Importing Various Graphic Formats into an Adobe

Illustrator File

Tutorial Created by Brijesh Bhatha, 2004. Updated 2006 by Corinne Stewart (corinnestewart@gmail.com)

GRAPHICS TUTORIAL # D2
Importing Various Graphic Formats into an Adobe Illustrator File
CP-208 Plan Preparation Studio - Prof. Elizabeth Macdonald

In this tutorial we will learn importing and placing graphics created in various formats to Adobe
Illustrator.
Placing artwork from other applications, such as Adobe Photoshop, into Adobe Illustrator is easily performed
using various Adobe Illustrator commands.
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Illustrator can import many common graphic file formats, including EPS, CorelDRAW , FreeHand , GIF, JPEG,

PICT, TIFF, DXF/ DWG, Adobe PDF, and PostScript Level 3. In addition to these common graphic file formats,
Illustrator can use artwork in any file format supported by an Adobe Photoshop-compatible file format plug-in
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filter, including Kodak Photo CD , PNG, and TGA.
You can use the Clipboard and drag-and-drop importing to bring images into Illustrator. However, two
commands are most commonly used when importing artwork created by other applications:
The Open command opens a file created by another application as a new Adobe Illustrator file. The Place
command places an image in an existing Illustrator file in one of two ways.
However, the Place command is used for importing the flies directly into the existing Adobe Illustrator file you
are working.

Note: Select OR Create a layer (as explained in TUTORIAL # D1) before inserting the artwork into
Adobe Illustrator. This makes working with multiple artworks earlier.
STEP - I. Place and Link Files Created by Other Applications:
1.
Open the file into which you want to place the artwork.
2.
In the File menu select Place..
3.
A Place dialog box will appear.
4.
Locate and select the file you want to place. If you dont see the name of the file you want, the file has

been saved in a format that Illustrator cannot read.
Place dialog box

GRAPHICS TUTORIAL # D2
Importing Various Graphic Formats into an Adobe Illustrator File
CP-208 Plan Preparation Studio - Prof. Elizabeth Macdonald

5.




6.

7.

Do one of the following:

- To create a link between the artwork file and the Illustrator file, make sure the Link option is selected
in the Place dialog box.
- To embed the artwork in the Illustrator file, deselect the Link option in the Place dialog box by a right
click of the mouse.
Click Place. The artwork is placed into the Illustrator file as either a linked or an embedded image,
depending on the option you selected in the Place dialog box.
Adjust the placed artwork as required.

Note: If you are placing an AutoCAD drawing, a DXF/DWG Options dialog box appears. Hit OK with the default
options. If you are placing a photoshop document a Photoshop Import dialog box will appear. Select Convert
Photoshop layers to objects for maintaining the separate layers OR Select Flatten Photoshop layers to a single
image to have a single image with no separate layers.

STEP - II: Importing EPS and PDF Files into Illustrator:

You can use Adobe Illustrator to edit artwork that was imported as Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) and Adobe
Portable Document Format (PDF) file types.
You can import PDF and EPS files using these commands:
- The Open command to open a PDF or EPS file as a new Illustrator file. The Place command to place a
- PDF or EPS file in the current layer in an existing Illustrator file.
Repeat the steps 1 - 5 as discussed in STEP I.

Note: Placing EPS or PDF files in Illustrator with the Link option selected in the Place dialog box does not
allow you to modify the linked object within the Illustrator file. To convert the elements in an EPS or PDF file
to Illustrator objects that can be modified, deselect the Link option in the Place dialog box. Deselecting the
Link option when you place the EPS or PDF file embeds the file and lets you edit each part of the artwork as a
discrete object.