Opening a file always converts it to grayscale

[mysticpotion]

Hi, I've tried opening this file in different formats in Affinity Designer, but it always ends up in a white screen. It says it has assigned my working profile (Grayscale etc) to an unknown file. But the file was saved with color. I've tried svg, png, ai, and they all do this. Converting it still ends up with a blank white document. How do I make it open the image properly from the start?

I attached a screenshot of the actual colors, and what it shows up as in AD.

[Ron P.]

Welcome to the forums @Andre Story,

Go to Preferences>Color tab and uncheck the box beside Convert open files to working space. See if that may stop Designer from doing that.

Do you have this same issue with other files?

[mysticpotion]

Hello! Thanks, Ron.

Just tried editing the color settings, didn't fix the issue unfortunately. It looks like it is only affecting .ai and .svg files that were saved in different program (VectorMagic). I don't see a way to assign color profiles in that program, but it saves them in color and I can open those files just fine in other art programs. 

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, mysticpotion said:

It looks like it is only affecting .ai and .svg files that were saved in different program (VectorMagic).

Can you post an example of one of these files here so we can maybe get a better idea of why it opens in greyscale in AD?

[mysticpotion]

43 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Can you post an example of one of these files here so we can maybe get a better idea of why it opens in greyscale in AD?

Sure! Here it is

pride cat 2.ai

[v_kyr]

12 hours ago, mysticpotion said:

Sure! Here it is

Can you also show a SVG file from VectorMagic where this is happening instead?

BTW, Photopea seems to have no problems to open your Ai file as a color file and showing it up correctly! - Inkscape in contrast can't open it at all (throws an error)!

• pride cat 2-ai.svg
• pride cat 2-ai.pdf

[thomaso]

Also Acrobat Distiller fails, error:
%%[ Error: undefined; OffendingCommand: Adobe_level2_AI5 ]%%
%%[ Flushing: rest of job (to end-of-file) will be ignored ]%%
%%[ Warning: PostScript error. No PDF file produced. ] %%

I wonder if this header / meta data would be an indicator for the Affinity issue:
File Type                    : PS
File Type Extension   : ps
MIME Type                 : application/postscript
Creator                       : GNU libplot drawing library 4.1
For                              : Unknown, Unknown

Workaround: A conversion to SVG via @v_kyr's linked Photopea enables Affinity to open the pride cat:   pride cat via Photopea > SVG.afpub

[v_kyr]

I believe the problem is related to this here ...

• Understanding Adobe Illustrator and PDF Compatibility

... since AFAI recall Affinity always needs/uses/reads just the PDF part of an Ai file in order to make anything halfway useful out of it. - And if an Ai file doesn't contain that PDF Content (isn't saved to contain that)  ...

Quote

This is an Adobe® Illustrator® File that was
saved without PDF Content.
To Place or open this file in other
applications, it should be re-saved from
Adobe Illustrator with the “Create PDF
Compatible File” option turned on. This
option is in the Illustrator Native Format
Options dialog box, which appears when
saving an Adobe Illustrator file using the
Save As command.

... Affinity and a bunch of other third party apps probably can't interpret it the right way at all. - Photopea here in contrast is pretty smart when importing Ai files and seems can even deal with Ai files which do miss the PDF Content!

 

[thomaso]

8 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

I believe the problem is related to this here ...

But missing PDF data inside this .ai (which appears or pretends to be Postscript file) would not make Distiller fail here with its literally task to create a PDF.

[v_kyr]

24 minutes ago, thomaso said:

But missing PDF data inside this .ai (which appears or pretends to be Postscript file) would not make Distiller fail here with its literally task to create a PDF.

Then retry with this Ai file here, created out of VM ...

 

• Try this Ai one --->  stones-logo.ai
• Affinity can't handle it!

Which BTW when exported as SVG from VM imports then Ok into Affinity  ...

• stones-logo.svg

 

[thomaso]

18 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

Try this Ai one --->  stones-logo.ai

Same error in Distiller ("Error: undefined; OffendingCommand: Adobe_level2_AI5") and same meta data (PS, GNU libplot…). Probably no wonder since it is from the same source / creator.

Could be interesting to test a file created by another app which also uses this lib "GNU libplot drawing library 4.1".

[v_kyr]

1 hour ago, thomaso said:

Could be interesting to test a file created by another app which also uses this lib "GNU libplot drawing library 4.1".

VectorMagic seems to use the Gnu libplot library routines in order to generate (write out) 2D vector graphics for common graphics formats such as SVG or PostScript etc. from it's tracing. - In the pasts I've used Gnuplot (the app) for generating EPS based math graphs and the like.

However, it would also be interesting to know how Illustrator itself deals with these by VM generated Ai files. Sadly I don't have/use Illustrator and most other apps I use can only partly handle Ai files (...more in worse than good manner).

[thomaso]

19 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

VectorMagic seems to use the Gnu libplot library routines in order to generate (write out) 2D vector graphics

Yes, that was obvious from the 2 existing files. I meant another app using this lib – to see if the issue is caused by this lib, or by another job in VectorMagic.

