EPSWMF9


What it is:
===========

EPSWMF is a Windows program that marries WMF preview images to EPS files.
If the world were a perfect place, all software that exports EPS files
would allow WMF preview images as an option, just as it now allows TIFF
preview images.

The world is not a perfect place, so I took it upon myself to pretty up
this one small corner of it.


Why WMF?
========

Most programs export EPS files with no preview or a TIFF preview image.
TIFF images are either low resolution or they're large and ponderous.
To get a reasonably detailed preview, even in black in white, you're
committed to a TIFF image that makes your EPS file much larger than it
needs to be, and which slows redraws in the app you import it into.

WMF previews have these advantages over TIFF previews:

        1) they're typically much smaller

        2) they're resolution independent ... they don't fall apart on
           screen when you scale them up or down

        3) since they're higher resolution ... you can see what you're doing
           much better, and you don't get that annoying bitmap rectangular
           background like you do with TIFF previews and some apps

        4) they're in color

        5) they print well on non-PS printers


Disadvantages:

        1) Macs don't cotton to WMF previews.  When you add a
           WMF preview, you lose portability.

        2) They're not as universally supported as TIFF previews.
           Some programs will just stare at you and drool when you
           hand it an EPS file with WMF preview.


How you use EPSWMF:
===================

From Corel Draw, Freehand, etc, export your drawing first as EPS
(with or without TIF preview image, it doesn't matter) then immediately,
and without changing anything, export your image again as WMF (with or
without placeable metafile header) to the same directory as the EPS
export, and with the same base filename.  In other words, once done with
this stage, you might have on your disk:

        C:\EXPORTS\MYFILE.EPS
        C:\EXPORTS\MYFILE.WMF

You then run EPSWMF, click Choose Files, point it at MYFILE.WMF and
MYFILE.EPS, hit the Go button and you're off to the races.

EPSWMF assumes that you want to attach a WMF preview with the same base
file name as the EPS file, but you may choose any other WMF file
instead.

Once it's done, it saves the new EPS file with your WMF preview attached
as MYFILE.EPS (ie, the new file takes on the name of the original EPS
file) and saves your original EPS file with the same name, but with EPB
as the extension.

If you check the box marked Delete source, EPSWMF will delete your
original EPS and WMF files once it's done creating your new WMF'd EPS.
Until you've tested EPSWMF with your particular mix of programs, we
STRONGLY suggest that you clear the Delete source box before hitting the
Go button.

There's also an AutoRun check box.  If you check this before you start,
all you need to do is choose a WMF file and OK.  In AutoRun mode, EPSWMF
will automatically look for an EPS file with the same base name as the
WMF file you chose and proceed directly to processing it.  No need for
the double Open File dialogs.  Much faster this way IF you get in the
habit of exporting EPS/WMF files to the same base name.

EPSWMF will accept the full path and WMF file name as a command line 
parameter, and execute the embedding automatically, as detailed in the next section.


Windows 95 command line trick:
==============================

You can use EPSWMF9 and Windows 95 to embed WMF previews easily in
Explorer.

First, you have to set up Win95 to respond to your wishes. Before you do this, it's a good idea to have EPSWMF in a permanent location. If you move it later, this trick won't work.

Start Explorer. Go to the View menu, and choose Options. Click on the File Types tab, then on the New Type button. Enter Windows Metafile as
the Description, and WMF as the Associated extention. Next, click on the New button below the Actions list. Enter Embed in EPS as the Action and the full path where EPSWMF9.EXE is located as the Application used to perform action. Actually, to be smart, use the Browse button to locate EPSWMF9.EXE, click on it, and choose OK. Then click OK three more times to close all dialogs.

Now, instead of running EPSWMF and choosing the files and so forth, you can invoke EPSWMF by right-clicking on the WMF file in Explorer and choosing Embed in EPS. It behaves as if you'd enabled AutoRun and DISabled Delete source.  In other words, it finds the WMF file, looks for an EPS of the same name, marries the two, leaves your WMF alone and also 
leaves a backup of the original EPS (called <name>.EPB) in the same directory.

You can also create a shortcut to EPSWMF on your desktop. When you drag and drop files onto this shortcut, the above described action will be performed.

Finally, if you are working from within a Win95-compliant application, you can do the right-click embedding trick from within Open or Import dialog boxes. For example, if you are using PageMaker 6.0 or higher under Windows 95, choose Place from the File menu. Navigate to the folder where the EPS and WMF files are. Right-click the WMF and choose Embed in EPS. You can then delete the source WMF and the backup EPS (.EPB) files and import the new EPS. This eliminates the need to switch over to Explorer before going to your application.


Possible antisocial behaviours you might encounter:
===================================================
(All of them somebody else's fault, of course)

Some programs won't accept EPS with WMF preview images.  We've tested
with PowerPoint, Persuasion, Freelance, MicroSoft Word 6, PM5 and PM6.  I'm
told that pre-Corel versions of Ventura Publisher work also.

Neither Corel Draw (4/5) nor Corel Ventura Publisher (4.2/5) can display
WMF previews from EPS files.  Tsk, tsk, tsk.  Shame on them.

Freelance gets silly in the head if you import, then ungroup EPS files
with WMF previews.  It separates the preview image (and will actually
let you edit it) and also leaves a blank "PostScript Object".  Whatever
that might be.  I haven't tested to see whether either, both or none of
these print.

Workaround:  Don't do that.

If you do and something bad happens, it's not my fault.  By the way,
you should *always* check the "Make PostScript Object" box when
importing EPS files into Freelance.  If you don't, the import filter
will generally mess up.  It will try to convert the EPS to Freelance
objects, an endeavor which it will undertake with much gusto, but nearly
no likelihood of success.  Save it for importing AI files and you'll be
a happier humanoid.

