Just downloaded version 0.46 onto a windows XP box. I also downloaded sample map files from http://www.mapresources.com/samplemaps.asp (the international maps sample).

Inkscape tells me it cannot open the file even though it is a .ai file and supposedly .ai is a natively supported format. Are these files somehow non-standard? Do I in fact need a plug-in (and if so where is it?) even though I see statements that .ai is natively supported? (BTW one thing that makes me suspicious is that .ai was not automatically associated with Inkscape by the installer--however, that could just be because no one has written the code to do that!)

Okay... apparently I cannot *write* an AI file because I am missing gs, and apparently "gs" is "ghostscript"
but nothing in that file tells me *where* to find ghostscript or whether or not installing it will allow me to read the file. There were a *huge* raft of errors in the log file referenced in the thread you pointed me to and very few of them were informative enough that I got some feel for what I would have to do to actually *fix* the problem.

Folks, this is not ready for primetime, not by a long shot.

Sjdi wrote:but nothing in that file tells me *where* to find ghostscript

ghostscript

or whether or not installing it will allow me to read the file.

It should. I haven't tried it myself. Perhaps you would be willing try it yourself and share what you learn so others can benefit?

Sjdi wrote:Folks, this is not ready for primetime, not by a long shot.

Inkscape is the result of thousands of man hours donated willingly by the developers and other skilled individuals. They paid for this product with their time--what did you pay? There is a $600 "primetime" application designed to open your file if the price of Inkscape is too high.

If you couldn't tell, your attitude has bugged me--but perhaps I'm just in a bad mood though. So instead of leaving this post as it is, there is a tip at the bottom of the post I linked to which advises you on how to open your AI file by converting it to a PDF first, negating the need to install Ghostscript--the result will likely be the same. Inkscape is not Illustrator, the process of opening an AI file (or any non-SVG file) involves converting the file to an SVG that Inkscape understands. If you intend to open an AI, edit it, and save it as an AI, know that it'll converting the AI to and SVG, then converting the SVG back to an AI. The result will not always be flawless, just like if you were to do the reverse and attempt to work with an SVG in Illustrator.

Sjdi wrote:Inkscape tells me it cannot open the file even though it is a .ai file and supposedly .ai is a natively supported format. Are these files somehow non-standard?

Your .ai files are possibly non-standard.

I've got cd of professionally produced vector illustrations for use at work that are ".ai" format that Inkscape can't open. It's clear from the documentation that they've been converted at some point to ".ai" from .eps files, and whatever they were drawn with, it wasn't Adobe Illustrator. Irfanview couldn't read them either, nor could some other things I tried. I succeeded with Ghostscript. I don't know if Adobe Illustrator itself could open them or not, though.

I've ".ai" files from another source that Inkscape did an excellent job of converting to editable vectors, including long lines rendered with dashed strokes which I'd expected to turn out badly.

/Edit I've just (re)noticed if you try to import a ".ai" file, Inkscape's text is "Adobe Illustrator 9.0 and above", which implies earlier versions aren't supported.

Okay here is where it is at right now. The company whose files I am having difficulty with hand-generated me an acrobat version of one of the files. This was indeed loadable, the disadvantages being 1) they will probably charge me out the wazoo to convert everything I want to buy and 2) and most critical, somehow everything ended up in one layer. (OTOH, I need to try doing my own conversions using Acrobat Reader and see what happens.)

Since Mapresources brags about being able to use adobe illustrator to modify their maps, I *suspect* (but cannot prove as yet) that the files would open in Inkscape *if* I had ghost script installed (downloading it now, as I type, 12.4 MB will take a while). Nevertheless I'll keep Slow Dog's comment in mind--ghostscript may not solve the problem.

As for microUgly's response; yes I concede my attitude was not all that great. And I most humbly apologize. I expected *way* too much from a 0.something release. (I write code myself, in a very different environment, and it's infuriating to have the integration team write me up for missing functionality that isn't even scheduled to be in yet. I think I've managed to convince them to stop doing that.)

The core functionality of Inkscape from what I could see playing with the PDF version of the file, seems pretty doggone good. It ran slowly on my machine at times but I handed it a pretty big file to chew on so that is par for the course.

It's the peripheral areas that appear to need work (and I know this this is version 0.46; please try to take this as a constructive suggestion) from the standpoint of this user. If an extension (apparently included in the download) cannot be installed for some reason, shouldn't something (other than a log file buried in a hidden folder that isn't in the "my documents" tree) warn the user, and give a detailed description of what is missing? By detailed I mean more than the letters "gs" labeled as "string". (I asked for and deserved the implied upbraiding by being given a link to a google search. I should have thought of googling it. )

I noticed some--not many--of the messages in the logfile were more helpful than others in explaining what was missing. This is something that probably ought to be addressed sometime between version 0.46 and version 1.0. And for all I know it's on the "to do" list. I am not sure *when* the checks are performed (installation or launch of the application), no doubt the answer to that will make a difference as to what makes sense.(Alternatively--and depending on how easy one wants to make it for end users--even package these possibly-missing utilities in another download on your site.)

