A co-worker sent me some company logos in .EPS format and I didn’t have Illustrator or other Adobe products to open it (there is a list of programs that will open a .EPS file extension). My company had JPG’s, but I wanted a background that was transparent for graphic design. Below are the steps I took to convert the .EPS file to a PNG with transparent backgrounds. Once it was in that format I was able to change it to any format with Paint.NET
We will be downloading Scribus, Ghostscript (Ghostscript allows for Scribus to read the .EPS format), and Inkscape. This should work for Windows, Linux, and OSX (Intel).
There is a forum on getpaint.net that use to have a plugin that may still work for some, but it has been reported buggy and throws errors. The method below should still work for you.
Step 1 – Scribus and Ghostscript
- Download and install Ghostscript first. Choose the latest release (9.02 as of this writing). IMPORTANT: if you’re installing on Windows, scroll all the way to the bottom on the Ghostscript version page and install the 32-bit or 64-bit self-extracting installer (more on installation, configuration, or compilation of Ghostscript here)
- Download and install Scribus
- Open your .EPS file in Scribus. It will automatically convert it and ask you to save it in the .SLA format.
- Next, go to File > Export > Save as SVG… and save your file
Step 2 – Inkscape
- Download and install Inkscape
- Open your SVG file from Step 1 in Inkscape
- Press CTRL+A to select all
- Press CTRL+G to group all the objects
- Press Shift+CTRL+E to Export Bitmap. Choose your save destination and press the Export button
You should now have a PNG that has a transparent background you can edit in Paint.NET, GIMP, or whatever your graphic editor of choice is. Let me know if you need any help in the comments.
I often wonder why people blog about useful topics when they don’t reread what they wrote before they post. Did you read any of this? Do you know Scribus won’t let you save as a svg file? That you cannot open an sla file in Inkscape? You sir are kind of an idiot.
did you read or try it? tutorial works just fine and scribus can export as a SVG. You are opening a SVG with Inkscape, not a SLA file.
Works like a charm!
Thanks for the tutorial!
This just goes to show how common idiots are on the internet, where they want to point the finger and make them selves out to be even bigger, this fool has to learn to read and follow instructions before he is qualified to comment on someone else’s writings.
Plus it works like a dream.