Read and edit an .ai file with Inkscape

Chess_Birds Posted messages 179 Registration date   Status Membre Last intervention   -  
Chess_Birds Posted messages 179 Registration date   Status Membre Last intervention   -
Hello everyone,

I would like to be able to open an Adobe Illustrator (.ai) file with Inkscape, as I have seen that it is possible to do so.

However, every time I go to find my file and click on open, I get the error message "File loading error". The same thing happens with the import function.

Does anyone know why this problem occurs?

Thank you in advance! :-)

2 réponses

contrariness Posted messages 338 Registration date   Status Membre Last intervention   6 240
 
It is possible to import AI files into Inkscape, but it depends on the version of the AI file...

Try renaming the AI file to PDF and attempt the import again

Open the renamed PDF file in Acrobat and print it again to PDF by changing the version to 1.4 or even 1.3 (it should normally be in 1.5 or 1.6...)
0
Chess_Birds Posted messages 179 Registration date   Status Membre Last intervention   18
 
Hi and thank you for your response!

These are files from an old version of AI, version 7 I believe. I tried renaming it to .pdf, but that doesn't change anything...

When selecting the exact file type in Inkscape when I want to open the file (Adobe Illustrator version 8 and earlier), another error message appears: "Inkscape has received additional data from the executed script. The script did not return an error, but this may indicate that the results are not as expected."

It then asks me to install Python Uniconvertor and place it with the Python installation that comes with Inkscape. I tried to do that, but it didn't work. I may not have placed it in the right directory though.
0
contrariness Posted messages 338 Registration date   Status Membre Last intervention   6 240
 
Ah okay, if those are old AI files, there's no need to try renaming them. It's from CS4 (I think) that the native Ai file is saved as a PDF.

Yet version 7 is old.. and version 8 is the most universal...

Are you sure your file isn't corrupted and opens in Illustrator as well?
0
Chess_Birds Posted messages 179 Registration date   Status Membre Last intervention   18
 
Yeah, I downloaded the trial version of the new Illustrator, it manages to open it, but even there there are some compatibility issues. So, I'm going to salvage what I can and save it in a different format to be able to open it with Inkscape (like .SVG). Even though it's still a bit of work, it's better than having to recreate everything...
0