Topic awaiting preservation: Illustrator File Corruption

Ran into something new today. When I try to open a certain Illustrator file using AI 9, I get

Can't open the illustration. The illustration contains an illegal operand.



Offending operator: ";"

Context:

0 XR

1 0 Xd

/Def ;

(StrokeStyle),

/GObjRef : (Strong) (AdobeArtOnPath Brush Tool) /PluginObject ;

Photoshop can import the graphic with no trouble; and since it was more or less finished, I can just do the finishing touches in Photoshop and hold out hope that nothing more needs to be done to it. But just to see, I opened the .AI file in a text editor, and wasn't able to find the code listed in the error message. (Perhaps it's in the binary-encoded parts of the Illustrator format.)

Does anyone have any experience with this other than "yep, file's screwed?" It was only a few hours of effort, I can just do it again if need be, but it would be nice to have it back.

Cell 1250 :: alanmacdougall.com :: Illustrator tips

I remember seeing this a couple of years ago in my graphic design days. can't remeber how i got round it but have you tried importing it into a new illustrator document?


~We're not here for long, we're here for fun~

Hey, that worked beautifully! The .AI file type doesn't show up in the Place dialog, so I had to manually type in the file name, but then it successfully imported the paths and fills. Art brushes were expanded, which isn't a big deal -- the expansion kept the original path as an unstroked entity, so I can re-apply the brushes if I really need to.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Cell 1250 :: alanmacdougall.com :: Illustrator tips

It's the media's fault, I tell you! They're the ones who are corrupting today's Illustrator files!

Uh, what? Problem solved? Drat.

*puts away "down with the media" sign and trudges back to the basement*