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• • December 29, 2012 at 8:45 pm #63815
    Tom Pardy

    Member

    OK, so this is not a red hot issue with critical outcomes depending on the results (it’s holiday time, after all) but this thing still intrigues me and I figured all the experts who contribute to this forum will be sure, amongst them all, to know the answer.

    I am using CS5.5 on a 24-inch iMac and I want to place an Illustrator file (.ai) which is fairly intricate with lots ad lots of paths so that it has a file size of around 10MB. Naturally it takes InDesign a few moments to import the file but what intrigues me is that the progress dialog box informs me that it is “Reading PDF”. What PDF? Doesn’t InDesign understand .ai? Is there some sort of conversion going on in the background from .ai to .pdf just so InDesign can use it? Can I speed things up by saving the .ai file as a .pdf when I create it?

    Maybe I should just get out more?

  • December 30, 2012 at 6:04 am #63816
    Bob Rubey

    Member

    Hi Furry,

    Perhaps someone with a better technical grasp will explain it to both of us, but I think there's a lot of PDF going on “under the hood/bonnet” in Illustrator.

    And you may have noticed one option when saving AI files, Create PDF Compatible File. Here's a little something from a Help file:

    Create PDF Compatible File option

    AI files use both PDF and PGF formats. If you choose the Create PDF Compatible File option, then Illustrator creates a file with an accompanying PDF syntax that is compatible with any application that recognizes PDF files. If you choose this option, then the file size increases because you're saving two formats within the Illustrator file.

    I think that is what InDesign is reading.

    Bob

  • December 30, 2012 at 10:51 am #63819
    Betty Taylor

    Member

    Bob has it right: when you place an ai file into InDesign, InDesign is using the PDF part of the ai file.

    You can test this by creating an ai file with the “Create PDF Compatible File” option in the SAVE AS dialog turned OFF. When you place that file into an InDesign file, you won't see the image. Instead you'll see a message telling you to re-save with the “Create PDF Compatible File” option turned on. (It's not just the preview that is missing, either. The ai image will not show if you pdf the InDesign file.)

    You'll have the same problem if you open a pdf that was saved with “Create PDF Compatible File” option turned off into Photoshop.

  • December 30, 2012 at 6:24 pm #63822
    Tom Pardy

    Member

    Wow! Adobe can be pretty sneaky at times, can’t it? :-D

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