Michael and all,

I have run into issues with MOI and Illustrator 10.

This is what happened with the attached files:

A. Prior to this post, files 01 and 02 opened normally with MOI.
B. 03 to 06 started as AC or VW dwg or dxf files, converted to AI in Illustrator and imported into MOI. Most opened one or more times but either now open with no geometry or just no longer open.
C. 04 did open for a while today; the "Save As" seemed to work normally (file title appears at the top of the window) but no actual file was saved. At this point, MOI bombed the computer down to the wallpaper which required forced shutdown by holding the startup button.
C. 07 and 08 contain simple geometric shapes created in AI 10, saved as v8 and v10. When imported into MOI, they opened without any geometry and no file title at the top of the window.

Thanks.

Leonard

Hi Leonard, your computer totally bombing out and freezing up pretty much suggests that you might be having some kind of hardware issue with your computer. Is there any chance your computer is overheating? Maybe pushed too close to a wall or has it gotten pretty choked up with dust?

You also might try updating your graphics driver to the latest version - typically a regular program works at a lower level of privilege in the operating system specifically so that it's not possible for an individual program to bring down the entire machine. But drivers work at a higher level of privilege and so any bugs in drivers (and video drivers are the most complex drivers on the machine by a large factor) are usually what are responsible when your entire machine freezes up.

re: Illustrator v10 versus v8 formats - there was a major change in Illustrator starting with v9 where it changed the .ai format from its previous structure into being the same as .pdf .

Previously MoI would have difficulty with some type of those "AI that are really PDF" files. But this should be greatly improved in the brand new v3 beta that I only released a couple of days ago, you can get it here: http://moi3d.com/beta.htm?rev=x


> they opened without any geometry and no file title at the top of the window.

It's totally normal for AI files to open without any file title at the top of the window (if you are referring to the top title bar of the main application window) - the only time the file title at the top of the window will change is when you open a 3DM file, that's because 3DM is the only format that MOI can actually store all of its data into. When you open a AI file that will not become the active file because if you added something like a sphere to your model after that and then tried to save, there is no way to actually save the whole sphere to AI format.

So that part at least with the file title not changing is normal and intended behavior...

- Michael

Hi Leonard, I tested all your files and they all seem to open up fine here using the latest v3 beta (which was just released a couple of days ago, get it here: http://moi3d.com/beta.htm?rev=x with the exception of "06 Dr frame.ai" - that file was saved using the newer style AI format but without PDF compatibility turned on. If you rename the file to end in .pdf and then try to open it with the regular Acrobat PDF viewer, you'll see it is not able to read any shapes from it either, instead there is only some text that says:



So in order for that one to come into MoI's newer PDF reader you have to enable that "Create PDF Compatible File" option in Illustrator as mentioned there - that is actually one side effect of the new PDF reading mechanism in the latest beta, previous versions of MoI could actually sometimes find some of the Illustrator private information but the new one needs for a PDF style AI file to actually have PDF content in it and not only private illustrator content, that's what that one particular setting that it mentions will do.

But all the other ones than that seem to be coming in fine over here - like I mentioned before it's totally normal for an open of an .AI file to not set the MoI window title for the active file - that only happens with 3DM files since 3DM is the only format where MoI is able to store anything that you can create in MoI.

A lot of what you are describing with system crashes and inconsistent behavior kind of sounds to me like you may have some kind of hardware issue - maybe bad ram (running a RAM test like memtest86 may be a good idea), or overheating or a buggy video driver are some likely suspects... Have you seen any general system instability recently?

- Michael

Hi Michael - thanks for the quick response.

Mostly good results after loading v3 Beta.

Re the bombing. Yesterday's event was the 2nd time ever that MOI bombed and, at this time, do not believe it is a hardware issue. I frequently work with much larger and more complex MOI and VW files. No excessive heat detected, either.

That said, MOI bombed again after installing v3 Beta today. It followed an attempt to open the files I posted here yesterday - not one file opened via MOI Import>file. When I tried dropping the Illustrator file on the MOI icon in the Mac dock, a small "Invalid Name" dialog box appeared and the file did not open (pic 1). After trying all 8 files, suddenly a dialog box opened - something about X11 not loading. I ignored it and clicked OK thinking I would reboot MOI. Immediately, the computer graphics shut down to the wallpaper. The computer continued running, there were no text graphics and only the wallpaper image remained. The power button was used to shut down. I recall seeing and reacting the same way when that X11 dialog box popped up yesterday followed by the crash. Next time I will get a pic.

