Help between EXP and Illustrator

**sherryk** · 07 December 2006, 07:28 PM

Hello all
I'm so new to Xara I squeek so forgive me if this question is rather "newbie".

I'm using XaraPro trial at the moment trying to get use to it (haven't used Xara before) and did a beautiful drawing of a grouping of balls with nice hi-lites. I saved it as Xara.EPS and opened it in Illustrator v12.1 and it looks like crap! Does anyone work between these two programs and if so,how?

Really appreciate any help here as it's driving me nuts

**Soquili** · 07 December 2006, 07:49 PM

Hi Sherry,

Welcome to Talkgraphics.

Try exporting your image as a pdf file and then open that in Illustrator.

I don't have version 12.1 of Illy to test it, but that is probably the best method available.

**-=Drifter=-** · 07 December 2006, 08:05 PM

Hi Sherry. Welcome to TalkGraphics. What exactly does I'm so new to Xara I squeek mean? Oh.......... as in squeeky clean?

**sherryk** · 07 December 2006, 09:05 PM

Yup, tried that pdf export and couldn't open it in Illustrator. Has to be something I changed maybe in Xara without realizing it because it was working beautifully last nite exporting as Xara.EPS. I've done some other illustrations and they all look great even ones with gradient fills and transparencies. Thanks for trying though.

I think that's more like "squeeky" as in new shoes!

**Egg Bramhill** · 08 December 2006, 12:22 AM

Hi Sherry,

It could be that you're using some of Xtremes gradient fills and/or transparency types that Illustrator can't handle. What does the pdf look like in Acrobat Reader?

**sherryk** · 08 December 2006, 01:55 AM

Hi Egg,

They all have lines and edges are really nasty! I'm sure you're right about the graident fills and transparencies. Any way to get around this?

BTW........love you video tuts. I'm making my way through them slowly!

**Egg Bramhill** · 08 December 2006, 04:26 AM

Sherry,

Can you attach an example?

**coldfuel** · 08 December 2006, 07:52 AM

I was about to post a feature request about this subject, then found this thread..so thought i might post a quick reply.

I beleive this is XaraX's biggest flaw..i really do.
Because Xara is not yet an industry standard (im saying 'yet' because if we all wish hard enough it might just become an industry standard...) format, we need to use Xaras export to save as .ai format so we can open it in other apps, give to the printer etc.
The problem is it's not well supported, as Sherry has found out, it does not support most transparencies, filter effects or even lines (have to be converted to curves).

The of course when you save as an .ai file it does not maintain the page size either, you can set up your page to say 88x55 in Xara but when you save as .ai it opens with the default A4 page spread.

**Albacore** · 08 December 2006, 09:38 AM

That fault with page size is not Xara's thats AI it always wants to use its page default size. The jaggy line problem I think if you print it out I think you will find that the line is smooth and as well if you zoom in it will be smooth. have you never noticed the same when you export to Acro it does the same. You can't expect a export filter to completely render an drawing to be accepted by AI perfectly if you are using complex transparencies and bitmapped effects. As I stated in coldfuel thread just look how InDesign Exports transparencies in PDF it rasters the whole area around the transparency and that is with a product made in the same company with "smart Objects".

If you take care with what tools that you use when drawing your artwork you can quite easily export your work into AI and back again. If you dont use PDF then use AI eps. as your export filter and dont just double click to open it in AI use the "Place" command in file. In my work place I have to use AI at all times and when doing work at home I prefer to use Xara's user friendly work area and tools to do my drawing and so long as I keep it straight forward I have no or little problems exporting to AI. For more info look at Coldfuel's thread.

**sherryk** · 08 December 2006, 02:07 PM

Hi again everyone,

You guys are great for taking the time to help this "newbie" and it's so appreciated.

I think I've found my answer to this problem. Seems I did an "update" in my V12.1 of Illustrator and it really messed everything up. Before this "update" was done, I was not having ANY problem with saving my Xara work as Xara.EPS which is nothing more than an Illustrator v.8 file. Apparently my latest version of Illustrator is quite good but I seem to be one of the few that have this version. So, my only recourse will be to re-load my Illustrator program (no big deal) and take it back to where I was BEFORE this nasty update! Hopefully that will fix this problem I'm currently having. Do ya think? Sure hope so anyway!

Thanks again for the help all of you.