Illustrator .ai file grayed out and I can't import

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Level 1

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Illustrator .ai file grayed out and I can't import

I am trying to import or import as project an illustrator file and the file is grayed out. I can import pdf's, but does anyone know why I wouldn't be able to import an .ai file? TY.

MBP, Mac OS X (10.5.6), 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GB RAM

Posted on Apr 22, 2009 7:28 PM

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Answer 1

hanumang

Level 6

9,250 points

Apr 22, 2009 10:32 PM in response to Steve Plutte

I couldn't tell you why exactly - some say it's because, unlike with .psd files, Adobe won't allow the .ai format to be opened by other programs - but, yes, Motion can't import .ai files.

Your workaround - export out of Illustrator or Preview as .pdf - is what everyone does.

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Answer 2

Steve Plutte Author

Level 1

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Apr 23, 2009 2:33 AM in response to hanumang

TY hanumang. So I understand this correctly, when I see that people are able to import Illustrator files they are referring to exported .pdfs and not .ai files?

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Answer 3

Apr 23, 2009 5:05 AM in response to Steve Plutte

Howdy,

I haven't tried with the CS4 version of Illustrator, but if you turn on the PDF-compatibility option when saving .ai files, Motion can read them.

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Answer 4

Steve Plutte Author

Level 1

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Apr 23, 2009 7:18 AM in response to specialcase

Special. I'm going to give that a shot (I thought I already did, but maybe I did something wrong). I'm going to save making sure that PDF compatibility is turned on and then save as an ".ai" file. I'll let you know how it goes.

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Answer 5

hanumang

Level 6

9,250 points

Apr 23, 2009 9:51 AM in response to specialcase

specialcase wrote:
I haven't tried with the CS4 version of Illustrator, but if you turn on the PDF-compatibility option when saving .ai files, Motion can read them.

I'm actually working with CS4 and, yes, this (as PDF compatible) does work. Of course, it's a flattened (single layer) file.

I keep PDF compatible on by default, so I'm at a loss as to why it wasn't working for me last week, but thanks for the correction.

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Answer 6

Steve Plutte Author

Level 1

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Apr 23, 2009 9:04 PM in response to hanumang

To recap I just saved as pdf and didn't bother with going with the ai extension. Thanks for all the help.

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