EPS files and Printing

Hi Scott,

Only the display of any PostScript file is supported. For printing, only the rasterization of PostScript fonts is built in. For graphics, you either need a RIP between your Mac and a non PostScript printer, or a printer that has PostScript functionality built in.

Hi Scott,

It's not that an EPS file won't print at all, it's just how it prints. If you have a PostScript printer, then any EPS image will print without any banding or resolution issues. A non PostScript device will still print EPS images, but will either produce obvious banding in what should be smooth gradients. Or in the case of raster images, a high res (300 dpi) image will print out like a choppy, low res one. What type of printer are you using? I'd be interested in looking it up to see what its capabilities are.

Hi Scott,

I did a little more searching and found that OS X is very different from OS 9 in regards to PostScript. For a very large number of printers for various vendors, the print drivers supplied by Apple with the OS handle PostScript translations for tons of printers that are not themselves PostScript devices. There's a nice plus! 🙂

Full list of printers supported here.

or if it is something that Apple just did on their own

Hard to say. We already know that OS X is, more than anything, a GUI riding on top of Unix. It's not that simple of course, but generally so. But I also read that many of the programmers initially put on the OS X project were former NeXT engineers. So a lot of that expertise came along for the beginning of OS X.

Whatever the source, Apple has done a great job turning an OS that is normally difficult to use (if you're not used to a command line OS), into something that's about as easy to use as a computer interface can be.

Hi

May I join in this discussion? I too am looking for a clear answer to this.

I shall write what I truly understood.

Quartz is the engine behind what you see on the screen and, I believe too, the many wonders to the printers output. Quartz incorporated an engine that understand Postscript and its cousin, PDF. It therefore can read /write PDF, and possibly print .eps files to non-Postscript printers too..

Usually, to print a Postscript file (.eps or type 1 fonts) one need a Postscript or Postscript emulation printer to print. Otherwise they may need to install a Postscript like Ghostscript to translate it. But with OS X, it seems to overcome it.

I had tried printing some .eps files converted from .AI to .eps via Adobe Illustrator. However, what I observed is interesting. I tried importing .eps file into various programs and print. Some programs print much cleaner, better, finer shades. I print to the HP LaserJet 2300.

On further research, it seems that those newer programs that takes advantage of OS X technologies, it prints well.

I did all these because I am looking for a printer that is well supported on my OS X platform. To buy a Postscript printer will add another few hundred dollars (Singapore).

I have yet to understand how reliable it would be for me to print .ps, .eps files to non-Postscript printers from OS X. What kind of laser printers are support? Do I need a printer with its own printer language? OR will a GDI printer be good enough? Since I am printing to B/W or grayscale (no color), is it compatible enough?

Hello marba.chan,

The list of printers I linked to above states that it is subject to change. So while a particular printer may not be on the list, it may have been added since. But as you already noted, GhostScript covers PostScript interpretation for many non PostScript printers. So if the printer you buy has no PostScript support built in and OS X doesn't handle the task, GhostScript likely will.

If you're using Illustrator 10 (I think it was version 10 where Adobe made the switch) or newer, all .ai files are actually written in PDF format. If you want, you can just change the suffix of an .ai file to .pdf and it will open in Acrobat.