ai files NOT READABLE from PC Illustrator

Question

Level 1

8 points

ai files NOT READABLE from PC Illustrator

As I have just gotten an i7 with Adobe Suite, I thought I'd try to import an ai from Windows
to Apple Motion. It DOES NOT WORK. psd compatible, etc, etc.

It seems Apple can't read a universal file such as .ai
(Adobe Photoshop on a PC can read it)

very disapointed ,as I wanted to create custom shapes for particle emmision...better stick to
3ds Max which has no problem, and is real 3d

mac, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Nov 4, 2009 1:45 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Andy Neil

Level 4

3,795 points

Nov 4, 2009 6:22 PM in response to mark pigott

mark pigott wrote:
better stick to 3ds Max which has no problem, and is real 3d

Ok, then. Well, it was nice knowing you.

BTW, Motion and 3D Studio Max are not really comparable programs. Oh, and the problem has something to do with how .ai files are saved on PCs. If you were to open the file on a Mac with Illustrator, and then re-save it, it would then be usable.

Andy

PS: Oh, and did you make the .ai PDF compatible? That is a requirement for Motion to read it.

Reply

Answer 2

Nov 4, 2009 7:38 PM in response to Andy Neil

You could also just save the .ai as a .pdf on your windows machine and Motion will read that. No need to give up so fast.

Reply

Answer 3

mark pigott Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 5, 2009 6:14 AM in response to Andy Neil

But shouldn't an ai file be the same on a mac as a pc.
I am upset only because I'd like to do some cool custom stuff with paths
and I have the entire Adobe Suite on a PC, and Motion on a Mac.

It's a pity there isn't a script for pc ai to mac.
(There's a script for mac ai files that converts ai to motion shapes, but
this script won't work on a PC)

In regards to 3ds Max, I have been using this program when it was DOS 3d Studio
in 1992.

Reply

Answer 4

mark pigott Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 5, 2009 6:17 AM in response to Mark Spencer4

I can read any pdf or psd from the PC, but it will not emitter from the shape
bounderies of say a star shape, but rather from the entire volume of the bounding
box of the file.
I haven't given up, I know way more about motion than after effects as the PC
and the Suite are 3 weeks old!
I was mad yesterday with the original message, now I am better.
(Besides I have a certain quota of rants to fill) >:

+You could also just save the .ai as a .pdf on your windows machine and Motion will read that. No need to give up so fast.+

+MBP, MP Mac OS X (10.5.1)+

Reply

Answer 5

Nov 11, 2009 1:02 AM in response to mark pigott

AI is a proprietary format but is the same on a Mac or a PC (AFAIK).

Motion is reading the PDF part of the file. This has been the default saving behaviour for the last few versions of Illustrator. However, it is possible to turn PDF support off — analogous to saving a Photoshop file without compatibility.

There is a free script on my site which might help you as it specfically saves PDFs. I don't have a PC handy but this is JavaScript so it should work:

http://motionally.com/SaveLayersAsPDFv1.jsx.zip

(I gain no financial benefit from posting this link.)

Reply