AI to embroidery file
Turn a AI into a stitch file your machine reads. What survives, what does not, and what it costs. Every stitch on screen before you pay.
What a AI gives the machine
An Illustrator .ai file is a PDF underneath, and that is why it can be read at all. It is the file a designer sends, and it holds the mark as it was drawn: every path, at full size, with nothing thrown away. Drop it straight in — there is no need to export anything first.
What goes wrong with a AI
- Saved with «Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities» on, the vector part can be hidden from every reader except Illustrator. The engine says «No vector artwork found in that file. Save it as PDF with Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities off, or send an SVG.»
- Live text is skipped, and a designer's file almost always has live text. The fix is in the message: «select all, then Type → Create Outlines, and save again».
- A placed image inside the file is skipped; only the drawn artwork is stitched. If half the mark is a photograph, half the mark will be missing.
Do this first
The safest thing to ask a designer for is a plain SVG with the type outlined. Second safest is a PDF with editing capabilities off. Either takes them about ten seconds.
Which file comes out
Pick the one your machine reads — DST, PES, JEF, VP3, EXP or XXX — or take the SVG, which is the drawing itself. The same stitches come out in all of them, so changing machine is a different download, not a new job.
What it costs
One file is $9, with no account. From $0.20 a file on a yearly plan. You see the whole mark, at the size you asked for, before you pay for anything.
- Can I send an Illustrator file straight to the workshop?
- Yes. An .ai file is a PDF underneath, so it is read directly — no export step, no conversion first.
- Why does my .ai file say no vector artwork was found?
- It was saved with «Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities» on. Save it again with that box unticked, or export a plain SVG.
- What should I ask my designer for?
- A plain SVG with the type converted to outlines. It is the source that needs the least explaining, and it is right at every size.
Nobody corrects the file afterwards. What is on screen is what the machine gets, and it is worked out in seconds.
Other files you can send
Measured in the workshop, not quoted from a brochure.