Exporting file with strokes to older version goes wrong

[arjena]

Hope I can explain this well. I use Illustrator to makes designs for my lasercutter. The lasercutter software can read Ai8 files. So I make my design, save as an Ai8 file and everything worked fine for the last 15 years or so.

But now, when I export a file with colored outlines in stead of a fill, the Ai8 files does not contain my original artwork, but all strokes are converted to filled shapes (compound paths). As if I did an 'expand' on my artwork. Obviously I do not want that. BTW this only happens on closed shapes. Lines or paths that are not closed are not affected.

See attached file, somehow this forum refuses to accept the original file, but the square should just be a stroked square, not the compound path it is now.

Is there a setting somewhere that I can change to revert this behavior? Or is this just a bug?

Now that I know what's happening I can continue to do my, work but it already cost me a lot of material...

[Anshul_Saini]

Hello @arjena,

I understand how this issue can be frustrating, especially when it impacts your workflow and materials for your laser cutter. Let’s work together to resolve this.

To better investigate and assist:

1. Could you try changing the file extension from .ai to .pdf and attaching it again? This might help bypass the forum’s file restrictions.

2. Which version of Illustrator are you currently using? Knowing this will help us determine if there’s a version-specific behavior at play.

3. If possible, could you share a sample file that worked correctly in the past when saved as Ai8? Testing this file on the current version of Illustrator will help us confirm if the behavior is consistent with your older files too.

4. If you’ve made any recent changes to your Illustrator settings or workflow, let us know, as this could help pinpoint the cause.

Feel free to share the requested files & information. If the files are confidential, you can share them via a private message or a secure link. Let’s get this sorted so you can continue your work seamlessly.

Best regards,

Anshul Saini

[arjena · Accepted solution]

Nothing confidential bout his file, it is a test file merely created to illustrate the problem.

I did nothing that might change the behavior of Illustrator in the recent past. Except of course update to the latest version. I am at 29.1, which I believe is the latest version. 

But I think I found where the problem originates. The fault occurs when the stroke is not centered. For some reason my Illustrator was set to 'Align Stroke to Inside'. I have been working with Illustrator for a very long time (ever since my first Mac in 1992), but I can't recall if Ai8 had the feature to align the stroke anything other than centered. Still, since Ai8 is an interchange format for a lot of other software, it would be nice to alert the user that this conversion will occur, rather then a vague comment about disableing some edit features. This changes the file, so that can cause a lot of trouble for many users.

For completeness I attached the original file in pdf format. But I think I already found what I was looking for.

[Kurt Gold]

Saving to AI 8 format from the latest version of Illustrator is a quarter century time travel.

There are dozens or even hundreds of required conversions to make new features interpretable by Illustrator 8 (format).

Therefore I think it's appropriate to point that out with a general warning notice, rather than listing all possible conversion issues in detail.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

There's your answer. Older AI formats (like your AI8) never had any options other than centered strokes so won't support stroke orientations other than that, so your file is being "flattened" (expanded) to maintain the final appearance to match.

If I remember, stroke oruentations started with CS2

[Mike_Gondek]

Yes you must keep your strokes to the default of align center.

You should also see if you can upgrade your lasercutter software, or if other vector file formats are preferred (SVG, pdf, dxf). AI8 is very old and you may run into other problems covering such as type shifts.