Illustrator Curves In Maya

This tutorial will teach you how to import Illustrator Curves (.AI) into Maya as NURB curves.

Set-up

Make sure you have an Illustrator file; the file extension should be .AI. If you don't have one you can use this sample file (credits: Don Petrie, Inspired Grafix).

Step one - Go to create>Adobe(R) Illustrator(R) Object... This will open a file browser. Select your .AI file.

Step two - You can now see your Adobe Illustrator Curves in Maya. You should note that the Adobe Illustrator file is created by a makeillustratorCurves node. It generates the curves groups.

Step three - You should probably get rid of the makeillustratorCurves node because if the .AI file that you imported is moved or is deleted, this will produce an error. To remove the node, open the outliner (window>outliner) and select one of the sub groups of the illustratorcurves.

Step four - Go to window>hypergraph: connections.

Step five - Select the makeillustratorCurve# and hit delete on your keyboard.

Step six - Sometimes the display quality of the NURBS curves will produce ragged edges. If this is undesirable, select all your curves and go to display>NURBs>fine.

Now you're done.