From Luke Jackson

Open .EPS Files with CorelDraw11

For some reason there is a bug in CorelDraw11 which prohibits it from opening .EPS files. Instead in inserts a gray box representing the bounding box of the image with the file information. I have found a workaround for this issue and it is explained below.

Import PostScript Settings

• Open CorelDraw11 and create a blank document.
• From the Tools sub-menu of the menu bar select Customization.
• You should now see the Options window appear. On the left side of this window there is a tree at the bottom of the tree is the Global element, Click on it and expand it.
• Click on Filters and on the right of the options window should appear the Filters file association options.
• What we want to do is tell Corel to use a different filter than the traditional EPS filter to open EPS files. So on the far right you should see a list box with all of the currently configured filters and their associated files. Locate EPS - Encapsulated PostScript and click on it once to highlight it. Click the Remove button.
• Once this is completed EPS files will fall back onto the PostScript filter. This is OK because an EPS is still PostScript at the core and we will only have to ensure some simple options for the filter at time of open. Click OK to save your changes and close the Options window.
• Close the existing blank document and locate a valid .EPS we can use to test.
• There are some more bugs / anomalies with CorelDraw11 when it comes to file names. So the only way I am able to have it keep my file name is by dragging the desired file(s) into the CorelDraw workspace. (Please ensure no documents are open as it will then insert the files into the open document rather than creating a temp document with the file name for each file)
• Once a file is dropped onto the workspace you will be prompted with the Import PostScript dialog box. Simply configure the following settings:

• • VM Size: 8.0 MB
  • Import text as Curves
  • Report PostScript errors

• Click OK to dismiss the box and open the .EPS file. You should now see curves and be able to manipulate the vector graphic.

I should mention that I have seen instances where files open blank, but I had not found any file which did not open to be a properly formated EPS file. I usually use an application like Adobe Illustrator to confirm that the file is not corrupted. I.E. no bitmap images, mesh objects, redundant paths. Once I verify this I re-export it as an .EPS and then in order for CorelDraw11 to open the file it needs to be converted by GoBatchGS. This has been successful everytime. Hope this is of help to someone.

Macros

Center Shapes and Crop Document

Sub AutoCenterObject()
    ActivePage.Shapes.All.Group
    ActivePage.Shapes(1).CreateSelection
    Dim width As Double, height As Double
        ActiveDocument.Unit = cdrInch
        ' Add 0.05in margin
        width = ActiveShape.SizeWidth + 0.05
        height = ActiveShape.SizeHeight + 0.05
    ' Set current page size
    ActivePage.SetSize width, height
    ' Set default document page size
    ActiveDocument.Pages(0).SetSize width, height
    CorelScript.AlignToCenterOfPage 3, 3
    ActivePage.Shapes.All.UngroupAll
    ActiveDocument.ClearSelection
End Sub

Tags

Visual Basic Script, VBA, Visual Basic Macro, Corel Draw