hi

i've googled my ass of trying to find a solution. can't find anything usefull

help

$ convert image1.jpeg image2.ai
convert: unable to open module file `/usr/lib/ImageMagick-6.2.4/modules-Q16/coders/ai.la': No such file or directory.



thx

ImageMagick doesn't list .ai as a supported format, so it's not surprising that convert doesn't work. That same error line comes up whenever you enter any unsupported format, even made up ones, with the last bit always showing xxx.la (xxx being whatever the extension is).

According to Wikipedia, .ai is a vector graphics format. I don't know much about vector graphics. Is it even possible to translate a simple bitmapped image into one? Perhaps you'll have more luck if you use a program that specializes in VG, like karbon or scribus? The description for xaralx says it can handle the adobe illustrator format, for example.

I second the motion: I know of no way to convert raster images to vector graphics---nor can I imagine how it would make any sense.

aeshj;
Tell us more about the overall problem you are trying to solve.

"Raster graphics". Thank you pixellany, that's the term I was trying to recall.

Searching a bit more, Wikipedia has a page about converting raster to vector, so it can be done. It even has an example image that was converted with inkscape, a program that's available on Linux. I don't know if inkscape can handle .ai files or not, but if it can do vectorization, I imagine most of the other VG programs can do it as well.

But also notice the warning:
So vectorizing doesn't guarantee a perfect copy.

Edit: And here's a page detailing which programs include a raster to vector function:
List of raster to vector conversion software

Edit two: It looks like all the Linux solutions use either autotrace or potrace to do the actual conversion, so those are probably your only options on this platform. The apt-cache description for autotrace says that it started out as a gimp plugin, so you shouldn't even need a VG program to get it into a vectorized form. But you may need one anyway if you want to convert from a free format like .svg to the proprietary adobe .ai form.