[Solved] Convert Adobe Illustrator to Draw

[irthinker]

EDIT: For my needs, the answer turned out to be - Use Inkscape. Immediately, this seems to be a great solution, as Inkscape can actually open my .ai files directly with good results, so, in a pinch, I am not stuck if I don't have Illustrator around.

Hello,

I was hoping someone could help me out.

I am trying to make the change from Adobe Illustrator to Draw. However, I have a lot of *.ai (Adobe Illlustrator) files that have piled up over the past 10+ years.

1) Is there is a good method for converting them without having to open up each and every one and save them in a special format.
2) If there is no good option for #1, then does anyone have experience/advice for setting up a macro or batch execution in AI that would allow me to automatically open and "Save As" the desired format.
3) In the case I do have to "Save As" everything, what would be the ideal file format choice (available in AI) for opening it in Draw?

Thank you for your kind consideration.

Note: I did search the forums, but I only found a single discussion that did not provide the answers I seek.

[acknak]

Welcome to the community forum!

Sorry, I don't know of any direct conversion tool or pathway. Maybe someone else knows of something?

My guess is that the only way to convert the files is to open them in Illustrator and export/save them in some format that Draw can import/open. For example, Draw can import/open pdf files (with the proper extension installed).

Even if you could translate the files, I'm not sure the end result would be acceptable for you: as far as I understand, Illustrator is really in a different league ahead of Draw. I'm not sure that you'll find Draw to be anywhere near an acceptable alternative unless your use of Illustrator was very simple.

[keme]

An open source title that more or less parallels Illustrator is Inkscape.

In addition to the native/adobe-specific formats like AI or PDF, Adobe Illustrator can also save in the generalized vector image format SVG, which Inkscape will open.

There are several guides on the web on how to transfer between those software titles.

As acknak says, Draw is fairly limited in the design department when compared to Illustrator (and also compared to Inkscape). It has its strengths in "structured drawing", object grouping and manipulation, and integration with the rest of the Office suite. AFAIK, Draw can export to SVG, but cannot read that format.

[irthinker]

Acknak and Keme, thank you for the swift replies. Your advice is right on the mark.

When I started looking for alternatives to Illustrator, Draw and Inkscape came up. Since I was already a user of Open Office, I turned first to Draw.

I installed Inkscape and gave it a spin. The results from opening .ai files created with the most current Illustrator were better than expected. I have to play around some with them, but Inkscape empowers me to stop using Illustrator immediately, if needed, which is great.

For others that may follow in my footsteps, I recommend that you take a look at the Inkscape wiki page:

http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php ... ator_users

Chiefly, look at the sections on features that are not shared by the two programs so that you have a better sense of the risk involved in the switch. Fortunately, for me, none of those features were relevant for me, so it is a zero risk transition.

Thanks again!

[OIkonen]

I simply open the .ai in Illustrator, cut it and then paste it in OpenOffice draw...simple and fast.