Hi dedmin - both of those formats are actually quite potentially complex, MoI will only try to read subsets of those kinds of files.

EPS for example can contain arbitrary Postscript programming code in it - to actually do a full job of handling EPS means to implement a full Postscript program interpreter which is a lot of work. MoI only tries to read EPS files that use a few relatively common kinds of instructions.

PDF is also complex in different ways from that, the PDF file is segmented into numerous kinds of sub-objects some of which are compressed and stuff like that. It's pretty hard to deal with.


Your best bet is to get your drawing in to .AI version 8 or earlier format (Illustrator v9 and higher AI files are actually the same as PDF), that is a much more simplified and structured drawing format which is much easier for MoI to process.

Try Mayura Draw as a helper program for this: http://www.mayura.com/

You could try loading SVG into Mayura draw, and then exporting from Mayura draw as AI format which I think will generate the more simple AI8 type AI file which MoI will handle much better.

In the future I may be licensing a PDF library to improve the PDF import capabilities of MoI.

- Michael

I guess Mayura draw won't help you for going into MoI because it also only imports the AI8 style stuff and doesn't seem to have an SVG importer.

It does have an SVG exporter, so it works for going the other direction from MoI to Inkscape (Inkscape cannot load the AI8 style .ai files, it can only load the newer PDF based ones).

I'm not sure if there is a good way to go from Inkscape to an AI8 file, according to here it was actually removed from Inkscape back in Inkscape version v0.47 .

There does seem to be some discussion of an Inkscape plugin for AI8 export here:
http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1037


If you can get it into Windows MetaFile format (.wmf) out from Inkscape, then Creature House Expression 3 may work to import that and export AI v8 : http://download.microsoft.com/download/a/5/d/a5d625a5-2e3d-4e9c-8608-6de48d7b569f/CreatureHouseExpression3_3.exe

- Michael

Also there seems to be a converter here:

http://sk1project.org/modules.php?name=Products&product=uniconvertor

which looks like it can take in SVG or EPS files and generate AI v5 output, which should then be loadable into MoI.

- Michael

What a speedy response!! Thanks a lot - I gonna try Your suggestions and report back!

Hi agan. I have found a way to import eps from Inkscape to Moi. We need to install:
Ghostscript - http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/doc/GPL/index.htm
GSview - http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/gsview/
pstoedit - http://www.helga-glunz.homepage.t-online.de/pstoedit/

Save a file as eps from Inkscape, then open it with GSview and use Edit > Convert to vector format ... and choose ps2ai:

Hi dedmin, I'm glad you have a solution and thanks for reporting back so that others can have a reference if they run into the same problem as well.

In the future I do hope to improve the PDF import which would then make the transfer easier.

- Michael

Yes - seems everything is pdf these days. Glad to help. It is a huge advantage to use Inkscape for complex curves and Moi for modeling.

Yeah, definitely a lot of PDFs out there.

I only wish they were easier to deal with... If you want a really big headache sometime, just try reading the PDF specification and trying to make sense of it! :)

- Michael

and about the 3D PDF?
click on the shoe
http://www.westimages.com/pdf-3d-westimages.pdf

Hi Pilou, I have not really looked that deeply into 3D PDF, it's pretty much a separate thing from the regular 2D page-oriented PDF stuff.

If you want to produce 3D PDFs , Simlab Composer seems to be a good way to do it:

http://www.simlab-soft.com/3d-products/simlab-composer-main.aspx

- Michael

"""""""""""If you want a really big headache sometime, just try reading the PDF specification and trying to make sense of it! """"""""""""""""

Glad to know I wasnt the only one!!!! :o

Seems like it was written for "personal use" by the developer...

I remember reading an article a few years back which detailed exactly how screwed up the PDF file format actually was. I've gladly forgotten a lot of the details, but the stigma remains. This and many other examples are why I still view Adobe as a second-rate software developer, successful though they may be.

Hi vodkamartini, also the spec helpfully contains no actual code examples or things that you could directly use.

Part of that probably comes from some bean-counter corporate desire to monetize the tools and make things like "enterprise libraries" for other corporations to buy.

- Michael

Hey Michael

Is there any chance of an SVG exporter for MoI? :)

(the same sort of output as the .ai exporter, but with the svg format)

I'm using MoI for a lot of 2D stuff and am using Inkscape.

Hi NightCabbage, yes I would like to make an SVG exporter for MoI, but I'm not sure fo the exact timetable of when it will be available.

For now, one way you can get your data to SVG currently is to export from MoI to .AI format, and then import the AI into Mayura Draw (http://www.mayura.com/) and export to SVG from there.

- Michael

Ok, so I'm just wondering...

My Mayura Draw trial has expired, so I need something to read in MoI's .ai files and either export them to SVG (for Inkscape) or render them to a 32-bit PNG with transparency (just lines, very basic).

Should I buy Mayura?

Or is there a cheaper / free / better option available?

Just thought I'd check before I go ahead.

Thanks!

(unless Michael has made an SVG exporter or an .ai exporter that works with Inkscape lol)

Hi NightCabbage, you may be able to make something work with Creature House Expression v3.3 instead - that's available for free here:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/a/5/d/a5d625a5-2e3d-4e9c-8608-6de48d7b569f/CreatureHouseExpression3_3.exe

That can open AI files that are saved from MoI, and it can export to PDF or EPS formats, which probably would then go into Inkscape.

- Michael

Cool prog for go between formats !
And no problem of resolution ;)
Nice result for a Vectorial prog !
A cool review in French http://www.3dvf.com/modules/publish/Logiciels_817_1.html
or in English ;)
http://translate.google.fr/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dvf.com%2Fmodules%2Fpublish%2FLogiciels_817_1.html&sl=fr&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8
By Grahinc

Ah, thank you!

It exports into Inkscape fine, yay :)

export from moi works like a charm :)
The green line is Moi curve export in AI format!
So infinite crazzy worlds to explore :)