Hi Josh,

I’m on an Intel Mac. i know the postscript output instruction is very easy to follow but when I get to save a .ps file, it won’t open with illustrator CS3. Is there an issue with that or am I just doing something wrong?

Cheers!

gradients i export with this virtual pdf driver (PC): http://www.pdfstore.de/PDF_Zeon_Driver.aspx
and this is a sample i made with it:
http://flickr.com/photos/lumicon/2341934384/in/set-72157604162829883/
…out of a dynamically programmed flash (swf file)
i made it 14 000 x 9000 px as original print size and it looks very good.

Well I have a question … I understood how to use vectorial art. But now I have to print a large amount of vectorial stripes. It is really funny doing that for me not for my cpu. So on a bitmapcanvas I draw my stripes. Now I have to shift from vectorial art into pixels world.

Can I print only small print? How can I print confortable a print larger than a A4? Any suggestions?

Is there anyway you can rip from a .swf for print if you don’t draw in flash? Instead you are importing .gif’s for your generative code? everytime i try to rip i get replaced jpegs in illustrator! Thanks

Hi Josh,

I played with my export code last night and did a quick test for you to have a gander at (PNG inside the zip):

http://www.fenetik.net/cl06test_final.zip

It’s a very quick gradient clouds test (my one minute version) output at 5000mm wide @100dpi - 19000 pixels wide with transparency intact. Unfortunately at this size you start to get some color aliasing problems in the gradients, but these can be overcome with some added noise applied in photoshop (could possibly add some noise or dithering in the export code). I’ll aim to get this all together in the next 2 to 4 weeks, put up my site and get a release out.

Can’t wait to see some massive wall murals when this is out!

Do you have a more immediate email address than the studio one? Let me know.

Mr. Moore… I’ve never been able to get the type to stay type… did you try exporting to .pdf ? maybe that would keep it as type… I have to admit though… I love the distorted type.

Is it possible to export PS that will still retain text data? I thought I was able to do this at some point, but now when I create a PS file the text has been converted to really messy/distorted outlines.

Mike W. I was just talking with Erik Natzke about this yesterday. He’s also working on a new exporter… previously he was using an AIR app to output his AS2/AS3 swf’s… but I believe he was outputting lo-res tiles and would re-stitch them in photoshop - which is not super elegant, but hey what works, works.

I know he’s started working on a new version that might be the very road your going down as well… I’d maybe mail him and see if you guys can’t both come to a solution faster.

I know many of us would love this type of functionality so please keep us posted if you decide to post your script online… I can even post a copy on my server… since Media Temple hooks me up with a dedicated server… if you’re worried about bandwidth and traffic.

Hi Josh,

I have been able to create a bunch of AS3 classes that allow you to render out your clips as PNG tiles on the server *with* FX, transparency, gradients and bitmaps. The server side also generates a script that stitches the tiles together using ImageMagick. I haven’t done any extensive testing but it seems I can get at least 10,000+ x 10,000+ pixel output files (with transparency intact) without much issue.

It works by compositing the vectors on top of each other into layers before saving out the tiles to keep processing down - the more FX and complex the clips, the fewer clips you can composite per layer before it will crash but that limitation can be handled automatically by the code and a processing queue. It also scales up everything and masks off the tiles so you can effectively get 300+ dpi output (and so far I have seen no noticeable artefacts). I hope to reveal all when I get my site up but if you or anyone else is keen to have a crack at your own implementation I can confirm it can definitely be done!

NICE !!!

I should have asked about that - I’ve always preferred the rounded organic corners - which meshes so well with the style of drawing I make.

but at least you can change the miter in Illustrator if you that’s the edge you need.

thanks for posting this solution mike… I’m sure it will help others.

Figured it out!
I had the miter set to square (default somehow?) on all my strokes which wasn’t handled too well when exported. For anyone else reading too - make sure your strokes are set to normal scale and miters to round (which deactivates it) in the properties panel.
Thanks for your help Josh!
-mike

mike… I have a few PC’s here in the studio and if you installed that printer driver listed above and run through the steps… it in theory would work… lord knows I’ve used it tons of times on my PC’s.

just for the hell of it - are you clicking advanced… and using “Encapsulated PostScript (EPS)” from the “Postscript Output Options” dropdown?

Yo Josh!
Lets take one more stab at it! My answer: i’m on a PC? No matter what I do or anycombination I try, I’ve realized any size stroke (hairline to 20+) in flash(cs3) can’t be exported. When I open them up in illustratior (cs3) they look fine but are actually shapes, two line on either side of the flash stoke with a fill, does this make sense? can I export strokes some how?
Thanks - mike

I think I figured out some people’s frustration on a Mac (hopefully). I am using Flash CS3. I followed all the instructions here and got a rasterized PS file when I opened it in Illustrator. After looking at the PS file, I noticed that my file looked like it was being rasterized on export. I tried countless variations and even hoping on my PC, only to find out my stripped down version of Windows did not have the PostScript driver included. Please, anyone having the same problem that I was having read the line below.