A number of tests this morning have yielded positive results (pic 2). Today, Save As is saving a .3dm file, a couple VW>AI>MOI files opened as did the AI-created geometric shape files.

So, I will put to use today and if there are continuuing issues, I may be back.

Cheers,

Leonard

Hi Michael,

The issue remains. The attached AI file opened normally but when a file name was added, that name appears at the top of the window but no file was created in the assigned location. Manipulating the geometry was normal: rotated, duplicated and extruded. Used Save As but no file was created and it disappeared when MOI was closed.

Leonard

Michael,

Most PDFs and EPSs cannot be imported into MOI which is to say the behavior is intermittent. So far, only one eps file has opened in MOI and recently, no pdf files have opened in MOI. In the past, pdf files did open.

Leonard
(Mac 10.6.8)

I just tried to open and or import some .pdf files into MoI with no success.
and I can't import of open them with the previous built (april) either.

Perhaps I'm not following the correct procedure but no luck so far.

cheers,
eric

Hi Leonard, so what you are describing does sound quite mysterious and I don't really have any idea what might be going wrong there.

Can you maybe break things down into some more individual steps - when you say "a file name was added", that means that you are doing File > Save As to save to a 3DM file, right? What directory are you saving into? Is there any difference if you use a simple filename with no spaces in it?

If you save a file and that file is not actually there, then that's a pretty weird and major problem and also one that I have not ever heard from anyone else before...

Are you possibly running any kind of additional software that hooks into things at a low level like any anti-virus system or things like that? If so try disabling that and see if that is what was blocking files from being created properly.


Also can you just save files if you draw them initially in MoI instead of doing any AI import?

Is it possible that you're trying to save on some kind of read-only volume or network drive? If so try saving to someplace on your local hard drive instead and see if that helps.

- Michael

Hi eric,

> I just tried to open and or import some .pdf files into MoI with no success.
> and I can't import of open them with the previous built (april) either.
>
> Perhaps I'm not following the correct procedure but no luck so far.


Does the PDF file contain only image and text data in it?

MoI will only try to read vector path information out PDF files, it's possible for PDF files to not contain any of that particular information in them and if that's the case it won't import anything.

Can you post or e-mail me one of the PDF files that does not open so I can take a look at it? If you zoom in on it a bit and things get all pixellated that means it has a bitmap image in it and not vector data.

- Michael

Hi Michael, update first. I installed MOI on a newer Mac running 10.7.4 and all but one of the original 8 files I posted yesterday opened. Only #6 failed to open. I tried other files as well. So, PDF, AI and EPS files I cannot open with either v2.5 or v3 Beta on my 10.6.8 machine opened using v3 Beta on 10.7.4.

Interesting discovery in answering one of your questions:

>Also can you just save files if you draw them initially in MoI instead of doing any AI import?

NO. They are not saved regardless of selected extension.

Answers to your other questions:

>...when you say "a file name was added", that means that you are doing File > Save As to save to a 3DM file, right?

Yes. The name, with extension .3dm, is added to the top-center of the window but the assigned location has no file with that name. A search of the "computer" for that exact name reveals no file with that name.

>Is there any difference if you use a simple filename with no spaces in it?

It does not seem to make any difference, e.g., attached file "343 fr Dykes wsite2.ai" opens and "DrFrame.ai" does not open.

>If you save a file and that file is not actually there, then that's a pretty weird and major problem and also one that I have not ever heard from anyone else before...

OMG, I guess I should shoot my machine. LMAO!

>Are you possibly running any kind of additional software that hooks into things at a low level like any anti-virus system or things like that? If so try disabling that and see if that is what was blocking files from being created properly.

No. These files act like they are being corrupted somewhere.

>Is it possible that you're trying to save on some kind of read-only volume or network drive? If so try saving to someplace on your local hard drive instead and see if that helps.

No. Saving to local hard drive only. Importing some files wirelessly but some of those open and others don't.

Edit: I have not and am not experiencing any strange behavior with any other software.