Again my apologies for the tone of my previous post.

(PS: Multiple difficulties with the Captcha. Possible ambiguity between the letter I and number 1.)

Sjdi wrote:2) and most critical, somehow everything ended up in one layer.

You will continue to have this same problem even if you get Ghostscript to work. As I mentioned, Inkscape will not be working directly on the information in the AI file, it'll be working on a converted SVG code. I believe it is Ghostscript that converts the AI to SVG for Inkscape to edit, and since SVGs don't have layers Ghostscript won't preserve them (layers in Inkscape are achieved using Inkscape-specific code that other software (including Ghostscript) don't know anything about).

Sjdi wrote:The core functionality of Inkscape from what I could see playing with the PDF version of the file

If you already have a PDF version you'll find that there will be no difference between opening PDF and opening the AI.

I believe that version 0.47 (currently still in development) will be able to open AI files without the aid of Ghostscript. But again, there will be no benefit to opening the AI over opening the PDF. 0.47 will simple save us the extra step of converting the AI to a PDF as we need to with 0.46.

Sjdi wrote:I asked for and deserved the implied upbraiding by being given a link to a google search

I'm glad you were sporting about that That LMGTFY link is patronising but it's fun to direct people to

Okay. Ghostscript installed. Also added its installation directory to my path (I actually had to remember what Autoexec.bat is!). Logged off, restarted the machine.

No dice. Unless there is some other step I'll have to assume the .ai is non standard (but readable by Adobe Illustrator). The company even sent me "save as" for earlier versions of .ai files, and those also did not work.

Another thing that makes me suspicious of the .ai is that Acrobat Reader (7.0--do I need a later version?) wouldn't open it. Nor would it open the files saved as earlier AI versions.

Hmm, it makes me wonder--there were multiple versions of Ghostscript (AFPL and GPL) and perhaps I grabbed the wrong one?

As for the layering... it sounds like I might just have to actually *buy* software then.

I think Acrobat will only be able to open the AI file if a PDF was embeded into the AI file also.

I can gaurantee that even if you get GS to work, you won't get layers--you'll still obviously be able to edit each object as a vector. So it's up to you if you continue. And as I said, opening a PDF version will be the same as opening the AI version.

Is inkscape still logging that it can't find GS? If so, you may need to make sure the path to GS is in your environment path.

Sjdi wrote:I'll have to assume the .ai is non standard (but readable by Adobe Illustrator)

I would hope Illustrator can open it-- .ai is it's native format. Illustrator is virtually guaranteed to be able to open it. .AI file can contain other optional formats which other programs may read, such as PDF or EPS, but it will always contain the raw Illustrator information so Illustrator can open and edit it.

It's still showing up as not being installed.

I added the directory I installed gs to, to my path in autoexec.bat. And then I restarted the machine. That should have done it.

Come to think of it though there may be some other thing I have to do to get _windows_ to see it in the path.

Sjdi wrote:I'll have to assume the .ai is non standard (but readable by Adobe Illustrator)

Or an older version of the .ai standard. If it weren't readable by Adobe Illustrator, you'd have a real cause to give grief to the mapresources people.

I downloaded their free sample, and I couldn't open that with Inkscape. I could with Ghostscript directly, but it's not editable in that.



In contemplating all this, I've concluded that whoever wrote "Inkscape supports .ai files natively" is using the term "native" in a manner I consider to be incorrect. It supports "svg" files natively, period. It imports some .ai files. In an amateur capacity, that support is a bonus. In a professional one, if you really need to use .ai files, you probably have to buy Illustrator.

I agree with that. It's certainly not "native" support if one has to load a third (or is it fourth?) party utility to get it to work *and* even then you lose your layers.

i tried opening their files with Xara as well (30 day trial version, and if it had worked an absolute steal at ~90 bucks) and only one would even open at all, and it didn't seem correct (I saw outlines of the countries of South America, way too large and to the right (bigger than the "page") while the lettering seemed to all fit on the page--as if someone grabbed all the line art and stretched it away from the lower left by a factor of 2.) I conclude from this that either AI support is very difficult (as in too difficult) *or* they are doing something non-standard in these files.

Anyhow, time for an e-mail to the sales guy at mapresources....

Try opening the *.ai file in GIMP and then saving the file as a *.png or other format. It flattens the image into one layer, but you are at least able to open the file that way. On some file formats you are able to specify a new size to export to.

Dear All,

Plz help, I am not able to open AI file, if any link or any viwer you know then plz send it to my mail id [email protected]