19 replies to this topic

[John in Louisville]

I forgot to mention that I tried the "Save to PDF" trick with the Print option of the free ArcExplorer....It did in fact create a PDF file but I couldn't edit it in Adobe Illustrator CS2...it seemed to be in bitmapped, not vector form...It was worth a try though.

[rudy]

Thanks for everyone?s advise. To update, I just ordered Manifold. I?m keeping my fingers crossed. For $249 it?s worth a try. I wish Avenza?s MapPublisher were less expensive. I do my design work in Illustrator CS2 and it would be a good fit...yet, I can?t justify paying nearly $1,200 for a plug-in.

That's the same conclusion I came to about 3 or 4 years ago when I needed to manipulate and project data files. I use Manifold strictly for that and do all my cartographic work in AI. It will serve your purposes well.

[jessz]

I'm having trouble with the ArcExplorer-to-Illustrator trick. I have the full Adobe CS Premium, which includes Acrobat Pro, and I can make PDFs from other applications (like MS Word) which open in Illustrator with no problem. But when I open a shapefile in ArcExplorer and try to print it as either a PDF or EPS, all I get is a low-resolution raster image. Is there a setting I need to use which I'm missing? I usually just select "Adobe PDF" as the printer to create PDFs (this works in all other apps I've tried). I also checked the "Print file to disk" box, but it made no difference. Any ideas?

Thanks

[Matthew Hampton]

I just trouble printing to PDF also ("printing" to Acrobat Pro7.0). A longer work around would be to export a raster from ArcExplorer and LiveTrace in Illustrator.

My guess is that the folks who make the software were crafty enough to disable ALL vector ouput (it would be in their best interest). I haven't tried any third party PDF tools.

[Mike H]

Just a comment concerning the high price of GIS-bridging software to get into illy - I'm sure there are many folks on cartotalk who would do that service for a reasonable price as needed. No sense investing in software that you will only use to get vector data into a drawing package.