exporting a drawing problem

[JanAdam]

I need a simple black and white linear diagram in an .eps format for
publication. I have made the drawing in PPT (2003) because I am reasonably
familiar with the software. The drawing contains a number of rectangles,
filled with a few different black+white patterns and a few text boxes with
numbers in them. Everything in B&W. Now, after having it done, selected and
grouped, I selected my drawing, and clicked on *save as picture* to export it
to another program from which I can save it as an .eps file.

Here is the problem: regardless the format I use to save it from PPT (.jpg,
..tif, .bmp, etc) and regardless the program I am opening the saved file, it
opens showing black background although it was white in the original ppt
drawing. I’ve tried opening it in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, MS Office
Picture Manager, MS Paint; everywhere it opens on a black background.

Where I am making my mistake? Or, how to save the drawing either as .eps or
..jpg? But, in the latter case I have to be able to set size and resulution
of the final artwork. Please help.

 

[JanAdam]

Thank you Steve,

I have tried .wmf after posting my question. To have a white background in
Illustrator I had to change the background of my drawing from default
automatic to white in PPT. Then, saving it as .wmf and opening in
Illustrator, the background is still white. Halleluiah!

However, it is not the whole story: the fill patterns that I need are
reversed or in negative colors, meaning that, e.g., if in the original PPT
drawing I had black dots on white, in Illustrator it opens with white dots on
black. I guess I can compensate for it in PPT (choosing the right patters)
but it is somewhat crazy, isn't it?

Thus, although the initial problem is somewhat dealt with, I would like to
understand why this happens. (I always like to know what is under the hood.)

Regards,