I am unable to import Vector files that have the .ai extension. Is there a way to do this?

Would you please give us a little more info about this problem? How exactly are you trying to import (File menu > Import, or Open)? What happens when you try it? Error message?

Also you might read through this topic, it may contain helpful info: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=820

I use the impute function and it gives me a pop up: Failed to load the requested file

What? What does that mean? What did I do wrong?

I'm sorry that I don't know the answer. But please have patience. Someone else will respond.

I can say that your import seems to be proper. The problem is why it's not working, and I just don't know anything about AI files.

Thanks bro, I'll be patient.

So what were your findings after following the advise in the opening post for topic the Brynn linked to above?

I reviewed the article and all it's suggestions and I've come the the conclusion that Inkscape just wont import any vector files with .ai extension.

jbx9000 wrote:I reviewed the article and all it's suggestions and I've come the the conclusion that Inkscape just wont import any vector files with .ai extension.

You're not offering much for us work on So Ghostscript didn't work, and the workaround of converting to another format didn't either. There's not any more advise I can offer, sorry.

We'll I guess I can try again. I am simply trying to use the import function to import a vector file that was created in AI. It simply tells me "Failed to load the requested file". I tried to convert to a PDF but that didn't work either. I installed Ghost Script and there was no change. I was however able to use Ghost Script and another program to view the file and save it as with another extension but it looses all the sharpness that you get from a true vector file.

Basically it goes like this, I want to import an AI vector file into Inkscape, I can't seem to do it, does ANYONE know how?

It sounds like Ghostscript may have extracted the bitmap preview.

Not all vector formats are described the same way and contain equivalent features. For example, AI does not support opacity in gradient stops as SVG does.

Inkscape is an SVG editor and any other format you attempt to open will be converted to SVG to allow the edits (it can't work directly on the information in other vector formats). So it is to be expected that when converting between vector formats, some objects and effects may go missing.

To put it into perspective, if you happened to have Illustrator and opened the AI file in it, then saved as SVG, even then the SVG may not look identical to the AI.

Having said that, you may like to post a link to the AI file and maybe someone else can try their hand at converting to SVG for you.