You are better off keeping the bar code as vector data since that will print at the imagesetter’s resolution 9which is undoubtedly way higher than your document’s
Thanks for your reply. Here are the instructions from the bar code company:
" These barcodes are designed to be "placed", or "imported" not "opened" within page layout applications such as quark, pagemaker, corel draw, etc. If you must use Adobe photo shop for layout, you MUST uncheck "anti-alias postscript" in your preference settings before placing the Eps file. If this is not done, your codes will be unscannable. "
What steps would you suggest I take to "place" or "import" the bar code image?
Besides…Since bar codes are made up of a series of rectangles, antialiasing shouldn’t even be an issue unless you rotate the barcode off of either perpendicular axis.
Phos, true, unless our are working at too low a resolution…
What steps would you suggest I take to "place" or "import" the bar code image?
Smart object?
Edit: only works in CS2, (forgot you had PS6…)
Yes, I see your point – I’m just trying to follow instructions.
1.Do you have any idea why the Anti-Alias option doesn’t appear in my program?
2. How do you suggest I go about placing the EPS file?
Thanks
" Phos, true, unless our are working at too low a resolution…"
Resolution barely matters with perpendicularly aligned rectangles. Even at 72ppishoot, even at 36ppiyou’d have enough accuracy to have those barcode lines fall with their edges on the whole-pixel (intrinsic) grid in Photoshop. But, of course it depends on the thickness of those linesand the spacing between themas exported by the barcode generating software.
Richard…
Just for fun, how about you ZIP-compress just that barcode EPS file you saved and post it somewhere we can download it so we can experiment with it. I’ve never had to work with any barcodes, and I’d like to see what’s what.
Hum,
Did PS6 support vector masks?
If yes, you can always use a fill layer with one
It doesn’t appear in PS6, because PS6 cannot place objects. Any EPS opened in PS6 will be rasterised.
Only CS2 or a layout app can place vector objects.
There’s was a reason I asked for you to ZIP-compress that file.
It’s because I wanted to work with the same EPS file you’re working with.
The link you provided causes Firefox to convert the URL/file from PostScript to a PDF (using the ShubertiT PDF reader plugin).
Soooo….I opened the PDF in Illustrator, selected the barcode and the numerical code (there’s also a no fill/no stroke rectangle around the whole thing, which I deselected before copying the rest of the paths.)
Then I pasted those paths into Photoshop (300 ppi document) as a Shape Layer. The barcode rectangles are dead solid perfectly clean with no gray antialiasing pixels added, and the code numerals are antialiased, as they should be.
I also tried Pasting as Paths, and of course they come un as unfilled. Before I selected and filled the paths I made sure that both the horizontal and vertical segments all lined up on the Photoshop’s internal integer pixel grid. Went to "Fill Paths", unchecked "antialiasing." The Barcode is dead clean.
This all amounts to a giant pain in the sit-down.
Better it should be done in a proper page layout app. Or even Illustrator. Bring your raster stuff to Illustrator, rather than futzing with bringing the EPS into Photoshop.
Sorry Richard, didn’t remember ‘place’ being in PS6 – been a while.
