Clipping paths not selectable in Quark 7 or 6.5

[tlotzer]

A client has a photoshop eps which contains a clipping path. When viewing the Modify/Clipping paths tab in either Quark 7 or Quark 6.5, the path is ghosted out. I tried resaving the eps different ways, changing a point on the photoshop path, turning off/on OPI when importing the eps into Quark. Changing the flatness of the path in Photoshop, changing the path's name in photoshop.

I have attached a screenshot.

 

[tlotzer]

I went back and saved the eps as a tif. The path is now selectable in the Modify box but what's wrong with the eps file?

 

[almaink]

Nothing, thats just one of Quarks many "improvements". I think this started in Quark 6. Eps files with clipping paths automatically import with the path, and no way to turn it off unless you re-save it as an eps with no path or as a tif.

 

[Eddie3000]

I went back and saved the eps as a tif. The path is now selectable in the Modify box but what's wrong with the eps file?

Nothing, thats just one of Quarks many "improvements". I think this started in Quark 6. Eps files with clipping paths automatically import with the path, and no way to turn it off unless you re-save it as an eps with no path or as a tif.

What's wrong is that Photoshop's archaic Clipping Path feature is being used. There's really no need to implement that these days; it overrides the page layout program's functions.

If the .eps is saved with regular Named Paths they will all be selectable and editable from within XPress.

Equally bizarre (if slightly different) problems will be experienced if you import a Clipping Path into InDesign, too.

 

[tlotzer]

By regular named paths do you mean: path1, path2, etc.?

 

[Eddie3000]

By regular named paths do you mean: path1, path2, etc.?

Yep!

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[clanning]

Hello all, thought I'd chime in here--You can save the Photoshop file without a defined clipping path as EPS, TIFF, or .PSD (Yup, we have a native PSD import filter). I've copied an article from our Knowledge Base below--by the way you can get to the Knowledge Base by going to support.quark.com.

Solution AE0473 Unable to Select Paths Other than Clipping Path of Photoshop EPS
Affects:
QuarkXPress 7.x, 8.x
Mac OS 10.4.x, 10.5.x
Windows XP, Windows Vista

Description:
When I attempt to select paths other than the saved clipping path in a PhotoShop EPS file, I am unable to do so. For example, when I follow these steps:

1. Create a new Print project in QuarkXPress
2. Create a picture box and import a PhotoShop EPS file saved with a clipping path.
3. Click on the Clipping tab of the Measurements palette to view the Clippping options.

Result: The clipping type shows Embedded Path but the Path drop-down menu is grayed out.

Solution:
To enable selection of other paths in QuarkXPress:

* Save the PhotoShop EPS files without defining any paths as a Clipping Path, or…
* Change the format of the EPS to either TIFF or PSD file and leave the path information intact.

Once you have saved in any of the above formats, Import the image into QuarkXPress and select the Embedded path you want to use for the image.

Regards,
Craig Lanning
Quark, Inc.

 

[oxburger]

I concur with clanning. The path in photoshop can be saved with any name you want, so long as it's not defined as a "clipping path" and you can save the file in whatever format you want (.psd, .eps, .tif, jpg) and you should be able to adjust it in quark or indesign. We have a client that uses multiple paths in almost every image they supply and use different clipping path scenarios (when selected to clip in quark) for different usages of that image. The way they were doing it before had them with multiple copies of the same image with the "clipping path" defined in photoshop. The drawback to this was that if they ever did a color correction, they'd have to do it to all versions of the image. I finally told them that if they saved the paths in photoshop, but not define the paths as "clipping paths" they could use one version of the image for all their possible usage scenarios. Sure, some images may contain 6 or 7 paths, but now they only have one file to worry about when it's time to color correct it or add a new path.