HELP! Emergency! Something farked up bad! :-(

[Forsky]

ACK! Help! Help! Help!

I've been working on a project for 2 weeks. I was wrapping it up for
delivery tomorrow. I saved it, then tried reloading it and got the following
error :

==============================

Can't open the illustration. The illustration contains an illegal or
misplaced operator.

Offending operator: "U"

Context:

% /ArtDictionary :
% /XMLUID : (Text_Outside) ; (AI10_ArtUID) ,
% ;
%
9 () XW
U

==============================

What does this mean?? How much trouble am I in? There's a whole bunch of
layers missing from the file when I bypass the alert!

HELP! Someone save me! How can this be fixed?

[steggy]

Forsky wrote:

>
> ACK! Help! Help! Help!
>
> I've been working on a project for 2 weeks. I was wrapping it up for
> delivery tomorrow. I saved it, then tried reloading it and got the following
> error :
>
> ==============================
>
> Can't open the illustration. The illustration contains an illegal or
> misplaced operator.
>
> Offending operator: "U"
>
> Context:
>
> % /ArtDictionary :
> % /XMLUID : (Text_Outside) ; (AI10_ArtUID) ,
> % ;
> %
> 9 () XW
> U
>
> ==============================
>
> What does this mean?? How much trouble am I in? There's a whole bunch of
> layers missing from the file when I bypass the alert!
>
> HELP! Someone save me! How can this be fixed?

How did you save it. As an .ai or as an .eps?
If the latter is the case you might try to place it in some
lay out software, see what happens there.........

Or convert it to a PDF file and try to open that in Illy.
--
steg

[steggy]

steggy wrote:

>
> Forsky wrote:

> >
> >
> > HELP! Someone save me! How can this be fixed?

>
> How did you save it. As an .ai or as an .eps?
> If the latter is the case you might try to place it in some
> lay out software, see what happens there.........
>
> Or convert it to a PDF file and try to open that in Illy.
> --
> steg

Or change the extension from .ai to .pdf and try to place it
in a new Illy document.
--
steg

[Forsky]

As a AI10 .ai file!

I even saved it under two names (when the project was open and fully
functioning) and now both filenames report the same error when opening!

HELP! :( This was due tomorrow!

"steggy" <steggy@bnrd.invalid.net> wrote in message
news:407DC9DC.869C82D6@bnrd.invalid.net...

>
> How did you save it. As an .ai or as an .eps?
> If the latter is the case you might try to place it in some
> lay out software, see what happens there.........
>
> Or convert it to a PDF file and try to open that in Illy.
> --
> steg

[steggy]

Forsky wrote:

>
> As a AI10 .ai file!
>
> I even saved it under two names (when the project was open and fully
> functioning) and now both filenames report the same error when opening!
>
> HELP! :( This was due tomorrow!
>
> "steggy" <steggy@bnrd.invalid.net> wrote in message
> news:407DC9DC.869C82D6@bnrd.invalid.net...

> >
> > How did you save it. As an .ai or as an .eps?
> > If the latter is the case you might try to place it in some
> > lay out software, see what happens there.........
> >
> > Or convert it to a PDF file and try to open that in Illy.
> > --
> > steg

How big is it. You might try to zip it (necessary) and send
it to me, maybe I can open it and resave. Max: 5Mb.

steggeman at cox.net
--
steg

[Forsky]

"iehsmith" <inezhsmithspammenot@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:BCA348EC.17D63%inezhsmithspammenot@earthlink. net...

>
> When you click OK, the file opens but it is empty.

Actually, the file opens but it's not empty. It's only missing appx. 40% of
the layers (seemingly sacrificed at random).

> Solution 1
> Change the page area information of the document:
> 1. Open a copy of the document in a text editor that can save in text-only
> format (e.g., Microsoft Word or WordPerfect).
>
> Disclaimer: Adobe does not support modifying files with a text editor.

Adobe

> strongly recommends that you have experience editing PostScript code in a
> text editor and saving files in text-only (e.g., ASCII) format. If you
> incorrectly modify a file or save it in the wrong format, you may damage

it

> further. Always modify a copy of the file so you can revert to the

original

> if problems occur.
>
> 2. Locate the line that begins
>
> %%PageOrigin:
>
> 3. Change both numbers beside "%%PageOrigin:" to 0 (zero) so that the line
> reads
>
> %%PageOrigin:0 0
>
> 4. Save the document in text-only format, close the text editor, and then
> open the document in Illustrator.
> 5. Select the Page tool and move the printable area back to the desired
> location.

