The
Create Adobe® Illustrator® Object menu item allows
you to create 3D animated models from 2D vector data by loading
Adobe® Illustrator® paths into Maya as curves
or to generate polygonal surfaces from the Adobe Illustrator file.
You can reload the file
if you make changes to it. You can also edit the path to the Adobe
Illustrator file in the Attribute Editor after you create the object, and
history and bevel information is automatically applied.
To use this feature,
make sure the following conditions apply:
- Text must be converted to outlines in
Adobe Illustrator (select the text and then select Type
> Create Outlines).
- Only Adobe Illustrator 8 files are supported.
- Be sure to delete any guides in Illustrator
before saving the file, even hidden guides. These will be loaded
into Maya as curves, which will cause problems for the bevel operation.
To
create an Adobe Illustrator Object
- Select
Create > Adobe Illustrator Object.
- Select an .ai file.
- Click OK.
To
update the Adobe Illustrator Object
- Select the Adobe Illustrator Object.
- Open the Attribute Editor.
- In the IllustratorForBevel tab,
expand the File Attributes section.
- Click Reload.
Options
You
can choose to import the Adobe Illustrator object
as curves or generate polygonal surfaces (bevel).
The standard Bevel
Plus options are available within the Adobe
Illustrator Object options (see Surfaces
> Bevel Plus for a description of the options).
Once you have imported
the Adobe Illustrator object, there
is a Tolerance attribute in the Attribute
Editor’s illustratorforBevel tab that
can help fixing beveling problems. See
Where curve changes direction, the bevel is not correct.
Troubleshooting
The inside of letters or
curves appear filled-in
Maya
may not know which curves are on the inside and which are on the outside
and your bevel results will be incorrect. In this case, you must
open the file in Adobe Illustrator and add some
more curve information to the file.
Here are two possible Adobe
Illustrator workflows that may help to correct any problems
with incorrect beveling in Maya.
Adobe Illustrator workflow #1
- Select the problematic paths, and select Object
> Compound Path > Release.
- Select the inside and outside paths for
each problematic object and select Object > Group.
- Select Effect > Pathfinder
> Subtract.
- Save the file.
Adobe Illustrator workflow #2
- Select the problematic paths, and select Object
> Compound Path > Release.
- Select the inside and outside paths for
each problematic object.
- Select Object > Compound
Path > Make.
- Save the file.
When you reload the file
within Maya, the letters or curves should all appear correctly.
Where curve changes direction,
the bevel is not correct
In an imported Adobe
Illustrator file, if a curve is next to a line, the line point may
be in a slightly different position than its neighbors. This can
cause bevel errors where the bevel extends into space away from
the main curve.
Possible solutions include:
- Increase the value of the Tolerance attribute
after import
- Fixing the curves in Adobe Illustrator
and re-exporting. This may be necessary if changing the value of
the Tolerance attribute makes the
points snap in a way you don’t want.
NoteIf you use Tolerance,
CVs may be snapped together. This can cause edges with zero length,
which can be removed with the Poly Cleanup Tool.
