Corel x4 ans illustrator question

[Chad Fitzgerald]

I have a regular customer(relatively new) who sends me artwork that I have to consistently fix to be laser ready.
I know nothing about illustrator so i dont know what to tell them in order for them to send it laser ready, hoping someone can help me out.
I use Corel X4.
They send me Illustrator vector CS6 file(CS6.ai)

Problem 1: corel x4 will not open it(error file corrupt), so i have to open it in Vcarve pro, export vectors as EPS then open with corel. Is there a way for them to save it/send it so corel x4 will open it directly?

Problem 2: Most (99%)of the files i receive are duplicate vectors. every vector is duplicated. one on top of the other. Is this due to different programs converting it or is this from the person designing the logos?

Problem 3: All curves are "grouped" not combine, therefor they do not come with black fill where needed.
(Example, the two circles that make an "O", or any shape with a curve within a curve)In addition the outlines usually come in .14 which makes the logo a blob until i make them hairline or .007, .01..
Can Illustrator make laser ready or is this a result of one program converting to another?

Problem 4: Meaningless "remnants" of curves here and there. often very small hard to see with out zooming in. to me it seems like something you would get in corel from auto tracing a bitmap. Am i right to say this is simply a matter of paying closer attention to make sure these get deleted in AI?

Any help would be great, I need to have a chat with the graphic artist about this or i have to start charging for my time fixing these constantly. But like i said, i know nothing about Illustrator.
Thanks
Chad

[Gary Hair]

If you have them save it as an older version of Illustrator I think all of your problems will go away, they are all likely related to you exporting from Vcarve pro. Not sure exactly what version X4 supports but I think CS/3 will work.

[Chad Fitzgerald]

Thanks Gary. one thing i thought of when i read your response, dont know if it matters but,
when i first open it in vcarve pro, it already has all the problems. i can see them all in vcarve.
does that make a difference in your thoughts?
Thanks Again.
Chad

[Mike Null]

Ask them to send the file to you as a pdf and also as an eps. I have a similar situation with a customer who sends dxf files. We switched to pdf and most issues went away. I'm using X5 but installed X7 to see if it would import the dxf files better. It didn't.

[Gary Hair]

Thanks Gary. one thing i thought of when i read your response, dont know if it matters but,
when i first open it in vcarve pro, it already has all the problems. i can see them all in vcarve.
does that make a difference in your thoughts?
Thanks Again.
Chad

I'm thinking it's when Vcarve imports the file in that the problems occur. It would be much easier regardless to have them save as an earlier version of Illustrator and import directly into Corel. You could also upgrade to X7, I believe it will open the newest Illustrator files - I have it but haven't tried a new file on it yet.

[Chad Fitzgerald]

thanks guys, i will have them try it both ways.

[Bruce Clumpner]

Make sure they save it down to an earlier version. I use Illustrator V10 for both PDF and EPS. X4 has no problem importing those formats. Just watch line widths, those do wiggle a bit in the translation. You might end up vectoring something just because it showed up too thin. Good luck.

[Chad Fitzgerald]

Thanks.
older version worked.
the duplicate/extra vectors are coming from the person designing it.
One last question:
some of the logos come in with the rgb colors i need for the laser. but some come in with G:255. G:0. is there an easy way in corel x4 to convert the colors to rgb other than selecting each individually?
thanks again
Chad

[Gary Hair]

Not sure when it was added, but "Color Styles" make changing color a 2 or 3 click process. If you don't have it in X4 then it may be worth the upgrade for that alone!