Inspiring

Question

Converting multiple PNG file to AI

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
December 11, 2018
4 replies
11304 views

I am looking for a way convert multiple files from PNG file to AI format.

Is there any way to do this with illustrator without doing it manually one at a time?

Or is that any other software that can do this?

What I actually need to do on convert them from PNG to AI format and in the process also convert them to gray-scale.

This topic has been closed for replies.

C

CHMprepress

Inspiring

If I understand what you need to do is open PNG , convert to gray and save it.

This can be best don in Photoshop with a action, no need to go by Illustrator.

ryan_edwards

Inspiring

OP is explicitly asking/wanting his files a vector AND greyscale.. that doesn't help him

Myra Ferguson

Community Expert

The OP says, "Yes they will stay pixels but it's a image with a lot of tiny icons in it." So I don't think he expects vectors.

In that case, he could either use Photoshop, or he could save an action within Illustrator to open a png, go to Edit > Edit Colors > Convert to Grayscale, save, and close. If those PNGs are in a single folder, he could point the batch process to that from the Actions panel.

ryan_edwards

Inspiring

find the original assets used in the pngs.. and pray they were vector assets. If not... time to have an existential crisis and read the replies above (they cover it all... live trace is an option.. but it will try to match stuff, won't be too exacting -- also it's probably going to translate any transparency info in the PNGs incorrectly)

If you don't need resize the images why not just put/embed them in an .ai file and desaturate them with a filter (again this is kinda dumb as your files aren't really .ai vector files... just raster bitmap images sitting in .ai containers)

just think thru your project and if you truly need all the files to be ai, you might need to rebuild some assets by hand/from scratch.

I leave you with a jurassic park movie quote...

Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.

KShinabery212

Community Expert

Becareful using the TRACE option. It may not give you perfect results.

It really depends on what you are doing. Theoretically you may want to simpy recreate the images in Illustrator. Especially if the lines need to be percise.

I saw that you said you have 100 files to convert and I know that might be a pain to redo each one.

Can you elaborate to what the images are? Do they need precision?

Let's connect on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kshinabery/

Monika Gause

Community Expert

There is no conversion option. They need to be traced. Either manually or automatically.

How to edit artwork in Illustrator using Image Trace

What is it? Logos? In that case to it manually.

AttrollAuthor

Inspiring

If I trace the file as you pointed out, I lose a lot of the characteristics that are in the PNG file.

There is another way that I found that I can do without tracing it.

I can open the file in illustrator and selected the layer, for to Edit > Edit Colors > Convert to Grayscale and save it as a AI file.

I have over 100 of these files to do. I was just hoping that there was a script or something from within Illustrator that would do it all automatically for me.

Than you for point that out anyways.

Monika Gause

Community Expert

schrieb
If I trace the file as you pointed out, I lose a lot of the characteristics that are in the PNG file.
There is another way that I found that I can do without tracing it.
I can open the file in illustrator and selected the layer, for to Edit > Edit Colors > Convert to Grayscale and save it as a AI file.
I have over 100 of these files to do. I was just hoping that there was a script or something from within Illustrator that would do it all automatically for me.
Than you for point that out anyways.

They will stay pixel images when you do that.

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