Saving for Other Applications

Whereas the undisputed choice of file format once was EPS, there are now more interesting possibilities for saving Illustrator files.

If your file's ultimate fate is placement in a QuarkXPress layout, the right answer is still EPS. But you don't have to reach back in time to export a legacy EPS. Even the venerable QuarkXPress 4.11 can handle a CS2flavored EPS that was generated by an Illustrator file containing all sorts of transparency and the requisite soft drop shadows.

If you're sending your artwork into the void and have no idea where it's headed, consider keeping your native working file intact, but saving a copy of it as a legacy Illustrator 8.0 EPS file.

If your Illustrator file is destined for InDesign, there are some significant benefits to keeping it a native file with live transparency. Since version 2.0, InDesign has supported the blending modes and transparency effects in AI files, allowing such attributes to interact with other elements in an InDesign page.

Finally, the Object Layer Options introduced in InDesign CS2 allows you to selectively reveal or hide layers of Photoshop files or PDFs. Acrobat 6.0 marked the inclusion of layers in PDFs. While this may seem unrelated to Illustrator, saving as a PDF is the only way to allow selective visibility of layers in an Illustrator file from within an InDesign CS2 page. Choose Acrobat 6.0 or higher, and then check the option to create Acrobat layers from top-level layers in the Illustrator file.