I don't have AI installed on this mac but it's also interesting that ID can't place this two files either. Instead it reports an "undefined error with this EPS file". Now we have 3 file types for this .ai created by VectorMagic:  AI + PS + EPS.

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, v_kyr said:

• Try this Ai one --->  stones-logo.ai
• Affinity can't handle it!

Well, it "handles it" just like with the OP's pride cat.ai file ... which is to say it opens it using a default greyscale working profile with a single empty "(Layer)" container type layer in AD on my Mac. 🙄

IOW, it doesn't show a 'can't open' or other error message or do anything else to let the user know there is anything wrong. Seems to me to be something that could be improved even without better support for importing ai files ....

[v_kyr]

44 minutes ago, thomaso said:

Yes, that was obvious from the 2 existing files. I meant another app using this lib – to see if the issue is caused by this lib

Hmm the Q is which other apps here then do use Gnu libplot (?).

Ah I've seen the following in one of the GNU Plotting Utilities PDF docs v2.5 (probably an old one) ...

Quote

graph -T ai < datafile > plot.ai    to produce a file ‘plot.ai’ that could be edited with Adobe Illustrator.
...
To produce a version of the plot that can be viewed and edited with Adobe Illustrator, youwould do  plot -T ai < test.meta > test.ai
...

... so it looks like the Gnu Plotting Utilities do have tools/utilities like graph and plot which (...via using libplot) can be used for generating "ai" files. - If I find some left time I will look for a MacOS version of the Gnu Plotting Utilities for tryouts.

• GnuPlot Tutorial on MacOS X || Installation and Plotting Graphs using GNUPLOT - 2021

[MikeW]

1 hour ago, v_kyr said:

...However, it would also be interesting to know how Illustrator itself deals with these by VM generated Ai files. Sadly I don't have/use Illustrator and most other apps I use can only partly handle Ai files (...more in worse than good manner).

Illustrator opens it just fine.

Xara applications opens it unfilled with an error message that they do not have a proper import filter.

VectorStyler and CorelDraw open it fine but part of the illustration is out of the page boundary. 

[thomaso]

8 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

I will look for a MacOS version of the Gnu Plotting Utilities for tryouts.

I'd rather detect or understand why .ai files created by more common apps get displayed in Affinity as empty layers. For instance the 3 attached, two created by Photoshop, the "bluetooth logo" by CorelDraw.

clipping path.ai .  white circle cmyk.ai . Bluetooth-vector-logo.ai

[MikeW]

38 minutes ago, thomaso said:

I'd rather detect or understand why .ai files created by more common apps get displayed in Affinity as empty layers. For instance the 3 attached, two created by Photoshop, the "bluetooth logo" by CorelDraw. ...

Because the filters that Affinity applications are crappy, er, not as good as they should/could be?

[mysticpotion]

6 hours ago, v_kyr said:

Can you also show a SVG file from VectorMagic where this is happening instead?

BTW, Photopea seems to have no problems to open your Ai file as a color file and showing it up correctly! - Inkscape in contrast can't open it at all (throws an error)!

• pride cat 2-ai.svg
• pride cat 2-ai.pdf

Here you go!

pride cat 2.svg

[thomaso]

9 minutes ago, MikeW said:

Because the filters that Affinity applications are crappy, er, not as good as they should/could be?

Yes. Sounds like "it doesn't work because it's not well done." 🤓

I rather meant how to solve such files in Affinity if there is no chance to export + deliver them differently. I mean just a simple clipping path … maybe there is a way to fix it with a text editor app, for instance with a false or missing entry in the file header (since .ai seems to be or contain .xml text for instance). Unfortunately I don't understand either file format enough to be able to detect a possible solution myself. Maybe the idea is too naive … so far, I even can't judge that.

[MikeW]

I personally would just open it up in an application that doesn't have such issues, then, if needed in an Affinity application, export to a format that Affinity applications respect.

[v_kyr]

Here are two by the Gnu Plotting Utilities (libplot) generated AI files (and corresponding versions in order to see how the graphs should look like), which look Ai code contents wise pretty much like those from VectorMagic generated.

• datafile.ai
• datafile-ai.svg
• dodecahedron.ai
• dodecahedron-ai.svg

[v_kyr]

1 hour ago, MikeW said:

VectorStyler and CorelDraw open it fine but part of the illustration is out of the page boundary. 

Same as when converted via an online tool like Convertio (Ai to PDF), since the resulting PDF then just shows half of the Ai.

[MikeW]

1 minute ago, v_kyr said:

Same as when converted via an online tool like Convertio (Ai to PDF), since the resulting PDF then just shows half of the Ai.

Yes, but at least the whole can be moved onto the page and resized.

[v_kyr]

1 hour ago, mysticpotion said:

Here you go!

pride cat 2.svg 68.94 kB · 0 downloads

That one opens fine in Affinity, didn't you said instead ...

On 6/4/2022 at 6:28 AM, mysticpotion said:

It says it has assigned my working profile (Grayscale etc) to an unknown file. But the file was saved with color. I've tried svg, png, ai, and they all do this.

... that it doesn't work for SVG when exported out of VM? - In my experiences exporting as SVG from VectorMagic and importing thos SVGs then in Affinity works always!