14 replies to this topic

[roryreiff]

This is my first time using ArcMap and exporting to Illustrator...

My problem is the following: When I export a layer composed of polygons (my base layer for room and floor shapes for a building map) as either an eps or AI file, it imports into Illustrator as a series of horizontal lines, and not as a vector file as I expected.

When I do the same thing with my layer that is basically from the CAD drawing of the building, and is composed of lines, it works fine and imports into Illustrator as a vector files as expected, and once I ungroup and release clipping mask am able to select items individually.

Is there something I am overlooking when exporting polygon layers? Also, what DPI should I export as? Since its a vector file, does it matter?

Thank you so much for the help.

[Geographic Techniques]

Make sure that your layers do not have a transparency set to them... I've had problems in the past with this when exporting to AI. I don't think DPI will matter much when exporting vector shapes, but I'm not totally sure about that.

Doug

[peanut]

This link on ESRI's website might help you out:

http://support.esri....cleShow&d=29950

What version of ArcMap are you using?

I've noticed in ArcMap 9.1 this 'polygon dicing' doesn't occur as often as it did in previous versions.

Rich

[roryreiff]

This link on ESRI's website might help you out:

http://support.esri....cleShow&d=29950

What version of ArcMap are you using?

I've noticed in ArcMap 9.1 this 'polygon dicing' doesn't occur as often as it did in previous versions.

Rich

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The documentation I was using instructed me to export at a minimum of 900 dpi to reduce "scraggly lines". This must have cause the problem of polygon dicing for my polygon layers. Plus, if they are eps files, dpi shouldn't matter im almost certain.

I will try at 300dpi and see how that works.

[peanut]

I will try at 300dpi and see how that works.

Let me know if this works for you. I just quickly exported a polygon out of ArcMap 9.1 at 50, 200 and 900 dpi. None of the settings appeared to make any difference in the number of nodes in the exported polygon and I didn't get any dicing.

Rich

[frax]

I have definately seen the export doing some kind of generalization. I prefer to export things at the "full" resolution (i.e. with all vertices/nodes) and then to do the generalization in Illy. And the dpi settings matter there.

[roryreiff]

Nope...that didn't work. I did get less dicing, but still dicing nonetheless.

Here is an image of the shapes that I am getting when I open the file up in Illustrator: http://www.tenforwar...ges/example.jpg

As you can see, instead of a vector file, I am given rectangular boxes of information that seemingly have no vector information. I tried exporting as AI and EPS, with different settings for image compression as well as DPI. I still got the same results.

[roryreiff]

Nope...that didn't work. I did get less dicing, but still dicing nonetheless.

Here is an image of the shapes that I am getting when I open the file up in Illustrator: http://www.tenforwar...ges/example.jpg

As you can see, instead of a vector file, I am given rectangular boxes of information that seemingly have no vector information. I tried exporting as AI and EPS, with different settings for image compression as well as DPI. I still got the same results.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The problem has been solved...I had a small transparency on the display settings that I had forgot about. Thanks for everyones help. That transparency business really does mess things up.

[Matthew Hampton]

It looks as though it is exporting a raster that is diced. If you are sure there isn't any transparency (or postscript 3 language effects) then try adjusting the Output Image Quality (Resample Ratio) and try again.

[mike]

If you have any type of raster layer or transparency in your map, the export will cut your map into horizontal strips. So, if you want to retain your vector layers, make sure you keep your raster/transparency layers at the bottom of all your layers. This will preserve the vector line work. If you can't avoid having the raster layers near the top, then you can always export different layers into different files and then combine them in AI. not the most efficient solution, more of a workaround.

For print, 300dpi is more than adequate.

[frax]

wasn't there some utility posted here previously that checks if it will rasterize or not?

For me - my arcmap views that are strictly for Illustrator export are very simple, it wouldn't be too much work to re-add the data to a blank view, if there would be any potential problems.

[DaveB]

wasn't there some utility posted here previously that checks if it will rasterize or not?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There is an article in the Knowledge Base at the ESRI support site that talks about this. The article number is 29935.
You can go to esri support site and search for the article by that number.
It also contains some links to other useful info, including a link to the Detect Complex Output Sample on the ESRI Developer Network.

[pfyfield]

Transparency is the only thing I have encountered that rasterizes the export file. I think ArcMap is trying to interpret the colors caused by the transparency. It rasterizes the layer with the transparency and all layers beneath.

Actually, raster pattern fills do the same thing...

Also, DPI does matter, even with only vector data. DPI determines the resolution of a grid to which all nodes are snapped. No nodes are lost, but their positions change. According to ESRI setting the DPI to a multiple of 72 will minimize this, so I usually use 360.

[MapMedia]

I got this a few times and figured out a work around:

I got the rasterizing when I exported from Arcmap when Layers were used. If I converted the layers to ESRI shapefiles and exported while displaying only these (no layers), AI displayed vector layers!

I didn't have any probs with transparency, just layers vs shapefiles. Try it and let me know if it also works for you.

Chris

[DaveB]

Transparency, raster data, and picture symbology (that is, picture markers or picture fills) will all cause rasterization of output. Layers (assuming you mean *.lyrs) will not in and of themselves cause rasterization unless they contain any of the above. The Detect Complex Output sample script will help you determine what will cause rasterization before actually creating any output, so you can adjust beforehand.