Best cheap/free program for AI files? (1 Viewer)

[Saoliver]

I am looking to make some custom shaped inlay mock-ups. Nothing too complicated. What is the best cheap or free program that is user friendly and saves as .AI files? I cannot afford Adobe Illustrator. I am thinking less than $50 for the program.

Thanks.

 

[Beakertwang]

Inkscapes seems to work pretty wel.

 

[rimmerryan]

Inkscapes seems to work pretty wel.

I think this might be the only other one available... but IMO is not as capable as AI.

 

[Beakertwang]

I think this might be the only other one available... but IMO is not as capable as AI.

Right, and probably not as intuitive, but I can slog my way through it.

 

[bsdunbar1]

Inkscapes seems to work pretty wel.

Inkscape has not been very workable for me

 

[Beakertwang]

Inkscape has not been very workable for me

I've never used anything else, so I can only assume AI is much better. But did anyone mention that Inkscapes is free?

 

[atomiktoaster]

I wouldn't use Inkscape to create .ai files. Just send the .svgs and have them use Illustrator for the conversion to .ai.

The biggest shortcoming is that Inkscape is RGB only. That makes color matching pretty much impossible. Otherwise, I've have a pretty successful time using inkscape for things like dealer buttons.

 

[Darson]

Adobe Illustrator is $30/month or $240 a year. That's way too much for something to "play" with.

I think most printers want to have a vector file to work with so that they can scale without losing resolution. A PDF can be a vector file and I've sent them without any problems since they can be opened in Illustrator and edited if necessary.

So far I've has success using PowerPoint and saving the output as a PDF. All at no extra cost since it's part of the software available at work.

 

[allforcharity]

Perhaps I shall give Inkscape a try. Hey, free is free.

 

[yone]

Awesome post. My illustrator subscription ran out months ago. I keep it open so I can keep using it, but always fear if the computer needs a restart. Love AI though, hate the subscription. Damn Adobe!

 

[PatTheCat]

https://affinity.serif.com/de/designer/

Not sure if it’s handle .ai-files.

 

[CantSpellPoker]

How hard is it for the designer to convert? For example, I haven't gotten overly serious about my customs, but I do have a basic inlay design done on PowerPoint that I can save as a PNG Image file. Is it much trouble for the designer to either convert or recreate that image as a .AI file? I'm pretty illiterate when it comes to this type of stuff.

 

[Darson]

How hard is it for the designer to convert? For example, I haven't gotten overly serious about my customs, but I do have a basic inlay design done on PowerPoint that I can save as a PNG Image file. Is it much trouble for the designer to either convert or recreate that image as a .AI file? I'm pretty illiterate when it comes to this type of stuff.

A .png file is a raster file whereas Illustrator uses vector files.

• Raster files have a dot matrix data structure that represents a generally rectangular grid of pixels. As you zoom in to these files, the individual pixels become apparent.
• Vector graphics are computer graphics images that are defined in terms of 2D points, which are connected by lines and curves to form polygons and other shapes. As you zoom in, the lines stay as lines.

To send your powerpoint, save as a PDF which will save the vector bits as vector and the raster bits as raster. If you only use lines/curves etc then it'll save as vector. This can be opened in AI no problem.

Sure, a competent graphic artist can convert a raster image into vector and there are some software packages that attempt to do this automatically but it's all extra work so will add to the cost.

 

[LinkyBabe]

The biggest shortcoming is that Inkscape is RGB only. That makes color matching pretty much impossible.

Colour matching really isn't that difficult. And having correct CMYK values doesn't guarantee you'll end up with a perfect match. All you need is a good colour spectrum/Pantone graphic as a point of reference. Print this graphic on the actual label media you'll be using and then take a sample chip and place it next to the colour area on the printed graphic that matches as close as possible. If you can't find a colour that closely matches the sample chip then find another graphic file (I use several). Once you find your match, use the eyedropper tool to sample that area of the graphic and there you have it... the poor person's alternative to a spectrophotometer. This process needs to be repeated anytime you change the label media, ink or printer.

 

[JustinInMN]

I've been playing a little with Vectr lately. I am not good at it yet, the jury is still out.

 

[BSteck]

Ditto for me on most of this.

I do lots of rough mock-ups and brainstorming and general putzing around in PowerPoint. It can do most of the basic shapes, shading, text curves, etc. Then when I'm actually ready to get serious about a design I replicate it in Inkscape. I tried the whole export from PPT to PDF then into Inkscape and found that not everything came across cleanly and it ended up being easier just to rebuild it in Inkscape over the top of a pasted in PowerPoint image.

I slogged through the Inkscape learning curve; it's not super intuitive and kinda clunky but seems to do most anything I can dream up. And there's a pretty good set of websites and videos out there to help you figure out some more advanced effects. Plus it's free - so yah definitely worth free. I've had some issues with Gear opening the Inkscape SVG's in AI and a couple things got wonkey in the import. Things transferred over better when I converted all the objects and strokes to paths. But in the end, I think the best results were when Gear simply copy/pasted from Inkscape into AI for printing.

Another option I've explored is Gravit designer - also free. But since I've already figured out some of the Inkscape eccentricities I haven't really dug too deep into it.

 

[atomiktoaster]

Colour matching really isn't that difficult. And having correct CMYK values doesn't guarantee you'll end up with a perfect match. All you need is a good colour spectrum/Pantone graphic as a point of reference. Print this graphic on the actual label media you'll be using and then take a sample chip and place it next to the colour area on the printed graphic that matches as close as possible. If you can't find a colour that closely matches the sample chip then find another graphic file (I use several). Once you find your match, use the eyedropper tool to sample that area of the graphic and there you have it... the poor person's alternative to a spectrophotometer. This process needs to be repeated anytime you change the label media, ink or printer.

That works fine for DIY labels, but I was thinking more about matching dye sub color wheels for ceramic chips/buttons or custom cloth. Tchan and the various ceramic vendors can provide CMYK swatches, but you can't do anything with that unless you can produce a CMYK file.

 

[LinkyBabe]

That works fine for DIY labels, but I was thinking more about matching dye sub color wheels for ceramic chips/buttons or custom cloth. Tchan and the various ceramic vendors can provide CMYK swatches, but you can't do anything with that unless you can produce a CMYK file.

As the OP mentioned custom shaped inlays my answer was specific to his project.