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Translating Photoshop and Illustrator files w/ Rainbow?!
Thread poster: Jan Sundström
Jan Sundström
Jan Sundström  Identity Verified
Sweden
Local time: 03:19
English to Swedish
+ ...
Nov 27, 2007

Hi all,

I've been reading about this free tool called Rainbow. AFAIK, it includes filters to prepare .AI (Illustrator) and .PSD (Photoshop) files for translation in Trados or other CAT tools.

I know it's also possible to export via SVG from Illustrator, but Rainbow sounds like a smarter solution.

Did anyone try Rainbow for this purpose? Does it really work?

The versions of Rainbow are confusing to me. It seems that the latest version ("release ... See more
Hi all,

I've been reading about this free tool called Rainbow. AFAIK, it includes filters to prepare .AI (Illustrator) and .PSD (Photoshop) files for translation in Trados or other CAT tools.

I know it's also possible to export via SVG from Illustrator, but Rainbow sounds like a smarter solution.

Did anyone try Rainbow for this purpose? Does it really work?

The versions of Rainbow are confusing to me. It seems that the latest version ("release 18", bundled as Okapi) supports .AI, but there's no mention of .PSD:
http://okapi.sourceforge.net/Release/Filters/Help/illustrator.htm

On the other hand Rainbow 3.0 mentions Photoshop, but not Illustrator:
http://www.translate.com/technology/tools/

Will I need to install both versions to handle both formats?!

Also, the web sites don't document which versions of Creative Suite they support. How about CS/CS2/CS3, are they all recognized?

Thanks for any input!

/Jan

[Edited at 2007-11-27 10:03] ▲ Collapse
 
Angeliki Papadopoulou
Angeliki Papadopoulou  Identity Verified
Greece
Local time: 04:19
English to Greek
+ ...
Just thinking out loud here Nov 27, 2007

Please don't take this personally - I really am wondering why anyone would want a translation of a .psd file - I mean why would anyone write something other than the odd slogan in photoshop, when it is in no way, shape or form the sort of software one would use to write in.
 
Brandis (X)
Brandis (X)
Local time: 03:19
English to German
+ ...
Graphics with embedded text.. Nov 28, 2007

Angeliki Papadopoulou wrote:

Please don't take this personally - I really am wondering why anyone would want a translation of a .psd file - I mean why would anyone write something other than the odd slogan in photoshop, when it is in no way, shape or form the sort of software one would use to write in.

Mostly regional, national literature or architectual and other illustrated library editions are done like this, multilayered graphics with embedded text. Has more artistic and presentation value than as literature. Best regards, Brandis
 
Jan Sundström
Jan Sundström  Identity Verified
Sweden
Local time: 03:19
English to Swedish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Many examples! Nov 28, 2007

Angeliki Papadopoulou wrote:

I really am wondering why anyone would want a translation of a .psd file - I mean why would anyone write something other than the odd slogan in photoshop, when it is in no way, shape or form the sort of software one would use to write in.



Angeliki, trust me, there are lots of customers out there that produce originals in Photoshop!

A regular assignment I get is a newsletter that is sent out as an e-mail for some 20 different languages.

The client always create a mockup in Photoshop, with various graphics and textboxes in the different layers.
We have to translate the layered text here, and create a localized PSD file.
This will then be used by the client to check for space constraints, and if necessary the translations are shortened.

For sure, I've received translation assignments in Photoshop for many years now, and I don't see the method going away anytime soon.

That's why a tool like this would be very interesting.

Any real-life experience from other users?!

/Jan
 
Jan Sundström
Jan Sundström  Identity Verified
Sweden
Local time: 03:19
English to Swedish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Clarification Nov 28, 2007

Hi all,

I just received a very helpful mail from Yves at translate.com:
------------
There are 3 versions of Rainbow: v3 and v4 are freeware and not developped anymore. v5 is open source and it is the version currently developped and supported.

- v3 has a PSD filter. It works on binary PSD files and does not require to have Photoshop installed. However, this filter, because it works directly on the binary files, has many limitation, especially when merging b... See more
Hi all,

I just received a very helpful mail from Yves at translate.com:
------------
There are 3 versions of Rainbow: v3 and v4 are freeware and not developped anymore. v5 is open source and it is the version currently developped and supported.

- v3 has a PSD filter. It works on binary PSD files and does not require to have Photoshop installed. However, this filter, because it works directly on the binary files, has many limitation, especially when merging back the translated text.
(It requires a license key that can be claimed at no cost from Translate.com).

- v4 had no support for either Photoshop or Illustrator files.

- v5 has a filter for Illustrator. It does not require any key and it supports any formats that Illustrator can open, including PSD files. One disadvantage is that this filter uses Illustrator itself (Illustrator CS), so you need to have Illustrator CS (I think that's version 11) installed to be able to use the filter.

The main issue with supporting the other version has to do with how Adobe has named its COM Illustrator component: they share names, preventing an easy support for several versions at once.

So, to support both Illustrator and Photoshop files you need Rainbow v5, which can be downladed here:
http://okapi.sourceforge.net/downloads.html

You can find more information about the Illustrator filter for v5 here:
http://okapi.sourceforge.net/Release/Filters/Help/illustrator.htm

>If I have CS2 or CS3 installed, the Illustrator software wouldn't recognize Rainbow/Okapi?

That's correct (at least I think, I've never tried CS2 or CS3 with the filter). But since it uses CS COM identifier to find Illustrator, I doubt CS3 has the same COM ID as CS.

> So I can apply the filter to any file that Illustrator CS can open (say .PSD). But how about reimporting text. Illustrator wouldn't be able to re-save into a layered .PSD at the other end, right?

The filter should be able to work with any format that AI can open and save. We have actually used it more with EPS files than AI files. PSD should work too. One thing I noticed is the size of the saved file is much larger than the original file. I'm not sure why. It seems to be a AI script issue/limitation.


[Edited at 2007-11-28 15:26] ▲ Collapse
 


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