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Importing illustrator files


John Hynes

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Hi,

 

Whats the best way to import illustrator files? Such as a logo.

 

In FormZ 6 it used to work "OK", but you had to save the illustrator file as ai illustrator 3.

 

In 8.0.2 I'm using the same method but the logo only comes in as an outline and sometimes it's broken.

You then have to extrude it to make it solid, before you can difference the elements.

 

Any ideas?

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Hi.

The main problem is that the objects don't come in as a flat surface like they used to in Formz 6. They are just lines. So you have to extrude it before you can difference it.

 

Do you still have to save as Illustrator 3 file (as it won't import anything else)

 

I did Export the illustrator file as a auto cad dog, which seems to import ok, but you loose all the colours.

 

cheers

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Dear John,

 

Illustrator stopped documenting their format with Illustrator v9, so you need to use v8 or earlier.  v3 works better because it does maintain the colors, whereas v8 does not.

 

Did you try Closing the lines before extruding as we noted above?

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Dear John,

 

Illustrator stopped documenting their format with Illustrator v9, so you need to use v8 or earlier.  v3 works better because it does maintain the colors, whereas v8 does not.

 

Did you try Closing the lines before extruding as we noted above?

 

Good to know about v3 files!  I wish this sort of thing was better documented.  I've been using v6 files.

 

Also, is there a way to have FormZ ask us to automatically close the lines?  I mean, we didn't have to do that step in FMZ v6, so why do we have to have the extra step now?  

 

On a side note, we've been saving the Illustrator files out as DWG's with better success importing into v8.  

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Hi Justin,

 

Yes, we will see if we can add an option to automatically close those lines.  DWG files do import as closed, and there is nothing wrong with using that format either.

 

Hi PAL, 

 

As long as the shapes are drawn properly in Illustrator they should be fine to use directly, but some people do draw shapes with little loops or double points at corners -- and those could cause problems down the line.  You may not need to redraw them, but inspecting what you have imported and deciding if it should be used directly is generally a good practice...

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