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G-Man · #1 (**permalink**) 06-22-2007, 07:03 AM

I'm new - first post. I'm not an artist. My artist is telling me something that doesn't seem to make sense - I'm looking for clarification. We use Macs - have Illustrator CS2. He tells me that when our customers send us PC files, there is a problem when we open them on our Mac. He says that the PC file is converted to compound paths. I thought in this day and age cross platform issues were mostly resolved. Should I buy a PC and another copy of Illustrator just to solve this problem or is there a less expensive solution?

mattbeals · #2 (**permalink**) 06-22-2007, 07:08 AM

Generally speaking if you're going from Illustrator to Illustrator there should be a minimal amount of problems with going cross platform.

Atzimba · #3 (**permalink**) 06-22-2007, 10:12 AM

Hi all of you

I've had this same problem, and allways is because the original file was created in Corel Draw and then exported to Illustrator converting text to curves.

You do not need a new PC

oddball38 · #4 (**permalink**) 07-23-2007, 07:19 PM

sounds like your artist isnt very experienced.

Dude · #5 (**permalink**) 08-03-2007, 03:13 AM

are the files being sent in illustrator format? i think it's a matter of export or whether the designer has made them into compound paths. a new pc its kind of extreme solution.

Thorzdad · #6 (**permalink**) 08-13-2007, 06:39 AM

Atzimba has it right. What your artist is experiencing is the result of a file being created in a different program (usually CorelDraw) and being exported as a generic "Illustrator" file. This rarely works-out except with the simplest files.
There is really nothing your artist can do about it. The people sending you the files have to make the adjustment, if possible, to make the files more compatible.

Shanavaz · #7 (**permalink**) 08-13-2007, 07:48 AM

PC to Mac or MAC to PC in illustrator is not a conversion. It opens exactly the same way. In case of fonts, you habe to convert them all to outlines before sending it to other platform. PC minito calibration and color profiles may be different and just discard them while opening. That is it.

Jezza · #8 (**permalink**) 08-13-2007, 11:57 AM

Font's shouldn't be a problem if modern OTF versions are used, other wise outline the fonts and request a text file of the content

Yez · #9 (**permalink**) 08-13-2007, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jezza

Font's shouldn't be a problem if modern OTF versions are used, other wise outline the fonts and request a text file of the content

Bingo!

I bought the Adobe OT library here