Freehand 4.  I haven't really looked into what provokes this exactly,
but it sometimes makes enormous WMF previews.  Gradient filled objects
are one of the culprits.  And heaven help you if you choose "Convert
text to curves" in the WMF export dialog ... the one time I tried it, I
got something like 1.5 megabytes of WMF file!  No thanks, Altsys.
Oddly, if you convert the text to paths before performing the export,
the WMF is nowhere near as large.

We haven't yet tested the case where you allow Freehand 4 to include the
Freehand document within the EPS file.  If there are any interested and
ambitious souls out there, have at it.  Let me know how it works out.

Apart from that, EPS and WMFs from Freehand 4 work well with EPSWMF.

With large WMF preview images, you may run into problems with specific
apps.  Word will accept e.g. Freehand's previews and display them in the
Insert Picture dialog, but (at least on my puny home system) won't
display them in the document itself.  Might be my computer, might be
Word, might be that FH's WMF images are just too big.

Corel Draw 4's and FH4's EPS use some unusual bounding box coordinates
that seem to confuse some apps.  PowerPoint, for instance, will go
through the motions, but won't actually import the things (run through
EPSWMF or not). Turns out that the ClipArt mini-app that comes with
PowerPoint 4 is a clever little devil:  you can Insert ClipArt (instead
of PPT's Insert Picture) then add the EPS to your clip art collection.
From there it inserts into (and prints from) PowerPoint beautifully.

Add that to your "Go Figure" collection.

For what it's worth, none of the above are my fault, I swear it.  If you
have a Freehand EPS file with TIFF preview that will import properly
into, say, PowerPoint, but won't fly *after* you've run it through
EPSWMF, I'd like to see it.  Otherwise, thump on the folks that wrote
the original EPS and/or the people that aren't importing it correctly.


Required files:
===============

EPSWMF.EXE     The program itself
README.TXT     Which you're already doing, bless you
CMDIALOG.VBX
GAUGE.VBX
VBRUN300.DLL   NOT included; downloadable from the usual sources


To install:
===========

No fancy install routines yet.  Maybe later, probably not.

Put EPSWMF.EXE in a directory of your choosing.  The VBX files can go in
your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory if they're newer than the ones that are
already there (or if there are no files by that name there already.)

Alternatively, you can leave the VBX files in the same directory as the
EXE file.

Then, do the usual Windows drill from Program Manager of
File/New/Browse, and point it at the directory where you've just copied
EPSWMF.EXEs.  Why, there's even an icon!

Why no fancy install?  For one thing, EPSWMF will be distributed
electronically for the most part.  Doing a fancy setup for it wouldn't
be all that difficult, but to quote an ex-president, "It would be
wrong."  Makes the whole distribution set several times as large.  I
thought it better to let those who view CompuServe as their favorite
charity send their checks to them directly rather than forcing you to
make contributions.

Besides which, installers want to copy stuff into your system directory,
and I've been bitten too many times by programs that copy their (old)
version of WHATEVER.DLL over the top of my (new, improved, working) copy
of WHATEVER.DLL, bringing all manner of mysterious plagues upon my
system.  I don't want to be responsible for doing that to *your* system,
so there you are.

Support:
========

It works for us.  If it doesn't work for you, see the money back offer
below.

If you have a problem with some particular app's files, let me know.  If
there's a straightforward fix, I'll probably make it in the fullness of
time.  At these prices, I can't promise more than that.


Legal-type stuff:
=================

EPSWMF is Copyright 1994, Rindsberg Photography, Inc.

We've made every reasonable effort to ensure that EPSWMF will cause no
damage to you, your children, your system, your relatives, pets,
livestock, files, the ozone layer or your city's water supply.

But you just never know.

If it does, we'll cheerfully refund every penny you paid for EPSWMF and
even adjust for inflation if it bites you in the indeterminate future
(the softest, most vulnerable spot on your anatomy, that indeterminate
future.)

This money-back ... no, wait, let's make that *double* your money back
guarantee is good for all time, but does not apply to shipping costs
(including connect-time or similar fees if you've downloaded EPSWMF from
an online service or bulletin board.)

EPSWMF was originally written for our own use, to test the notion that
EPS files with WMF previews would be hugely useful.  They are, at least
to us.

It's distributed as GuerillaWare, a concept you may not be familiar
with.  GuerillaWare is software with a political agenda.  EXEs with an
attitude.

The notion is this:  if enough people use EPSWMF and find that the
results are as useful as we say they are, they'll start thumping on
software developers that don't support this type of file.

There is no charge for EPSWMF, but if you continue to use it beyond the
10-day test period, you are morally obliged to hammer on developers who
do not support WMF'd EPS files, incoming or outbound.

If enough of you make noise, EPSWMF will become unnecessary as
developers make EPS/WMF-preview exports available from within their
apps.  That, ultimately, is the Grand Purpose of this program ... to
cause itself to disappear from the face of the planet in a blaze of
well-earned obscurity.  That's what GuerillaWare is about:  software
that self-de-necessitates.

In that spirit, I heartily encourage you to distribute the program as
widely as you can.  Just make sure that this READ.ME file stays with it.

Use EPSWMF in good health, enjoy the fast, high rez preview display, and
above all, have fun!


Steve Rindsberg
President, Janitor, EPSGuerilla and VByahoo
Rindsberg Digital Photography

104047.2314@compuserve.com 
rdp@iglou.com

Support, such as it is, is limited to the above venues.  You want phone
support, call the folks that developed the software that won't
import/export WMF'd EPS files.  That's the point, after all.

