Joerg H Posted October 7, 2021 Share Posted October 7, 2021 Hello Affinity Community, I am currently struggeling with an import of an Adobe Illustrator file. We receive from a customer a file which has been created in Adobe Illustrator and saved as PDF compatible. When I want to import that file in Affinity Designer everything seems to look fine, but there is one issue all Layername gets lost during import. Is there a ways to preserve the layer names during import? Best regards joerg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joachim_L Posted October 7, 2021 Share Posted October 7, 2021 4 minutes ago, Joerg H said: Is there a ways to preserve the layer names during import? A quick test shows me, that the layers names are preserved. As the file comes from a customer you are not allowed to share it? Quote ------ Windows 10 | i5-8500 CPU | Intel UHD 630 Graphics | 32 GB RAM | Latest Retail and Beta versions of complete Affinity range installed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted October 7, 2021 Staff Share Posted October 7, 2021 Hi @Joerg H, Welcome to affinity Forums Affinity only has access to the PDF stream contained in the AI file, not the proprietary Ai data itself so we only load what's contained there. If you can provide the file we can take a look. If you don't want to share/post it publicly i can provide an upload link so you can send it directly to us - just let me know. Thanks. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joerg H Posted October 8, 2021 Author Share Posted October 8, 2021 Hello Joachim, Hello MEB, thanks for the really quick answers. I can not share the current file as it is high confidential design data. But I will request a test file from the customer. Thanks Joerg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joerg H Posted November 8, 2021 Author Share Posted November 8, 2021 (edited) Hello Joachim, Hello MEB, sorry it took a little bit longer. Now I got a test file together with a screenshot of the layer names in Illustrator. If I open this AI file in Designer, only the top layer names gets shown, all layer names below get lost. best regards joerg TEST-211012.ai Edited November 8, 2021 by Joerg H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joerg H Posted December 2, 2021 Author Share Posted December 2, 2021 Hi @MEB, @Joachim_L did you had any chance to look at the example file? best regards joerg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joachim_L Posted December 2, 2021 Share Posted December 2, 2021 17 minutes ago, Joerg H said: did you had any chance to look at the example file? Yes, unfortunately in your file the layers are not named, so one of the Serif developers have to tell you the reason. Joerg H 1 Quote ------ Windows 10 | i5-8500 CPU | Intel UHD 630 Graphics | 32 GB RAM | Latest Retail and Beta versions of complete Affinity range installed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lacerto Posted December 2, 2021 Share Posted December 2, 2021 Your file seemed to be a PDF file with an OCG layer (= Acrobat Layer = layer that Affinity can read) Illustrator can export only top layers as OCG layers, deeper levels are lost. AI saves in AI format its native layers, and can save them also in PDF and EPS files, but in these file formats the layer structure is available only to Adobe apps. The same applies to Affinity apps, only the top layers will be exported as OCG layers ("Include Layers" must be checked in the PDF Export options to enable that). Illustrator (at least CS6) does not read back these layers (even ones saved by InDesign), probably because it can use its native layers that have been saved in PDF, EPS and AI files. SVG supports exhange of layer information, but I think that Illustrator does not read SVG layers (at least CS6 version does not). I do not think that there is any useful way to exchange layer information between Adobe and Affinity (any non-Adobe) apps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joerg H Posted February 7, 2022 Author Share Posted February 7, 2022 On 12/2/2021 at 12:21 PM, Lagarto said: Your file seemed to be a PDF file with an OCG layer (= Acrobat Layer = layer that Affinity can read) Illustrator can export only top layers as OCG layers, deeper levels are lost. AI saves in AI format its native layers, and can save them also in PDF and EPS files, but in these file formats the layer structure is available only to Adobe apps. The same applies to Affinity apps, only the top layers will be exported as OCG layers ("Include Layers" must be checked in the PDF Export options to enable that). Illustrator (at least CS6) does not read back these layers (even ones saved by InDesign), probably because it can use its native layers that have been saved in PDF, EPS and AI files. SVG supports exhange of layer information, but I think that Illustrator does not read SVG layers (at least CS6 version does not). I do not think that there is any useful way to exchange layer information between Adobe and Affinity (any non-Adobe) apps. Thanks for the deep analysis and the explanation, even so it does not solve my Problem 😞 I will need to work this around somehow... But at least I know that there is not something wrong or defect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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