.ai file open Problem?

[Goldi708]

If I open some .ai files the following happens! 

Only rectangles are displayed.

Quote

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[Dan C]

Hi Goldi708,

Welcome to the forums

Could you please upload a copy of the .ai file so I can look into this for you?

[Goldi708]

Thank you for your prompt reply.

I also wrote an email to Vexels.com (the website where I downloaded the file) regarding the problem and I received the following answer.

"That happens some times with affinity, since it's not the original Adobe Illustrator program. [...] If not you can try with Inkscape that's kind of a free version of Illustrator that might work." 

Unfortunately it does’t work in Inkscape either and with this website it also not work.

68315-Icon-science.ai

[Jowday]

I messaged you the file converted to SVG (using Illustrator CC) - but of course that does not solve your problem with other files. 

It probably would help if files meant for sharing with others were saved with the 'Create PDF compatible file' option ticked. It certainly does in this case.

[Alfred]

14 minutes ago, Jowday said:

It probably would help if files meant for sharing with others were saved with the 'Create PDF compatible file' option ticked. It certainly does in this case.

It definitely helps. The Affinity apps can’t read the proprietary AI format, so they depend on the presence of a PDF stream in the file.

[MikeW]

3 minutes ago, Alfred said:

16 minutes ago, Jowday said:

It probably would help if files...were saved with the 'Create PDF compatible file' option ticked...

It definitely helps. The Affinity apps can’t read the proprietary AI format, so they depend on the presence of a PDF stream in the file.

^^^^^^^^^^^^
Understatement...tis the only way it works at all. 

[Jowday]

23 minutes ago, MikeW said:

^^^^^^^^^^^^
Understatement...tis the only way it works at all. 

That being said I have no idea how the file was initially created and saved. I just assumed it was saved without this crucial option selected and that this was the root cause of the problem.

[MikeW]

1 hour ago, Jowday said:

That being said I have no idea how the file was initially created and saved. I just assumed it was saved without this crucial option selected and that this was the root cause of the problem.

No worries. I was actually pointing at Alfred with the understate.

There are also a lot of constructs possible in an AI file that will not import well or come in as a bitmap even with the pdf portion. Such as mesh fills. Users of stock vector files need to be aware. I think in this case, Serif ought to pop up a message if the pdf portion is missing or malformed. 

The file is from CC2015 and probably has a malformed pdf portion. As a pure AI file without a pdf portion I think the file would have been much smaller. 

[Alfred]

6 hours ago, MikeW said:

I was actually pointing at Alfred with the understate.

And I was actually referring to @Jowday’s “It probably would help” when I wrote “It definitely helps.” With hindsight — the famously exact science that tells you precisely where you went wrong! — it would probably definitely have helped if I had emboldened the first four words when I quoted them.

[MikeW]

I was bored last night, Alfred. I was having some fun at your expense. 

[Alfred]

2 minutes ago, MikeW said:

I was bored last night, Alfred. I was having some fun at your expense. 

Nothing new there, then!   

[Jowday]

On 5/19/2019 at 4:09 AM, MikeW said:

No worries. I was actually pointing at Alfred with the understate.

Got it

Take care.