Sir Topham Hatt Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Hello! Okay, I am completly new to Adobe Illustrator and only a medium user on Photoshop. However, my company has given me access to some adobe goodness and now I am struggling to get the progreams to do what I want. I have a 150Mb illustrator file of a picture, but I want to convert it to a PSD. I don't know if the AI file is even layered (my PC takes a good while to open it). When in the AI file, I can see if I hover over areas of the picture then small lines come up around it. I can click on one section and an orange highlight will appear (I guess it's that "layer"?). My question is, how can I get the illustrator file into a useable format, IE, a layered PSD? If not, is there a way I acn copy small elements (or layers) out of the master file into a useable format? I think I need to purchase some more RAM too, although my computer has 4Gb (in two sticks), but I should think to get it up to 8Gb will only be another ?50 or so. THen again, it probably won't help with anything but this:// Illustrator eats up a good Gb of it when the file is open and has told me numerous times it is ran out of it when in Illustrator. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninjamunky Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Is it an uneditted photo from something like a digital camera? What's the current format? I believe you can import .ai files into Photoshop and it gives you all sorts of options. Else maybe you can export (Save) it in Illustrator as a .psd One more thing, what versions do you have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Topham Hatt Posted March 23, 2009 Author Share Posted March 23, 2009 The current format is .ai. It's a picture which has been drawn by a company for my company. I know there is the EXPORT command in illustrator but as said, my computer runs out of RAM. I don't want to purchase another 4Gb's for it not to work :p I have the CS4 suite for Adobe. I had a go at opening it straight to Photoshop which is all good, it takes a while (i don't care if it takes 8 hours!) (it didn't take 8 hours by the way), but it doesn't support the layers. Unless there is a way for my computer to use a usb pen drive for RAM? Hmm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~ Rogue ~ Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 You can export a .AI file to .PSD, IIRC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boogerjones Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 You shouldn't need 4 GB of RAM to export a 150 MB file from Illustrator. I have 2 GB on my computer and I routinely deal with .ai and .psd files larger than that. And yeah, I think the export command is the one with the options to export the .ai layers to separate layers in Photoshop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Topham Hatt Posted March 23, 2009 Author Share Posted March 23, 2009 Open Illustrator. Wait for the image to load blur's and glo's. Choose "File. . .Export" My computer is "working" but no dialog shows up. Open Illustrator. Wait for the image to load blur's and glo's. Choose "File. . .Export" Illustrator crashes. I think the file is a vector so I don't know how big it's trying to export it as. However, I seem to have found an alternative way to get what I need. Simply select the items I want, then paste it into a new illustrator file and export it. There doesn't seem to be any layers, but I haven't experimented too much, although saying that, I have told illustrator to export the layers to the PSD. I'll keep giving different things a try though :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninjamunky Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 You can export a .AI file to .PSD, IIRC. Yeah, I think this is it. Look under File > Export... when you open it in Illustrator. You should be able to export it as a PSD with layers maintained. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterC Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Is there a way you could upload it somewhere so I / we could take a look at it? If everything is on a single layer, I don't think you'll have much success unless you put each element on its own layer. Example: If it's like this, then File > Export and choose PSD will work. I just tested it and it gives me a completely editable PSD with layers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Topham Hatt Posted March 23, 2009 Author Share Posted March 23, 2009 (edited) Um, it's not really something I can upload :/ I have found the "selecting various parts" will give me layers in photoshop, but I have also found that it doesn't NEED to go into photoshop as I can edit what I want in Illustrator, then save it as a PNG (the end format). However, the problem now is memory. Illustrator claims it doesn't have enough RAM to display the file, so after a little while then all I see is lines. I'll post a screen shortly. I can't even have firefox open while trying to edit it, but I suspect this is due to the complexity of the file. I have 4Gb of ram, the program seems to use up to two but then doesn't think it can use anymore. Here's the screenshot. My computer didn't want to take a "print screen" so I had to take it on my phone: Edited March 23, 2009 by Mr Spoon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninjamunky Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 The reason for the memory insufficiency must just be the complexity and size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Topham Hatt Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 My RAM is dirt cheap, at ?40 or so for another 4Gb, I may as well get some:)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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