Vector graphics are a cornerstone in the 2D Graphic world. This information can be turned into 2D or 3D objects inside of Cinema 4D. This leads to a wide variety of animation options.

There are several ways to import an Illustrator file (suffix ".ai"):

• Main Menu> File> Open Project

• Main Menu> File> Merge Projects.

• Object Manager> Merge Objects.

Besides that, an Illustrator file can be dragged from the drive to the Object Manager or into one of the editors.

If an Illustrator file is stored inside the Asset Manager, a right-mouse-click is needed to access the fly-out menu. Here the option “Load” needs to be chosen.

Loading an Illustrator file via XRef is not recommended.

The default option in Cinema 4D allows for a simple import while containing Illustrator's Layers and its paths converted to Splines. From here, these objects can be used as any other Spline. See below, especially about the different options between the Illustrator 8 and the CC format, for more details.

If the “Create Vector Object” option is checked (Tab: Setting) during import, an advanced setup is provided. The main difference here is that this setup has a parameter field in the Attribute Manager. These parameters are detailed below. In short, they allow for a great deal of customization

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