How to Digitize a Photo Into EPS Format

Use the file management and conversion tools of a painting or image manipulation program to digitize a photo into the EPS format. Adobe developed this format to store vector images, which are instructions indicating how the image is drawn. Storing images in this format enables you to enlarge them to any size with no loss of quality. EPS can also store raster images, which do degrade when you enlarge them. If you want to create vectors to store in EPS files, use the path tools of your imaging program. Paths are vectors.

Instructions

GIMP

1. Click the "File" menu's "Open" command, then use the dialog box's controls to move to the folder containing the photo you want to digitize to EPS.

2. Double click the photo to open it in GIMP.

3. Click the "File" menu, then click "Save as." Click the "Select file type" link, and then click the "EPS" item from the "File type" list that appears.

4. Click "Save" to display a dialog box with options for the EPS format.

5. Type new dimensions to replace those in the "Width," "Height," "X offset" and "Y offset" controls, if you want to change the size of the original picture. Similarly, click one of the items under the "Rotation" heading if you want to rotate the picture during conversion to EPS.

6. Click "Save" to complete the conversion to EPS.

Photoshop

1. Click the "File" menu, then click "Open" to display the dialog box for opening photo files.

2. Navigate to a photo you want to digitize to the EPS format.

3. Double-click the photo file to load it into Photoshop.

4. Click the "File" menu again, then click "Save as."

5. Click the "EPS" item from the "Type" dropdown list to display a dialog box with options for EPS conversion.

6. Click "Save" to save the file in EPS format.

7. Click the down arrow on the "Preview" control to display options for previewing the EPS file. Click "1 bit per pixel" if you want a preview with limited colors. Click "8 bits per pixel" if you want a wider variety of colors for the preview.

8. Click "OK" to finalize the "Preview" options and save the photo in the EPS format.

Inkscape

1. Click the "File" menu, then click the "Open" command.

2. Navigate to and double click a photo you'd like to digitize to EPS. Inkscape will load the photo.

3. Click the "File" menu's "Save as" command, then click the "EPS" item in the "Type" dropdown list.

4. Click "Save" to display a dialog box for EPS options.

5. Click the "Text to paths" checkbox if you want to convert text objects in the original photo to vector paths.

6. Click the up arrow on the "Resolution" slider to increase image quality at the expense of greater file size. Click the down arrow to reduce file size and quality.

7. Click "OK" to complete the save to EPS.

References

• "Fundamentals of Computer Graphics"; by Peter Shirley; 2009
• "GIMP User Manual"; GIMP documentation team; 2009
• "Photoshop CS5 Bible"; Lisa Dayley; 2010
• "The Book of Inkscape"; Dmitry Kirsanov; 2009