Illustrator 88 to V3 Conversion for MATLAB

Converts Illustrator 88 Output from MATLAB Graphics to an illustrator 10 compatible file.

Description

Illustrator 10 no longer supports the illustrator 88 file format. This means that figures produced using the print -dill command cannot be imported directly into Illustrator.

The differences between v88 and v3, the earliest supported format, are minimal. This means that, for MATLAB, only the text tags need to updated to the new format.

A perl script (88convert.pl) is provided to make the necessary changes. This has been tested on most of the demo 2d and 3d graphics and no bugs have been found so far.

An updated print.m which automatically runs the perl script on any output produced by print -dill is also included.

Install the perlscript in a directory on your path and make it executable.

You can then either install the new print.m or issue the command:

!88convert [filename]

from the MATLAB prompt.
Files are backed up to filename.bak

• MATLAB release: MATLAB 6.5 (R13)
• Other requirements: perl
• Other Files: 88convert, ; print.m, ; readme.txt

[Ryan Bennink]

Requires you to install Perl. A Matlab script would have been much more convenient. (C'mon, this is a Matlab forum after all!)

[Steve Haddock]

Great to have the ability to convert -- for OSX, perl installation is not a big deal. Giving a 5 to make up for the other low rating

[Teri Pettit]

The statement that "Illustrator 10 no longer supports the Illustrator 88 format" is false. While it is true that Illustrator 10 (and later versions) no longer Save as Illlustrator 88 format, they open valid Illustrator 88 files just fine. I have working copies of all Mac versions of Illustrator (including Illustrator 1.1), and I can still run them, save files, and open those saved files in Illustrator 10, CS and CS2, including files that contain text.

Any problems that Illustrator 10 and later have opening the files exported by Matlab's print -dill command would indicate that the files are not being saved correctly in the first place, and that earlier versions of Illustrator were more forgiving of the errors. It would be interesting to compare a file saved by Matlab and a file containing the same contents saved by Illustrator and see what the differences are.

[James Argyle]

Seems a bit unfair to downmark my utility on the basis that the blurb makes a "false statement" regarding adobe software. It still does what it claims to, by allowing users of Matlab to export their files in a format which later versions of illustrator can process. Whether the fault lies with illustrator or matlab is immaterial.

[Frank Gibbons]

I installed Perl just to run this (OK, so it's really not that big a deal, esp. on Windows). Turns out I still can't read in AI 10, what MATLAB R2007a exports. This script doesn't solve the problem.

I tend to agree with earlier reviewers: why Perl? It's not even that complicated a script, writing it in MATLAB would make more sense (if I end up doing that, I'll post it back here).

[pape arago]

bien cool