» Package links for output: Illustrator collection script » Interactive Llama

Package links for output: Illustrator collection script

illustrator-collect-script

You have the option to embed images into Adobe Illustrator or to link them. If you embed them, then your file will be large (a 500MB AI file is an everyday occurrence in my work). The other is to link to the image file, but if you hand the file off to another person, the linked images will not be stored with it. One option to is to have a central repository located on a network for images. All new images are placed there. This can sometimes be cumbersome not to have a copy of the image on your local machine–consider image manipulations and having to manage file versions centrally. This script solves the problem of collecting linked images for output. This script collects external image links into a single “Links” folder. You can then give that folder and the subsequent source file (AI) to another person and the external links will work.

Hopefully, you are not using Adobe Illustrator source files (AI) to pre-press print work, but if you are this will aid in collecting linked images for that purpose too.

Caveats

This script does not collect fonts or other files, only images. If your image is within an opacity mask this script will not be able to find it. Illustrator Package Script has been tested on Adobe Illustrator CS2 and Adobe Illustrator CS3 only.

I did not write this script. This script was written by Pavel Rassadin. You can download the original source for this Illustrator Package Script from his website.

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A note about the author

Media designer with experience in interactive, print and video. I have a marketing and advertising agency background and currently work full-time at a full-service agency. Visit my contact page, even if you would just like to say hello. To stay in touch, follow me on Twitter or connect on a variety of other social networks. Thanks for stopping by!

2 Responses to “Package links for output: Illustrator collection script”

ennan Says:
April 15th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Hi,

Here’s a script for collecting both images and fonts for Illustrator:
http://collectforoutput.001webs.com/

It works on Macintosh and requires to have Indesign installed.
HeyBuzz – The Blog of Pete Usborne » Blog Archive » Package Illustrator Says:
June 23rd, 2009 at 4:11 am
[...] I’ve recently started playing around with Scripts in Photoshop an Illustrator – and although pretty useless on the most part, I’ve found one that’s been extremely useful. It’s a script that will group together all of the links within an Illustrator document, and save it ‘Packaged’ much in the same way as InDesign. Fast, clean and extremely useful. Download the script here (via Interactive Llama) [...]

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