Xara LX EPS Overview

You can export Xara LX EPS files using Export on the File menu. Xara LX EPS files are placeable EPS or a printing form of EPS. This form of EPS is intended to be sent directly to a PostScript printer, to be sent to a separating program for typesetting, or to be embedded in another application's files for downloading to a PostScript printer when that file is printed. Note hat this is not a suitable format for transferring drawings between programs.

Exporting bitmaps, bevels, shadows and transparency

If your drawing contains bitmaps, bevels, shadows, or transparency, Xara LX stores bitmap data in the file when exporting as Xara LX EPS (PostScript does not support transparent objects). You can control the resolution of this bitmap data. It defaults to 200 pixels per inch. If you find this is not right, you can override this with a manual setting. Bitmap resolution is always measured in pixels per inch (or dots per inch if you prefer). Xara LX will not let you export bitmap data in an EPS file at more than 600 pixels per inch, whatever method you choose. This is because 600 dots per inch is very high resolution indeed and can produce very large EPS files - any higher resolution is unnecessary. 300 dpi should be considered a practical maximum for exporting bitmap data to EPS.

Fonts

When exporting text objects in EPS files, there is the usual PostScript problem of font matching to consider. If you are using fonts in your document that you know or think your typesetter/printer does not have, then you can choose to export all text as shapes. This means all text objects will be accurately printed when the EPS is printed. However, because the text is now sent as shapes and not using a proper PostScript font, you may find that small text does not print well, due to lack of hinting. If this is the case, disable printing of text as shapes, and solve the problem using font mapping.

Some programs (such as Quark XPress) do not warn you about missing fonts - always check the printed output carefully.

Font mapping

When exporting EPS, Xara LX uses a font mapping table to convert TrueType font names to PostScript font names. The most common font names are built in to LX's font mapping table, but you may add your own, if you know the name of a font that your typesetter/printer has, and you know which of your TrueType fonts it resembles.

To edit LX's font mapping table, you must edit the registry. Do this only if you know how to edit registry values. To edit the font mappings, type regedit at the command prompt to open the Registry Editor. Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Xara\LX\Options\EPSFontMapping\ and add a new Value with the name of the TrueType font. Set the Data to the name of the PostScript font. The font mappings will look something like this:

Times-New-Roman "Times-Roman"

Times-New-Roman-Bold "Times-Bold"

Times-New-Roman-Italic "Times-Italic"

Times-New-Roman-BoldItalic "Times-BoldItalic"

Courier-New "Courier"

Courier-New-Bold "Courier-Bold"

<... rest of table deleted for simplicity...>

The font mapping is simple - the TrueType name is on the left, and the PostScript name is on the right. You can add as many new mappings as you like, however bear in mind the following points:

TrueType names often contain spaces - replace these with dashes when specifying these in font mappings - for example, "Times New Roman" has been changed to "Times-New-Roman" in the excerpt shown above.

You will need to map bold and italic variations explicitly, due to the way PostScript font names work. Again, as you can tell from the examples above, bold variations have "-Bold" added to the end, and italic versions have "-Italic" added to the end. If the font is both bold and italic, it has "-BoldItalic" added to the end, and NOT "-Bold-Italic", "-ItalicBold", "-Italic-Bold" or any other permutations.

Here are some examples:

Mapping the TrueType font "ZapfDingbats BT" to the PostScript font "ZapfDingbats":

ZapfDingbats-BT "ZapfDingbats"

Mapping the TrueType font "Avanti" to the PostScript font "AvantGarde":

Avanti "AvantGarde-Demi"

Avanti-Italic "AvantGarde-DemiOblique"

Avanti-Bold "AvantGard-Bold"

Avanti-BoldItalic "AvantGard-BoldOblique"

Mapping the TrueType font ZapfChancery to the PostScript version:

ZapfChancery "ZapfChancery-MediumItalic"

Mapping the TrueType font Michael to the PostScript font Palatino:

Michael "Palatino-Roman"

Michael-Bold "Palatino-Bold"

Michael-Italic "Palatino-Italic"

Michael-BoldItalic "Palatino-BoldItalic"