backgrounds...) then the resulting view of the Cmap in the slide will look REALLY bad. I do not know why, but if you right click on the Cmap and select "Edit Picture" you will be given the option to convert the Cmap to a drawing object. This will remove the images and display the map correctly. Well much better atleast. Any concept or linking phrase which did not have a background color or border will have text that looks bold, but that can be fixed in PowerPoint by selecting the text, choosing "Format AutoShape..." from the right-click menu and then changing the "Line" Color: to "No Line".

The second issue deals with non-solid lines and borders (i.e. dashed, dotted...). For some reason if there were any of these non-solid line styles in the Enhanced Metafile then I was not able to convert the map to a drawing object in PowerPoint. I had to go back to CmapTools, change the lines to be solid and then re-export the map to get PowerPoint to use it.

With both of these issues there is a workaround. For images, once the Cmap is in PowerPoint, you can drag the original image into PowerPoint and place it where you want. And for the line styles you can select line in PowerPoint select "Format AutoShape..." and set the "Dash" option in the "Line" section.

The nice thing about the Drawing Object in PowerPoint is that you can un-group the Cmap in PowerPoint and move things around or resize and still have a nice looking Cmap.

[ryan]

Hi rcarff, thanks for the info/explanation and your detailed reply

To answer your question: I expect the preview option would allow me to actually work with an imported PS or EPS file in PowerPoint because that is the only way it will show the graphic. I'm guessing the GSView work-around would actually be fine for printing since it's the PS/EPS image that the printer uses rather than the preview, but for on-screen presentations, a quality preview is essential. Same would go for importing a Cmap into any professional vector graphics program, such as InDesign (see http://help.adobe.com/en_US/InDesign/6. ... 6bd1a.html ).

Regarding the .emf option: thanks for point that out - at first I didn't notice it in the pull-down (File -> Export Cmap As -> Images File ...). It seems to work fine for my simpler Cmaps, though with the annoying bold text problem you noted and worked through. The ability to ungroup and move things around in PowerPoint is nice, but I must say, without the ability to edit the text, its not that useful (CmapTools is a much better concept map editor for keeping thing connected). However, for my Cmaps with background images, the results in PowerPoint were terrible, and converting to a drawing object by selecting "Edit Picture" had no effect.

Vector Graphics Solution: Fortunately, I found a much better way that avoids all the headaches with bolding, dashed lines, and images you wrestled with. Unfortunately, it required Visio (or perhaps some other vector graphics program capable of converting an SVG to an EMF). Anyway, here's the solution I came up with:
1) In CmapTools, choose File -> Export Cmap As -> Scalable Vector Graphics... (note: the Options of Compress and Stylable seem to have no effect) and save the file;
2) Open the .svg file you just created using Visio (or perhaps some other vector graphics program capable of converting an SVG to an EMF);
3) Save the file as an Enhanced Metafile (.emf)
4) Insert the .emf file you just created into PowerPoint using Insert -> Picture -> From File... (or use the "Click icon to add content" if the slide layout you are using has this).
5) Happy day! Vector graphics file now in PowerPoint ready for on-screen display or printout *.

* Note: We did have some trouble with the print quality when printing a poster that contained a Cmap (among other things) using this method; however, I think this was due to the PDF printer driver we used to generate the file needed for printing. It was a free PDF printer driver and may not have had the proper settings adjusted so the vector graphic quality was lost somehow in the final PDF file.

[ryan]

Correction:
In the SVG export, the option of Compress did reduce the SVG file size from 20MB to 15MB for my test Cmap (had a large photo for the background, which probably wouldn't compress very well). I'm not sure if Stylable did anything. After conversion to EMF, the EMF file sizes were the same regardless of the SVG option used.