Uncheck compress movie in your Publish Settings. (File > Publish Settings > Flash)

I soon realized my fresh install of CS3 was the problem. Hope this becomes useful for someone.

ah ok… I see what you mean…

1. keep the lines in Flash as hairline
2. export
3. lines show up as .24 in Illustrator
4. select any stroke - which updates the stroke panel to .24
5. use “select” “same stroke weight” to highlight all strokes with a .24 stroke weight and now using the stroke panel to change ALL the .24 strokes to any stroke weight you desire.

this is why step 1 is so important if the lines are not hairlines and scaling is happening in your flash file - the strokes will actually get ripped to different stroke weights - hairline insures that they will maintain a .24 weight and using “select” I can grab them all and bump them up to any stroke within illustrator.

hope this helps mike and thanks for the nice comments.

Thanks Josh!
Actually my problem was that in Flash I had set scale to none in the properties panel of my strokes. This kept all my strokes the same size, regarless of how big or small I scaled the object via actionscript. But when you do this and export it as an eps and open it in Illustrator all the stroke are mad thin, i guess these types of strokes can’t be exported? So I have to set scale to normal for my strokes and if its scaled to smaller than a 1 stroke you get the thinnest line ever, like you said.
I Don’t know if you have a way around this or not, but that’s my story.
Dude, You freakin’ Rock the party! Love your work!

if you have a hairline in Flash - it would get ripped as a .24 stroke in Illustrator - since Illustrator doesn’t have “hairline”.

hi,
i’ve been able to export my image as an eps file from my fla, but all my strokes are hairlines when i open up the eps and they’re not like that when i run the swf and save it. strange. i was wondering if you can help. i have all cs3 stuff and tried running the fla in version 8 and 9 and got the same results, and i followed your directions exactly - im on pc.
Thanks - mike

Guy, not yet. I’ve brought this issue up with the Adobe posse - let’s see what happens.

I have heard of Erik Natzke using AIR to view his project in an AIR app and connecting to a PNG exporter and ripping out “sections/tiles” to 72 DPI large stage outputs — which then he stitches back together in Photoshop. so that when they are scaled down gain in DPI.

Hey Josh,

If we can’t get any vector output from flash 9, is there any way we can write generative code in Actionscript 3 and export it properly?

Ever since I saw the apple pro profile on your work, I was wondering how you export it back to illustrator (because even though you talked about the integration between these apps, it obviously had some technical issues…)

Thanks for all this info,

Guy.

Yeah, that would be awesome. Fingers crossed indeed!

Rocking Dale…

I’ve sat down with the team at the past MAX in Chicago… even if they add output to .pdf or .ai (they control both formats… so this seems like a no-brainer) from a script from within flash, would be great… let’s cross our fingers that my request makes it in.

Hi there,

I’ve stumbled on the same issue with Flash CS3, and Flash Player 9 not supporting vector printed output. No matter what I try, I always end up with a rasterised version of the file. Perhaps Adobe removed the ability to print vectors in CS3. As you mentioned, printing via Flash Player 8 works totally fine.

On another note, here is an illustrator script for randomly applying transparency (alpha) to selected artwork. I got frustrated with alpha dropping out, so I wrote this. Might be useful if people want to have random alphas in their Illustrator docs. Works in CS2 and CS3.

http://www.noponies.com/dev/randomtrans/RandomiseTrans.zip

Hey John, I’m not sure entirely what you’re doing or trying to do - if the vectors on screen are grouped or MovieClips I haven’t noticed and break ups of overlapping shapes.

Inspiring, brilliant work!

Question: I tried outputting a ps from a fla file, and it generated a good vector file for Illustrator, but it breaks up overlapping shapes - is there any way to avoid this?

Thanks!

Hey Gene, I’ve noticed the same thing. In the past you used to be able to use a mask in the timeline and postscript would keep the mask … but now you have to use a mask with code for it to work.

in the downloadable files check - random Canvas, nested masked canvases as an example.

hope this helps,

Hey Josh, I’m using a mask in a flash file and when i export it to swf and try to print it via flash player 8, the mask doesn’t show. Only the layer that’s behind the mask shows. You run into this problem before? Thanks in advance!

Great Question Andreas.

1. have you tried it ? gradients and transparency still don’t get ripped as vectors. unless you know something I haven’t figured out yet.

2. with plain vectors - I have seen PDF get a bit wonky with scale and sometimes color. I have found PS to be consistently perfect with vector management when starting in flash and outputting to Illustrator.

Hi!

Amazing work.
I wondered, given that PS doesnt support alpha or gradients, why don’t you save as PDF on your Mac and open the PDF in Illustrator?

Hey Laura - yeah I noticed the same thing on a few of the Intel macs up at one of my workshops - however… downloading the Flash Player 8 standalone worked.

Macromedia Flash Player 8 — Standalone Players (Projectors) for Macintosh
12/6/2006 Download the Flash Player 8 standalone players:

flashplayer_8_all_release.dmg

–

check this page for other builds :

http://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/downloads.html

I tried to rip the file as you mentioned for a Mac using Flash 9, but I’m still getting rasterized art, even with the tested .swf. Could it be because I’m using CS3?

Cheers for this post Nicola - I’m sure there are several other alternatives to get stuff rocking !

I did the same in the past with PDFcreator instead of Apple Laserwriter 12/640 PS.
I do not know if the result color is the same but the finished work is good and the process to print is simpler than the one with Apple Laserwriter. (at the end you obtain a pdf and you can open it in illustrator)