posted
what progam can I use to convert .ai to .jpg. I have alot of .ai pics that I need to thumbnail for a catalog. My VE LXI software is the only veiwer I have for .ai. thanks....
posted
one of the best ways is to use its original program (adobe illustrator) but if you dont have that then I would suggest openning the file in the viewer you mentioned then taking a screen shot of it (Ctrl + Print Screen) then opening your paint or other design program and choose paste. Now just save or export as a .jpg (after cropping of course.
hope that helps...
Dave
-------------------- -------------------- Dave Cox C2 Media Services (Formerly That Sign Guy) dave@c2mediaservices.com -------------------- Full Color Printing Posts: 295 | From: Sacramento CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
Jim, Most programs like Corel Draw and Illustrator will open Illustrator files, and then you can export them as JPG. You can also open Illustrator files directly into Photoshop and then save them in a huge number of bitmap formats, including JPG.
Good luck, Mike Jackson
-------------------- Mike Jackson Golden Era Studios Jackson Hole, Wy www.goldenstudios.com/ Posts: 390 | From: PO Box 7850 | Registered: Nov 1998
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Agreeing with what was already mentioned above as reasonable solutions...
If you do a save as...to your .ai files and click .eps format AI it will give you a thumbnail option, on the neg side of that bigger file sizes too due to the .eps format. (encapsulated post script) It will include all graphic and font info.
Just use the save for web option in AI. It is as good as PSH for creating web thumbs. Open once in AI., cleanup, export(save as...)This will save you half the work if you need to go to a 2nd app.
Be sure to put an invisible/white bounding box around the graphic. Ill. will automatically crop the thumb right to the edge of the graphic without this step, drives me nuts. Also be sure to shut off layers that you don't want in the thumbnail. If there is a graphic element somewhere off to the side it will be included and in turn shrink the part you need to see, making it unrecognizable at times.
Generally .gif will be a better format for saving crisper looking thumbnails from vector graphics or anything with type in it.
.jpg works best for bitmap images. These rules all apply to basic web image creation too.
2¢ worth. Best of luck. Hope this all helps.
Edit- Photoshop has a batch command that will do this. Less control of your image though without going in and making sure layers are properly turned on or off.
Say you duplicated the logo in the file, one to edit and one welded for cutting, your thumb will show both or whatever layers are left on.
I'm home after 7:15pm if you need help...too much to type.
-------------------- Alan Ackerson LetterWorks Design and Graphics alan@ack2.com Posts: 776 | From: Oak Ridge, NJ | Registered: Aug 2002
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Hi Jim, I know I can batch convert in Omega, BUT, you have to be prepared in advance. That's the catch. If your Illustrator images are stored at about 4"x4", they might make reasonably small JPGs (file size). However, if some of your Illustrator images are 4' x 4', they could create huge bitmaps if batch converted. You'd need to open each Illustrator file and resave it small prior to trying the batch conversions. Unless someone makes a converter that automatically and teporarily rescales large images to smaller, I believe you are going to have problems.
For our new Americanan CD, I had to open all 1019 images numerous times and then resave individually in different formats. Sometimes there are shortcuts, but often you just have to bit the bullet and get the job done.
Mike Jackson
-------------------- Mike Jackson Golden Era Studios Jackson Hole, Wy www.goldenstudios.com/ Posts: 390 | From: PO Box 7850 | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Good call on the scale issue Mike. Kinda forgot about that one.
The optimize window will allow you to fine tune your image size once you get close, but as Mike says it is a taxing process trying to compress a 3000 pixel wide image. 2000 of them?! LOL
Jim, if you do need to scale the img down in Ill first, I found the best way is to select all and double click the scale tool. This gives you an option to take strokes and outlines down as well in proportion with the rest of the graphic. I think there is a present for this on one of the other palletts, just can never find it.
-------------------- Alan Ackerson LetterWorks Design and Graphics alan@ack2.com Posts: 776 | From: Oak Ridge, NJ | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
If anybody wants to know why Mike's CDs cost what they do, just imagine the work that not only goes into digitising, but in the creation of all those formats! I can't imagine the hours spent on completing such a project!
posted
Hi Bob, I've always said that digitizing is the EASY part. The real grunt work comes the day I decide to stop digitizing and start getting everything ready for market. Each element has to be resized, grouped, guidelines removed, and then named to be organized in a book. After they are all saved individually into Illustrator format, I have to open each one and group them again and save, then export into other formats. Yikes, with over 1000 images, it takes a long time. After the book goes to press, the web site gets a ton of time making thumbnails and visuals, new links and pages.
I can say that by the time I get through creating a new CD, I pretty well figured out all the new Shortcut Commands and pushed any available macro commands to the limit! So Jim, if all else fails, you might end up needing to open around 50 files at one time, select (all on one page), resize to 4", and export to JPG, close image....then do the same to the next one which is already open.
I haven't used Illustrator's "Actions" much yet, but it might help you repeat tasks on something like this.
Good luck, Mike Jackson
-------------------- Mike Jackson Golden Era Studios Jackson Hole, Wy www.goldenstudios.com/ Posts: 390 | From: PO Box 7850 | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
The story behind this... I bought several CD's containing pics that are in different formats. To make my cusomer catalog, I need to print these pics to paper (another problem). I can veiw just about any extention through my LXI software. So, here is what I am wanting to do... Print a catalog so my customers can choose their graphics. Then I want to be able to look it up on my computer. Then cut it out. Then collect my money. Sounds simple?!.
posted
Jim, Is there any way you can print to a regular printer from within the VE software? That way you can just load all the AI files onto a page and print a batch at a time, instead of converting them all to JPG and having to worry about image sizes.
Photoshop CAN run a batch process (Action) on AI files and produce the size you need in the process, instead of working with resolutions (DPI) you need to specify a pixel dimension (ie: 800 pixels wide OR 300 pixels tall) - specify only one dimension and Photoshop will maintain the aspect ratio. This is how I prepared my vector images for display on my website.
Thumbs Plus (thumbnail generator, image cataloging program) could probably do it as well.
posted
Well Jim...that's a horse of a different color! If you are just trying to create a small thumbnail catalog of your files, check out Extensis Portfolio. I am almost positive it will accept AI files but you might have to have a fully updated version of the program if you AI files are version 10 (I don't know about that right off) Also check out Adobe's Photoshop Album. More than likely it will work with their AI files.
In Portfolio, you just create a new album, point to a folder or folders and tell it to import them. It automatically creates a thumbnail and puts them in the album. You can then go back in and assign all the keywords you want (if you want). The keywords would then help you do a FIND within the catalog. I subscribed to Dynamic Graphics Electronic Clipper and their Designer's Club electronic clip art for about 10 years. They put all their yearly artwork into Portfolio documents and I eventually combined all ten years into one large portfolio for each service.
When all finished importing the images, you can display the thumbnails on the desktop and print the album or partial albums. The entire import routine is QUICK. So, now that you were more clear on your needs, I can YES there is an easy way to do it.
-------------------- Mike Jackson Golden Era Studios Jackson Hole, Wy www.goldenstudios.com/ Posts: 390 | From: PO Box 7850 | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
there is a handy little program out there called "thumbs plus" and it creates thumbnail images out of existing files. I haven't used it in a while, but I remember printing out thumbnails at various sizes and cataloging some art files with it. I'm not sure if it will convert .ai, but I know it converted various other file types pretty easily.
-------------------- Michael Clanton Clanton Graphics/ Blackberry 19 Studio 1933 Blackberry Conway AR 72034 501-505-6794 clantongraphics@yahoo.com Posts: 1737 | From: Conway Arkansas | Registered: Oct 2001
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