Where is export to EPS in Finale 27.1?

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sPretzel
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Post by sPretzel » Wed Nov 24, 2021 5:55 pm

Hi,
The manual says that Export Pages to EPS is one of the six options but I can't find it in the dropdown menu. Where is it?
http://usermanuals.finalemusic.com/Fina ... XPORTG.htm
Type: EPS • JPEG • PDF • PNG • SVG • TIFF. Select the type of graphics file you want Finale to create. If you choose EPS the PostScript Options will be available. If you choose TIFF, the TIFF Resolution settings will be available. Make changes to these settings as needed.
This is for Finale 27.1
Thanks.


BuonTempi
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Post by BuonTempi » Wed Nov 24, 2021 6:13 pm

Yup. Looks like they removed it in 27.0.
Screenshot.png

sPretzel
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Post by sPretzel » Wed Nov 24, 2021 6:17 pm

That's not acceptable. It's in the manual, it must be reinstated. PDF doesn't cut it.

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motet
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Post by motet » Wed Nov 24, 2021 6:18 pm

That's terrible. I wonder if it really is a valid reason, or they just couldn't get it to work?

BuonTempi
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Post by BuonTempi » Wed Nov 24, 2021 6:27 pm

sPretzel wrote:
Wed Nov 24, 2021 6:17 pm
It's in the manual, it must be reinstated.
Or they could just correct the manual. :lol:

You can convert PDF to EPS losslessly in Acrobat, or using GhostScript or other utility. Though PDF is a drop-in replacement for EPS in almost all workflows.

sPretzel
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Post by sPretzel » Wed Nov 24, 2021 6:30 pm

Hi BuonTempi,
Correcting the manual after selling the product?
I'm afraid not. To begin with, exporting to PDF doesn't automatically capture page size from Finale.

BuonTempi
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Post by BuonTempi » Wed Nov 24, 2021 6:34 pm

Yes, Exporting from the Graphics Tool as PDF does produce a PDF page that is the correct size. (Or it did the last time I checked.)

It's fairly obvious that they just didn't amend that page of the manual after removing the capability. "Errors and Omissions Excepted."

sPretzel
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Post by sPretzel » Wed Nov 24, 2021 6:38 pm

It doesn't for me. Is there any setting that relates to that in Finale?
Also, exporting to PDF doesn't allow specifying any of the settings for the resulting PDF.

BuonTempi
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Post by BuonTempi » Wed Nov 24, 2021 6:48 pm

Perhaps it's a Windows specific bug?

The only options you had for EPS were "Include Preview" and "Include Fonts". The PDF will just have embedded fonts and vector graphics.

sPretzel
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Post by sPretzel » Wed Nov 24, 2021 6:59 pm

I don't have any of these two options for export to EPS! For export to PDF, there is only a box to allow transparency and an option to select all the document or pages from it.
If you change the page size in Finale to a random page size, does your PDF still have the correct size? What PDF producer is used when you create the PDF in Finale (you can see that in the properties of the PDF)?
Last edited by sPretzel on Fri Nov 26, 2021 5:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

BuonTempi
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Post by BuonTempi » Wed Nov 24, 2021 7:07 pm

I just tried in Finale 27.1, exporting Pages of a file using the Graphics Tool (i.e. not through the Mac Print menu). I got an A4 PDF for an A4 Finale page; and then I Redefined the Finale file to Letter: and the PDF was Letter size.

The PDF Encoding software is MacOS. The Creator is blank. :roll:

What size do you get?

sPretzel
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Post by sPretzel » Wed Nov 24, 2021 7:19 pm

I meant change the size of the Finale page to something random, like width=8.11 in and height=10.9 in. Do you then get this size for the PDF after exporting through the Graphics tool?

BuonTempi
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Post by BuonTempi » Wed Nov 24, 2021 10:41 pm

Yes, custom sizes work too. Can you describe what happens with you?

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miker
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Post by miker » Wed Nov 24, 2021 11:57 pm

Do you have Finale 2014, 25, or 26? You could open the doc in one of those versions, and save your EPS that way. I guess you could ask for a refund, based on an incorrect manual. It's not the first time the manual has been wrong.

