CS files to Flexi without CS?

[GAC05]

Hi,
does anyone have any tips or tricks to opening Illustrator11(CS) files outside of AI?
The files have been saved to the eps format but nothing I have tried will open them.
CorelDraw 11 (same for the X3 demo) Xara Xtreme & Flexi Pro 7.6

I can drag the eps file into Flexi's production manager and it will load and preview correctly.
From there I could send it to the printer but I need to fix a few things first.
Purchasing CS as a file translator feels a little extreme (and cash is tight right now).
I am pretty handy with CorelDraw (started with Ver3) and Xara handles things Draw does poorly.
Going back to the shop that built the file and asking for a different version is an option that I want to avoid if I can.
Trying to sidestep the "this guy can't handle our files we need to go to someone else, he's slowing us down" syndrome.

thank you

wayne k
guam usa

 

[Fred Weiss]

I fought the same battle and finally just bought CS2 so I could save back for my uses. We still get a ton of other things wrong that we end up going back to the originator over like type not being converted to outlines.

As a side note, I have found an interesting little pocket money side market however in converting CS files for a few friends of mine. I charge $10 for a straight open and resave and more if there are other more time consuming issues to deal with. This is not something I am mentioning as an offer to take on more of the same.

 

[GAC05]

Thanks Fred,
I was hoping someone might have a magic bullet.
For the long term it looks like I may have to bite the bullet & send Adobe some money.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[Bobby H]

If you're trying to get Illustrator artwork into Flexi you must use one of two options.

1. Save the file in a legacy native Illustrator .AI format Flexi will open. That especially goes for saving in Illustrator EPS format.

2. Save the CS1 or CS2 file with PDF compatibility turned on. Usually you can import the artwork using the PDF import filter.

Be sure to expand any "live" Illustrator-dependent effects into real, editable paths.

 

[rivalgraphix]

any illustrator file i save for flexi is an illustrator legacy, backsaved to 8 with no preview (i just dont like the preview, most of the time quadruples the filesize). they open fine in flexi all the time.

cant you save the file from the program manager and reopen it for editing?

yup. i just did. save it as a PLT file straight from program manager and open it up with flexi. i have 7.6, that may be new, dont know.

hope this helps!

 

[GAC05]

Thanks for the follow up on this.
One question,
how do you save to a "plt" out of the program manager?
"Save as" gives me just two options - "eps" and "prt".
"prt" does not seem to open in the main program.
Do I need to add a setup that will print to "file" to get the "plt"?

wayne k
guam usa