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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Illustrator Illegal Operand

jewels380 - Aug 22, 2005 - 1:30 pm

I have been working in Illustrator 10 and I get an error when I open the file now:

Cannot open the illustration because of an illegal operand.
Offending operator: 't'

I tried to place the file into a new Illustrator document, but that didn't work.

Please help.

Thanks!
Julie

Natobasso - Aug 22, 2005 - 4:13 pm

Howdy!

A few questions so I can get a clearer picture.

--what OS X system are you running? Jaguar, Panther, Tiger?
--are you saving files to a server or to your computer's hard drive?
--can you open the file in photoshop?
--have you repaired permissions yet? Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility/repair permissions. Might clear up the problem right away.

We'll take it from here.
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*Nathaniel
bass guitar. graphic design. junior IT.

Natobasso - Aug 22, 2005 - 4:17 pm

Read this, a similar issue to yours, with the offending operator "M" instead of "t":
http://www.macosx.com/forums/archive.../t-123840.html

An experiment by someone with the exact same error saying to distill your illustrator file (make a copy of the file before doing this and do it to the copied file):
http://www.esm.psu.edu/mac-tex/MacOS..._05-14-02.html
Here's another experiment. Typeset the same file in Textures. Use
"typeset export" to save an Illustrator file. Illustrator 10 won't open
the file, saying there is an "illegal operand" with "offending operator
`t'". Distilling the Illustrator file produces PDF that can be opened,
but has the wrong symbols. Printing the typeset page to PS works, but if the PS is then distilled, the resulting PDF again has the wrong symbols. Maybe the problems are compounded by having Suitcase and classic fonts on my computer.

Are there any placed images or weird fonts in your Illustrator file?
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*Nathaniel
bass guitar. graphic design. junior IT.

Natobasso - Aug 22, 2005 - 4:24 pm

Adobe's suggestions here to solve the issue:
http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/322583.html

(sorry about all the info, I just got a little crazy I guess!)
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*Nathaniel
bass guitar. graphic design. junior IT.

jewels380 - Aug 22, 2005 - 4:32 pm

Thanks for the info! Crazy is good!

I am using OS 10.2.8 and saving to my computer's hard drive.
I can't open the AI file in photoshop.

I have searched for answers online and have seen fixes for other offending operands. The suggestions are to open the file in text edit and change certain lines of text and save it that way. However, it seems like each "offending operator" indicates a different text line to edit. So, offending operater "M" means the miter limit and "AR" means resolution. I can't find anywhere what "t" means and what I should change in text edit.

Natobasso - Aug 22, 2005 - 4:55 pm

You might try just deleting your illustrator preference file (save it on the desktop temporarily just in case) and then restart. Then try to open your illustrator document.

Can you convert the document to a pdf using distiller? That's another solution on this page that I sent you:
http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/322583.html

It also mentions you might have a bad PPD (printer description file) associated with the file. You could try that solution as well.

Definitely repair permissions first before you do anything else.

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*Nathaniel
bass guitar. graphic design. junior IT.

jewels380 - Aug 22, 2005 - 6:39 pm

It must have been the permissions. I got the file to open on my computer (OSX) but my coworker has actually been working on it and he has OS 9. I couldn't figure out how to fix permissions on his computer, so I did on my and it opened fine. However, he had tried it on another computer in the office with OSX and it had the same error.

Anyway, thanks for your help! I appreciate it.

Natobasso - Aug 22, 2005 - 6:45 pm

glad it worked out! Make sure you make duplicates of your mechanicals (I make a BUJIC--back up just in case folder and put all my duplicated "mechanicals" folder in there. Then I'm set if any of my files get corrupted.)

(closing thread.)
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*Nathaniel
bass guitar. graphic design. junior IT.