But do you all remember when they went to the web-based manual, and they said that it would allow more frequent correction and updates?
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motet
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Post by motet » Wed Nov 24, 2021 11:59 pm

Exporting to PDF with the Graphics tool works for me on Windows Finale 2014.5, but it makes slight placement errors with text, so I don't advise using it--get CutePDF of similar. The Mac doesn't seem to have that problem

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Post by sPretzel » Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:18 am

BuonTempi: in my case (Windows), exporting to PDF with the Graphics tool uses Microsoft Print To PDF as the PDF producer, which I can't change to something else and for which there are very few parameters to set. And it appears to automatically select an existing paper size, of which there are few default sizes. So with width=8.11in and height=10.4in, I am getting a letter-size PDF (8.5x11). Can anybody confirm what they are seeing with Finale 27.0, 27.1 in Windows?
Also, since Finale works in EVPU and not inch, when I enter 8.11x10.4 page size, I am getting a rounded page size in Finale (8.11111...x10.89931). What do you see for the page size in Finale?

miker: no, I don't have those earlier versions. Could makemusic not simply add EPS back in a minor update to 27.1?
I do remember a quote from you:
PDF creation native in Finale has been broken, is broken, and probably will continue to be broken.
viewtopic.php?t=14124

motet: I suppose you don't have Finale 27 or 27.1 to try in Windows. No thanks for extra software to patch things up. Printing to PDF involves more steps than simply exporting with the Graphics tool. That's in addition to not capturing the Finale page size automatically.
Last edited by sPretzel on Thu Nov 25, 2021 12:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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motet
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Post by motet » Thu Nov 25, 2021 6:17 am

I don't have Finale 27, no. Printing to PDF has the advantage over the graphics tool that it renders the page correctly, so it might be worth that extra step.

To print to an oddball page size requires you to set that form size in the Windows print server settings. Go to Settings, Printers & scanners, Print server properties where you can create a new form size. Then it will appear in the print dialog in Finale. It won't matter if your oddball dimensions are less than 1/288" different from Finale's rounded size.

sPretzel
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Post by sPretzel » Thu Nov 25, 2021 7:13 am

Any size difference between the page size created for the PDF producer and the actual Finale page size will result in a difference (for example, things can get chopped off or there would be extra blank on the page in PDF). Exporting to EPS via the Graphics tool would capture exactly the page size in Finale, whatever it was in EVPU.

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dankreider
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Post by dankreider » Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:53 pm

That’s very strange, considering that the last 26 update fixed some issues with EPS exports.

I know EPS is sort of becoming obsolete. MS Office stopped supporting it about 3 years ago.
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bkshepard
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Post by bkshepard » Thu Nov 25, 2021 5:09 pm

I haven't had to do this in awhile, but I used to export Finale notation into EPS and then import it into Adobe Illustrator to do graphical manipulations. Illustrator's ability to convert a font character to a shape that could be manipulated was really useful. Does something like that work with a PDF export?

sPretzel
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Post by sPretzel » Thu Nov 25, 2021 5:15 pm

Hi bkshepard,
Yes, this works with PDF too. But what you are describing is converting a font to vector. That may have its purpose but not for someone who wants to preserve fonts. In any case, I don't see how this is relevant, especially since it is adding extra steps.

sPretzel
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Post by sPretzel » Thu Nov 25, 2021 5:50 pm

By any chance, when it's there, is Export to EPS accessible anywhere else than from the Graphics tool menu?
Is it accessible via scripting?

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miker
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Post by miker » Thu Nov 25, 2021 6:23 pm

sPretzel wrote:
Thu Nov 25, 2021 5:50 pm
By any chance, when it's there, is Export to EPS accessible anywhere else than from the Graphics tool menu?
Is it accessible via scripting?
Not so far as I can tell.
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dankreider
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Post by dankreider » Thu Nov 25, 2021 6:39 pm

sPretzel wrote:
Thu Nov 25, 2021 5:15 pm
Hi bkshepard,
Yes, this works with PDF too. But what you are describing is converting a font to vector. That may have its purpose but not for someone who wants to preserve fonts. In any case, I don't see how this is relevant, especially since it is adding extra steps.
When I export a graphic, I’m always wanting to convert fonts to curves (paths). I do this with SVG a lot.

My typical workflow is to export PDF, then use Cloud Convert to convert it to SVG with paths.
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bkshepard
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Post by bkshepard » Thu Nov 25, 2021 7:49 pm

sPretzel wrote:
Thu Nov 25, 2021 5:15 pm
Hi bkshepard,
Yes, this works with PDF too. But what you are describing is converting a font to vector. That may have its purpose but not for someone who wants to preserve fonts. In any case, I don't see how this is relevant, especially since it is adding extra steps.
It's very relevant if you are doing graphical notation or manipulation. Being able to convert a specific font character to its outlines (or curves) is extremely useful.

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