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Opening Illustrator files results in empty page


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Affinity Designer 1.8.3 on macOS 10.15.5 (tested on both MacPro and MacBook Pro).

I've looked through the forums and see some instances where the older-format AI files are not importable, which I don't believe is my problem.

I have a large pile of AI files which result in a blank page when opening with File > Open. I am certain I've opened some or many of these in the past when I was evaluating Designer last year as my Illustrator replacement.

I've verified that Preview can open the files and I've opened the files with a text editor and looked for the PDF stream and it certainly appears to be there.

However, when I open with Designer, I get an empty file and a warning about assigning a Grayscale D50 color profile.

I'm attaching a simple example file.

Any help would be highly appreciated!

Thanks,
-Gaige
 

OverlayOperationIllustration-Clip.ai

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16 minutes ago, Joachim_L said:

Strange, not a spectacular file. Even opens with Inkscape.

Yes, that's why I chose it. I have a bunch of these that are simple illustrations. The PDF stream previews fine in Preview on the Mac, and it would seem they should import. I have some more complex ones (that also don't load).

 

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Just now, MEB said:

Hi Gaige,
Welcome to Affinity Forums :)
Thanks for your report. It should have opened the file. I've logged the issue and passed the file to the dev team for inspection.

Thanks.  Let me know if you need more examples 🙂

Cheers,
-Gaige
 

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  • 1 month later...
  • Staff

We have made fixes/improvements to this area (Affinity Designer fails to import Ai file (empty page)) of the program in the latest release.

The fixes and how to update are described in these forum posts.

We would appreciate you checking that this issue has now been resolved for you,

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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  • 6 months later...

Hello - I'm new to Affinity Designer. I do not have Adobe Illustrator and used Vector Create to change my .png pic to an .ai pic. However, when 'placing' the ai file into Affinity Designer 1.9, it was an empty box.

I'm a novice - any help in understanding how I can get this .ai pic would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Nancy

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  • Staff

Hi @Martin H, @NancyS,
Welcome to Affinity Forums :)
Affinity apps are only able to access the PDF stream/data contained in the Adobe Illustrator file (that is, the file must be saved with Create PDF Compatible File ticked when you save the file in Ai), the rest is proprietary data which we can't load. Also, the contents of the file (objects) must be contained within the artboard/canvas area, objects placed outside the canvas (in the pasteboard) are not included in the PDF stream and thus cannot be imported as well.

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Thank you for the quick and detailed reply. Actually, I misspoke. I used a free online converter tool to make my .tif into an .ai and then tried to place the .ai image in Affinity Designer. Without having the Illustrator program to check the box 'PDF Compatible,' is there another way to get that .ai image placed in Affinity so I can send it to the printer in the correct format?

Thanks again.

 

Edited by NancyS
I wasn't clear on initial question
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  • Staff

Hi @NancyS,
I'm not sure why you converted the TIFF into an Ai file? What's the purpose? Are you trying to trace the image or have to provide it in Ai format?
Why don't you open or place (File > Open or File > Place) the TIF file directly in Affinity (or in an existing affinity document in case of File > Place)?

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On 2/11/2021 at 11:20 AM, MEB said:

Hi @NancyS,
I'm not sure why you converted the TIFF into an Ai file? What's the purpose? Are you trying to trace the image or have to provide it in Ai format?
Why don't you open or place (File > Open or File > Place) the TIF file directly in Affinity (or in an existing affinity document in case of File > Place)?

I thought I had answered your question, but perhaps it didn't post. Anyway, the reason I converted a TIFF into an .ai file is that I was told by the laser printer that the graphic I was submitting wouldn't be clear/clean enough to use an .ai photo and then send as .eps. I thought that if I placed photos (jpg, tif, gif, etc) in Affinity Designer and sent the final to him in an .eps, it wouldn't matter. if it was an .ai photo to begin with. Am I wrong? TIA

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all.
I am newbie from Italy (sorry for my bad English…)
I use Designer on Mac (a PowerBook with Mojave and a iMac with BigSur) and I have the same problem already reported: (I just tried with version 1.9.1 and the problem is always present), with a difference: for my job I often use other programs (i.e. Rhinoceros) which allows me to export 2D drawings in AI format.
These drawings, when opened directly with Designer, turn out completely blank. If, on the other hand, I open them with Illustrator and save them again with Illustrator, without changing anything (or making only small changes), Designer manages to open them and the drawing is perfectly visible.
In my case, then, Designer can only read the AI format if the document was saved with Illustrator.
I'd be happy if someone could let me know how to directly open AI files saved by other programs, without having to go through Illustrator itself.
Thanks for your attention. Regards.

Diego

 

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28 minutes ago, diego204 said:

I'd be happy if someone could let me know how to directly open AI files saved by other programs, without having to go through Illustrator itself.

Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums, Diego.

The other programs must have the same ability that Illustrator has, to create a .ai file that contains a PDF version of the design for compatibility purposes. The .ai format is proprietary to Adobe, and cannot be understood by Affinity. So the only way Affinity can get any data is by reading the PDF version.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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14 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

The other programs must have the same ability that Illustrator has, to create a .ai file that contains a PDF version of the design for compatibility purposes. The .ai format is proprietary to Adobe, and cannot be understood by Affinity. So the only way Affinity can get any data is by reading the PDF version.

Thank you for the quick reply, Walt.

I understand, now. 😊

Edited by diego204
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21 hours ago, MEB said:

Hi @diego204,
Welcome to Affinity Forums :)
Check this post from @Remy Konings. It may help you get data from Rhino to Affinity Designer through SVG.

Hi, MEB.

Thanks to you (and to Remy) for the tip. From the Rhino site it would appear that Grasshopper is only for Windows, but if Remy managed to install it, I should be able to do it too.

I'll try to download anyway Grasshopper and Aviary and let you know how it goes.

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  • 8 months later...
  • Staff

Hi @4cyclists,
Welcome to Affinity Forums :)
Affinity apps are only able to read the contents of the PDF stream contained in the Ai file. For this to happen the file must be saved with "Create PDF compatible file" checked in Illustrator otherwise we can't import anything. Also make sure the contents/objects are all placed within the canvas /artbhoards. Objects placed in the pasteboard area are not included in the PDF stream and thus also not imported when you open the Ai in Affinity apps.

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