Member Avatar for Daria Shmaria

Does anyone know how to export from Omnigraffle into Catalyst without condensing everything into a single object (as psd images do)?

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Short answer: use a vector interchange route (OmniGraffle -> Illustrator -> Flash Catalyst) so objects stay as editable vectors instead of being flattened into one bitmap.

Suggested workflow:

  • In OmniGraffle, arrange artwork so items that must remain separate are not glued together into a single group; avoid bitmap-only effects (drop shadows, soft glows) that force rasterization on export. Export the page as a vector file (SVG or PDF).
  • Open that SVG/PDF in Adobe Illustrator. In the Layers panel, ungroup and release clipping masks, expand appearances where needed, and move distinct UI pieces onto their own layers or sublayers. Convert text to outlines if font availability will be an issue. Save the document as an Illustrator (.ai) file with PDF compatibility enabled.
  • Import the .ai into Flash Catalyst. Catalyst will preserve Illustrator layers/objects as separate elements so you can wire up interactions without reassembling hundreds of images.

Troubleshooting and tips:

  • If Catalyst still shows a single bitmap, something in the chain got rasterized. Back in Illustrator check for embedded raster images or effects and re-export as pure vector.
  • For repeated elements, make symbols in Illustrator before import to reduce file size and cleanup work.
  • This approach avoids manual per-object image export and is the most reliable way to get discreet objects into Catalyst. As noted, format compatibility is the limiting factor; converting to a Catalyst-friendly vector format sidesteps that.

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Member Avatar for MidiMagic

If either of these has its own proprietary file format for saving object collection images in, then it can't be done.

Can you save each object as an image, and transfer the images to the other program, then reassemble them?

Member Avatar for Daria Shmaria

I probably could, but I was hoping to avoid doing that because there are a lot of objects in each file to be transferred.

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