Hi miquik,there was a big change in the AI format back around Adobe Illustrator version 10 - with v10 (or v9 maybe it was), the format switched to just basically be a PDF file. MoI though writes the older style AI v8 files.

Some programs will only load the newer PDF style (Inkscape is one), and some will only load the older style and some will load both like Adobe Illustrator itself can load either.

One inexpensive drawing program which can load MoI AI files is Mayura Draw:
http://www.mayura.com/

Also another one which is a free program now is Creature House Expression, you can download it from here:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/a/5/d/a5d625a5-2e3d-4e9c-8608-6de48d7b569f/CreatureHouseExpression3_3.exe

Either of those may be helpful for loading 2D AI files written out from MoI and editing them or exporting them to some other format.

- Michael

Inkscape's current version, 0.48.2, will open Illustrator 8 files with a plugin called UniConvertor, which is has binaries to install on Windows and Linux, but not on Mac. It may be possible to install it via the python installer provided with the source download, but there are a lot of dependency issues and I gave up on this after an hour or so. It is available from http://sk1project.org/modules.php?name=Products&product=uniconvertor .

However, Inkscape is currently working on a native Mac version which includes UniConvertor, or at least supports the .ai v8 file type. There is a development version available, see http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13610&p=52928#p52909 . I'm sure that the main Inkscape site will announce when this has passed all the regression tests and is considered ready for general use, but I have installed the 0.48.4 development version and found it usable now (it's even a native Cocoa app, doesn't require X11, which is fantastic). At the very least, I can open .ai files exported from MoI, save them as .svg files, and open those in my older Inkscape version.

Hi,

i installed the new vers. of Inkscape via MacPorts, because i'm on Snow Leopard, and it's working fine so far, but it still uses X11 (which is no problem for me). The other stuff you've mentioned i did in the past too and had therefore also old.ai and Corel Draw support.



Regards
Stefan

There's also Xara Xtreme 5 that's offered free until april 29th

http://www.xara.com/us/specialoffers/designer/

Marc

Seems very cool!
XARA Xtreme 5



From a Moi LineWeb ;) (Works also fine Xara --> Moi !

"""""Seems very cool!
XARA Xtreme 5""""""""""

Ooooop's... Paid for upgrade to ProX 8! :)

Maybe you have more functions! ;)

à propos

Expression Design 4 is now available for download at no charge.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36180

...and with the free Xara Xtreme offert you have also
MAGIX Xtreme Photo Designer 7