Importing Adobe illustrator files to Xara

[vman]

Folks,

Does anyone know how to import Adobe Illustrator files to Xara 4. I have been using Xara for a couple of years now and am use to the software.

I recently had to go back and use some old graphics I created with Illustrator. Unfortunatly because I depend on Xara so much, I've forgotton how to use illustrator.

As such, I'd like to import my Illustrator files to Xara somwhow while retaining the quality and ability to still work on the graphics.

(This is my first post on Xara forum - new)

Is this possible?

[Soquili]

Hi Vman,

Welcome to Talkgraphics.

What version of Illustrator were your files created ?

I've had the best results importing version 8 or version 7 files. If you still have Illustrator installed you can open the files and then save them as an older version.

I never upgraded past Illustrator version 10, your Save As dialog may look different than the attached image.

[vman]

Soquili,

Thank you for the responce. I used Illustrator 10 for all my graphics. So would I just save under a lower version (7 or 8). Then open with Xara?

I'm going to try it.

Thanks,

[iamtheblues]

You can try opening your AI file in Illustrator, copying it to the clipboard and then pasting it into Xara as an Enhanced Metafile.
Saludos,
Bob.

[vman]

Soquili,
I saved as an illistrator 7 file and was able to easly import to Xara.. Thank you very much. I'm going to try with higher versions to see if it adds to my flexabilities and functionality with the file upon transfer.

Iamtheblues,
Cutting / copying them pasting as a meta file or bitmap was one of the things I tried to no avail.

My problem is solved, I like it when it's an easy fix like this. Thanks Soquili.

Vaughan,

[Soquili]

Vaughan glad I could help.

[Regular]

I have Adobe Illustrator CS3 and I like PDF version 4 for import into Xara Xtreme.

It preserves the colors and the paths and also the clipping path comes in as a clip view object into Xara.

the fill and stroke outlines are separate and fully editable.

I included the file so you can see what is preserved from Illustrator by using PDF version 4.

The light blue area, bottom right portion is the clipping mask. Clicking on it will reveal the clipview which can be moved around.

[Albacore]

I have to agree with Regular in his approach to opening AI files in XPro since the last upgrade although I tend to use Acrobat version 6 and not 4. It all gets a bit messy if you are importing many files into XPro but it is much better than this time last year to do the same job.

[handrawn]

The pdf export from CS3 works very well for me too, given a version of xtreme that will import pdf [such as xtreme pro 4 in my case] - better than ai8 if there are transparencies for example

The pdf export from illustrator 10 is not the same - it might be worth considering downloading the trial of CS3 to try this method out? It will not be 100% perfect, but then I don't think anything would be.

[Regular]

I have Xtreme4 standard, not Pro, so it works in standard as well.

I recall trying PDF version 6, but something didn't work in the Xtreme version I had and don't remember exactly what.