Finder's preview and .eps files

[kjid]

I've updated my mac pro from leopard to Lion and what i notice is that it takes finder a few seconds to preview (inside finder) an .eps file, in opposite to the instant view on leopard.

When i view the same files in coverflow, they all show up without delay.

My question is if there is any option to show the eps files as quick as it used to do?

Thanks in advance.

 

[GGJstudios]

I've updated my mac pro from leopard to Lion and what i notice is that it takes finder a few seconds to preview (inside finder) an .eps file, in opposite to the instant view on leopard.

When i view the same files in coverflow, they all show up without delay.

My question is if there is any option to show the eps files as quick as it used to do?

Thanks in advance.

What other apps/processes are running? Launch Activity Monitor and change "My Processes" at the top to "All Processes", then click on the CPU column heading once or twice, so the arrow points downward (highest values on top). Then look to see what may be consuming system resources.

Also, check to see if Spotlight is indexing by looking at the Menu Bar icon:

(not indexing)

(indexing)

 

[kirky29]

Same on my i7 MBP - I just always thought .eps files were always slow, I don't remember them showing any quicker on Snow Leopard!

They also still take a few seconds to show up in coverflow.

If this is an 'issue' I'd like to know a fix too, I'm starting to use the format a lot more now!

 

[kjid]

What other apps/processes are running? Launch Activity Monitor and change "My Processes" at the top to "All Processes", then click on the CPU column heading once or twice, so the arrow points downward (highest values on top). Then look to see what may be consuming system resources.

Also, check to see if Spotlight is indexing by looking at the Menu Bar icon: Image (not indexing) Image (indexing)

Thanks for your reply, however the problem is .eps specific. Large psd files even quicker than the eps'. I've read that finder converts the eps to a pdf to show the preview, and thats the reason its slow.

In Tiger or Leopard they show up instant. (sorry not completely sure about the version we updated from, i think it was leopard)

 

[Mal]

I've always seen that behavior, and assumed it was normal. Given that an EPS file is a vector image, it's having to process it before displaying it, and the Finder isn't designed for that. I'm not sure there's anything you'll be able to do to change that behavior.

jW

 

[kjid]

the eps files we use are pixel images saved in photoshop to eps. Delivered by the client

 

[talmy]

EPS is "Embedded Post Script". It's basically a vector format description without an absolute coordinate system so the graphics can be placed anywhere on the page. PostScript allows bitmaps within, and most EPS files contain a TIFF preview so that the contents can be displayed without a PostScript interpreter. Any EPS file with the preview should display instantly, however bitmaps within the PostScript are in text that has to be interpreted and would take longer.

 

[kjid]

sadly there are over 10000 images and resaving them is not an option. We get the complete directory replaced by our client about twice a year.

 

[kjid]

The problem has not been solved yet. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

 

[talmy]

I just did a little experimenting. EPS with or without TIFF preview do quick-look instantly, but opening the ones with the TIFF preview in Preview takes a long time.

If I were in your situation I'd look into the combination of programs ImageMagick and Ghostscript which can convert all the files to jpegs for browsing or viewing. These are command line tools. You might be able to search for someone who has done this already for help. I've used ImageMagick for bulk format conversion many times but it needs to use Ghostscript as well to handle interpreting the eps format. Ghostscript is invoked from within ImageMagick so you need to install Ghostscript but don't have to interact with it directly. The whole thing can be put in a script and run overnight, if necessary.

 

[kjid]

I just did a little experimenting. EPS with or without TIFF preview do quick-look instantly, but opening the ones with the TIFF preview in Preview takes a long time.

If I were in your situation I'd look into the combination of programs ImageMagick and Ghostscript which can convert all the files to jpegs for browsing or viewing. These are command line tools. You might be able to search for someone who has done this already for help. I've used ImageMagick for bulk format conversion many times but it needs to use Ghostscript as well to handle interpreting the eps format. Ghostscript is invoked from within ImageMagick so you need to install Ghostscript but don't have to interact with it directly. The whole thing can be put in a script and run overnight, if necessary.

Thanks for your help, however this solution does not solve my actual problem: I need to browse trough the images when placing them in my InDesign document directly. The files which I'm placing must link to the original files, because they'll be opened on serveral computers by different people.

InDesign uses finder to place images, but the coverflow option is disabled, that would have fixed the problem.


EDIT:

Problem solved. Deleting the eps.qlgenerator from libary/quicklook/ was the solution. Sacrificed the vector quicklooks tough, but that's worth it.

 

[eclipse525]

How did you delete "eps.qlgenerator"? I'm on Mojave and can't seem to trash it. I honestly rather not bu if it means being able to preview my .EPS files that would be great trade-off. Most Stock sites that you purchase vectors art from are all .EPS files. Despite with people say it's very much alive in terms of file type.

[QUOTE="EDIT:

Problem solved. Deleting the eps.qlgenerator from libary/quicklook/ was the solution. Sacrificed the vector quicklooks tough, but that's worth it.[/QUOTE]

 

[talmy]

Despite with people say it's very much alive in terms of file type.

I don't know who these people are. As long as PostScript is around we will always have Embedded PostScript. It's been years since I've written PostScript (it is actually a programming language) but it was pretty easy to anchor an EPS file at the origin to make it a printable PostScript file.

 

[eclipse525]

I don't know who these people are. As long as PostScript is around we will always have Embedded PostScript. It's been years since I've written PostScript (it is actually a programming language) but it was pretty easy to anchor an EPS file at the origin to make it a printable PostScript file.

Those people are a generation of designers who have basically replaced .EPS files with .PDF files and/or .SVG files for web designers. At one point importing .EPS files into layout apps like InDesign, didn't like .EPS files and so .PDFs were a solid replacement. Of-course InDesign as since updated and plays nice with .EPS files but they are now looked upon as older tech. Probably more of a mentality thing if anything