I paid for MysticThumbs, which is a program that allows Explorer on windows to use .ps, .ai, and .eps files as thumbnails. I am using Windows 7 64 Bit, and I have Ghostscript 32 and 64 bit installed. The thumbnails work fine on Explorer, Total Commander, Explorer ++, etc.
I want to buy DO9, but I am wondering, why doesn't it work with MysticThumbs when all the other file managers do? Is it something about the way it's coded, that doesn't hook into windows the same as the others? I see that there is a codec pack available for windows that uses WIC - I haven't seen if that actually is compatible with DO9. I do see there is one by Ardfry, but as it only does .eps and .ai. While this is a good solution, I still wonder, why DO doesn't work with the solution I already paid for, and if it will work with the codec pack.
Hi! Thanks for responding so quickly! Unfortunately, I already had checked it after reading some forum posts, so it's enabled.
However, one thing I just found when tabbing through directories, the .ai icons came up - I suspect I needed to delete the thumbnail cache or something that took time on it's own to do.
Now the only issue is that the preview pane doesn't display the full size image - or any image, just code, for the .ai files. If anyone knows how to get that to work (I'm hoping it will magically start working like the icons just did but I think not LOL), please share ;D
Not sure why the thumbnail cache would need to be cleared if there weren't thumbnails for those files before, but if it worked that's good.
As for the viewer, try Settings -> Viewer Plugins -> ActiveX (...) -> Configure, and then add the .ai extension to the "Adobe PDF for Vista" Preview Handler at the top of the list. Assuming you have Adobe Reader installed, of course. That will get at least some .ai files viewing in Opus.
If that doesn't work then you'll need to install some kind of .ai viewer. Mystic Thumbs only generates thumbnails; it isn't a preview handler (or other type of viewer). The Ardfry Opus plugin provides a viewer for most .ai files if you need one.
A note about .ai files - if you save the file using the "pdf" compatibility option, Illustrator actually saves two files packed as one - a .pdf one and .ai one, some programs might be using the pdf part to extract the preview.
In fact, if you resave the file with the pdf option ticked in the save dialogue box, and add the .ai as Leo suggested, you won't need any plugins at all. I can see previews of my .ai CS5 files in the preview pane without any extra plugins installed as soon as I select the file.
Unless some software installed Quick View Plus 11 without notifying me, I don't have it. In fact I don't even know what it is... Quick check of my control panel shows I have nothing starting with "Q" in the list of installed software.
A cursory search tells me it's a commercial viewer so I don't think it came bundled with anything I have here.
Just to clarify - yesterday I was unable to see "real" previews of ai files (only hex / code) in the preview pane, I just added the .ai to "Adobe PDF for Vista" a few minutes ago, resaved the file and it works.
Apologies, my mistake. I was thinking of someone else who I've talked about Quick View Plus with in the past.
Ah, okay; that makes sense. I thought you were saying AI files could be viewed without having to install or configure any 3rd party stuff. ("Adobe PDF for Vista" is part of Adobe Reader.)
Windows can't view PDF or AI files out-of-the-box, but lots of people have Adobe Reader and that can display many AI files (ones saved with PDF compatibility, as you mentioned). For some reason Adobe don't make it to do so by default but my post above about configuring the ActiveX plugin explained how to change that.
A future version of the ActiveX plugin will pass .ai files to the Adobe Reader preview handler automatically if nothing else is set to handle them, so this will work automatically for people with Adobe Reader installed.
Alternatives to using Adobe Reader include the the Opus plugin from Ardfry Imaging (which also adds AI thumbnails and EPS viewing/thumbnails) or Quick View Plus. Installing either of those should allow you to view AI files without further configuration. (At least on Vista and above.)