Tried it. Result : no change. Same error reported, same layers appearing
(and not appearing) once the file is opened.

> Solution 2
> Convert the document to PDF using Adobe Acrobat Distiller, then open the

PDF

> file in Illustrator.
>
> Note: Acrobat Distiller uses the bounding box of an EPS file to determine
> the page size of the PDF file. If desired, adjust the page dimensions and
> printable area after opening the PDF file in Illustrator.

When attempting to open the .ai file (and also when renaming it to .eps and
trying a second time) I get the following error message during the
conversion process :

%%[ Error: undefined; OffendingCommand: obj ]%%

Stack:
0
1

%%[ Flushing: rest of job (to end-of-file) will be ignored ]%%
%%[ Warning: PostScript error. No PDF file produced. ] %%

> Solution 3
> Place the document into a page-layout application (e.g., Adobe PageMaker

or

> QuarkXPress), print the page-layout document to disk as a PostScript *.ps
> file, then open the *.ps file in Illustrator. For more information on
> printing to file, see the documentation for your page layout application.

I have neither PageMaker or Quark installed. Only Illustrator, Photoshop,
Distiller and Dreamweaver.

> Solution 4
> If the document was created on another computer and you have a previously
> saved version of it, open a copy of the document and use the Page tool to
> position the printable area, and then save the document.

Afraid not. Only one computer, and no previous versions of the file. Believe
it or not, I had just cleared them, as the project had just been completed.
:(

> Additional Information
>
> In PostScript, the %%PageOrigin line specifies the lower left corner of a
> document's page area. Illustrator uses information in the selected printer
> driver (e.g., Epson Color Stylus or Hewlett-Packard DeskWriter) or PPD

file

> to determine a document's page origin. If the printer driver or PPD is
> damaged, Illustrator may write incorrect page origin values into a

document.

> These incorrect values can cause Illustrator to return an error when

opening

> the document.

Thanks, but how do I fix it? :'(

Is it hopeless? I am sending my file to Steggy now. He's my last hope.

[Forsky]

Okay. Just sent you the (zipped) file. <crossing fingers>

"steggy" <steggy@bnrd.invalid.net> wrote in message
news:407DD8D5.F6E23F8C@bnrd.invalid.net...

>
> How big is it. You might try to zip it (necessary) and send
> it to me, maybe I can open it and resave. Max: 5Mb.
> --
> steg

[steggy]

Forsky wrote:

>
> Okay. Just sent you the (zipped) file. <crossing fingers>
>
> "steggy" <steggy@bnrd.invalid.net> wrote in message
> news:407DD8D5.F6E23F8C@bnrd.invalid.net...

> >
> > How big is it. You might try to zip it (necessary) and send
> > it to me, maybe I can open it and resave. Max: 5Mb.
> > --
> > steg

Emailed you back <crossing toes>
--
steg

[steggy]

steggy wrote:

>
> Forsky wrote:

> >
> > Okay. Just sent you the (zipped) file. <crossing fingers>
> >
> > "steggy" <steggy@bnrd.invalid.net> wrote in message
> > news:407DD8D5.F6E23F8C@bnrd.invalid.net...

> > >
> > > How big is it. You might try to zip it (necessary) and send
> > > it to me, maybe I can open it and resave. Max: 5Mb.
> > > --
> > > steg

>
> Emailed you back <crossing toes>
> --
> steg

Well Forsky, did not hear back from you for a while, looked
at the file closely............thousands of paths and
gradients, unnecessary objects, mostly rectangles and
squares thatw ere covering up stuff. I tried to get rid of
them, but because of all the paths it is going soooooo slow.

Next time better.
--
steg

[Forsky]

It's 2am and I just finished repositioning all the artwork (hundreds of
paths!)

Took a while, but it sure beat having to recreate it from scratch.

Thanks to you and iehsmith for your help! That link of his is what helped me
recuperate those missing layers (albeit in one jumbo pile of paths).

"steggy" <steggy@bnrd.invalid.net> wrote in message
news:407E1CE5.7CFB1E2E@bnrd.invalid.net...

>
> Well Forsky, did not hear back from you for a while, looked
> at the file closely............thousands of paths and
> gradients, unnecessary objects, mostly rectangles and
> squares thatw ere covering up stuff. I tried to get rid of
> them, but because of all the paths it is going soooooo slow.
>
> Next time better.