Leonard

I can't import your first ai file, but yes for your second as ai

Seems there is in your first ai file a big part of strange code :)

Hi Pilou,

Which file has the strange code? I took files from different origins to try to isolate the issue. Leonard

First ;) from post 12 Dframe .ai
something like this Line 172 toward the end and even adress url inside ;) But Maybe the new import PDF can manage all this ?
<< /Filter [ /FlateDecode ] /Length 13 0 R>>
stream
H‰ì—ûnÇÆŸ`ßa‹B€„ÆÊÜ/BP`gg×Û‚ä¤(‚B`͍L„"’Š›>}¿sf—¤d¡Ú"èæx)zç~Îï|3çäW7¯šùúïÃ+}.êêä¤Ý³ÝzsQóÛúr¹|Üî6ôêôú¬–â\ Qsndž?›íb½º˜ªzê{z3ÛÌ>ÖßÎ>ý¼XmÏêÓf>,>.ê×›þ|Øž¡åûÅn9 íwÃl>Ìë»åWõ|Sÿ´™Ýõú²ÑÙäóÙâlZfɳzø¯•úZªZªáê«7hÖ«ùbu—Öÿ¸¨UpµŽ¾Ö:ÖF:T»¸¶ÏÛœG«¸á¹1 u8×*Jt±çÞê—×ï‡Õîj³þ0l·íz¹Þl/êö×Ùª~3»Cͬþë°\®?Õi9ûðsËØÛ~±`†ûÙ®vd“æRßr×ï·èƒîô›^ûÛË{¼¹v;¬“
¯_§ãéð’Ëé×ÃÝ‚]
Cü팽àʸ7Ãì¼ÇPðÊ)*ë<ü4{\îÊ„õ¡~îÎÈÙªß=Ћ-wr˜FŽO)²”°1•W’þš=¯/oU­kÃÓ\]ešB•–NÔÆ¢V=_îJK$Û½î–ð<;Nwná5K߇ßcKXž[aÉFÕ6šÚ{Sê¾~YŸ.ê·ëÕPÖlv7‹Â3Tù¨ÊÛëÇå°ù~µØÇ4—±XûÍ0cŠ}ß~9»cöÂߥÁûÙæn؁¿õòqÇ‘ÄXõöñþ»Ù¯!¥Ëï†Õûõ¼¾W„g‘]ãBMªâ#G»;8hŽ:S×iLï=ŒÂÞmw‹Õ[…ÁÑ·W³‡as=|Ø]¼ÂkX‰­…ßcý,»tyeÈß¡¦*böõf1? ëUÊïù<=qzÊæ`§ÝnX̻ռ]ß“C¶¿`{ì—ë»R·ÿÍ5˜îñ¡l’ÿß]m+ZCõö¡’ºN«£zÈÌ|¡¡.—_Õù¸Ø
õ5^Ï–gÕ‹oØ4¯~¬¾©}”ÐÂ+¼"Š$Z‘E'z)¤”JB&¤“^e#“le–½J*¥Œ‚ï”WQ5*©VåJuª×BK­´ÑV;íuÐQ7:éVwº7ÂH£Œ6Æ8ãM0Ñ4&™Öt¦·ÂJ«¬¶Æ:ëm°Ñ6•M¶µípÒ)§uÎy\tK.»Îõ^xé•×Þx‚¾ñÉ·>ûÎ÷ATÐÁ\P€[hB
-J]è#veTQGmtÑG4‰161Å%Ç.ö±oŠl°ßF7Xzc«Æ5¾ÁhMlè“š%7JŸD‚É’J:a—É&,9ù„™ÆMM¢O‹’S‡Ò·0~ÕÂÆ-¬Ùê†i±ÿÖ¡`?´\Zf ^ôÉm‡Ògø,ˬp–Øì²Ï!79å6çÜU¹ïD§:Ý™Îv®]ÄâR—»®ë{Ñ«êÏ
’a(8¸ÚòÅ
¸øE4²ì...

I was able to load all .ai files into MoI v2.5 and MoI v3.0 beta under OSX 10.6.8. (i skipped file No 6).

Regards
Stefan

Maybe its because I am in PC ?

Frenchy, the pdf wont be "all text"...

Were the ai files being passed between pc and mac at any point? How well does MAC deal with the windows ADS.

The funny thing for the first file of post 1 01 Dykes 201.ai
I can rename it in 01 Dykes 201.pdf
same result!
I can reload each file 1 to 8 except 6 under PC :)

Stefan, thanks for testing; it points to a conflict on this end. Only MOI is experiencing difficulties - VERY strange difficulties.

Leonard

Edited

BurrMan, the Dykes and files with a number like 343 were probably pc (dwg,dxf)>illustrator>MOI. Others are mac>illustrator>MOI. What is ADS? Leonard

Hi Leanard,
ADS=Alternate Data Stream

But I dont think it is that now. It may be a naming convention or something being handled in the files. The original files titles had some funcky characters and big long comma and spacing, but I dont know anything about MoI's ai reader, so I'm going to wait and see if Michael finds anything with it.