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Work with Illustrator assets in Adobe XD

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  1. Adobe XD User Guide
  2. Introduction
    1. Release updates
    2. Common questions
    3. Design, prototype, and share with Adobe XD
    4. Color Management
    5. System requirements
      1. Hardware and software requirements
      2. Adobe XD, Big Sur, and Apple silicon | macOS 11
    6. Workspace basics
    7. Change app language in Adobe XD
    8. Access UI design kits
    9. Accessibility in Adobe XD
    10. Keyboard shortcuts
    11. Tips and tricks
  3. Design
    1. Artboards, guides, and layers
      1. Get started with artboards
      2. Use guides and grids
      3. Create scrollable artboards
      4. Work with layers
      5. Create scroll groups
    2. Shapes, objects, and path
      1. Select, resize, and rotate objects
      2. Move, align, distribute, and arrange objects
      3. Group, lock, duplicate, copy, and flip objects
      4. Set stroke, fill, and drop shadow for objects
      5. Create repeating elements
      6. Create perspective designs with 3D transforms
      7. Edit objects using Boolean operations
    3. Text and fonts
      1. Work with drawing and text tools
      2. Fonts in Adobe XD
    4. Components and states
      1. Work with components
      2. Work with nested components
      3. Add multiple states to components
    5. Masking and effects
      1. Create a mask with shapes
      2. Work with blur effects
      3. Create and modify gradients
      4. Apply blend effects
    6. Layout
      1. Responsive resize and constraints
      2. Set fixed padding for components and groups
      3. Create dynamic designs with stacks
    7. Videos and Lottie animations
      1. Work with videos
      2. Create prototypes using videos
      3. Work with Lottie animations
  4. Prototype
    1. Create interactive prototypes
    2. Animate prototypes
    3. Object properties supported for auto-animate
    4. Create prototypes with keyboard and gamepad
    5. Create prototypes using voice commands and playback
    6. Create timed transitions
    7. Add overlays
    8. Design voice prototypes
    9. Create anchor links
    10. Create hyperlinks
    11. Preview designs and prototypes
  5. Share, export, and review
    1. Share selected artboards
    2. Share designs and prototypes
    3. Set access permissions for links
    4. Work with prototypes
    5. Review prototypes
    6. Work with design specs
    7. Share design specs
    8. Inspect design specs
    9. Navigate design specs
    10. Review and comment design specs
    11. Export design assets
    12. Export and download assets from design specs
    13. Group sharing for enterprise
    14. Back up or transfer XD assets
  6. Design systems
    1. Design systems with Creative Cloud Libraries
    2. Work with document assets in Adobe XD
    3. Work with Creative Cloud Libraries in Adobe XD
    4. Migrate from linked assets to Creative Cloud Libraries
    5. Work with design tokens 
    6. Use assets from Creative Cloud Libraries
  7. Cloud documents
    1. Cloud documents in Adobe XD
    2. Collaborate and coedit designs
    3. Coedit documents shared with you
  8. Integrations and plugins
    1. Work with external assets
    2. Work with design assets from Photoshop
    3. Copy and paste assets from Photoshop
    4. Import or open Photoshop designs
    5. Work with Illustrator assets in Adobe XD
    6. Open or import Illustrator designs
    7. Copy vectors from Illustrator to XD
    8. Plugins for Adobe XD
    9. Create and manage plugins
    10. Jira integration for XD
    11. Slack plugin for XD
    12. Zoom plug-in for XD
    13. Publish design from XD to Behance
  9. XD for iOS and Android
    1. Preview on mobile devices
    2. Adobe XD on mobile FAQ
  10. Troubleshooting
    1. Known and fixed issues
      1. Known issues
      2. Fixed issues
    2. Installation and updates
      1. XD appears as not compatible on Windows
      2. Error code 191
      3. Error code 183
      4. Issues installing XD plugins
      5.  Prompt to uninstall and reinstall XD on Windows 10
      6. Issues with preferences migration
    3. Launch and crash
      1.  XD crashes when launched on Windows 10
      2.  XD quits when you sign out of Creative Cloud
      3. Issue with subscription status on Windows
      4. Blocked-app warning when launching  XD on Windows
      5. Crash dump generation on Windows
      6. Crash log collection and sharing
    4. Cloud documents and Creative Cloud Libraries
      1. Issues with XD cloud documents
      2. Issues with linked components
      3. Issues with libraries and links
    5. Prototype, publish, and review
      1. Unable to record prototype interactions on macOS Catalina
      2. Issues with publish workflows
      3. Published  links do not appear in browsers
      4. Prototypes do not render correctly in browsers
      5. Commenting panel suddenly showing up on shared links
      6. Unable to publish libraries
    6. Import, export, and working with other apps
      1. Import and export in XD
      2. Photoshop files in XD
      3. Illustrator files in XD
      4. Export to After Effects from XD
      5. Sketch files in XD
      6. Third-party apps not visible in Export

Learn how to bring vector artwork such as icons and logo designs from Illustrator into Adobe XD.

Adobe XD works with Illustrator to bring high-fidelity vector artwork such as logos, icons, or any other elements you can use in your XD designs. The imported artwork remains editable in XD allowing you to reduce the time involved in creating prototypes.

Read on to learn the many ways in which you can bring assets from Illustrator into XD, and best practices and limitations related to these workflows.

work with xd and illustrator

Before you proceed

While Illustrator and XD have complementary set of features that helps retain layers and effects, there are  some features that do not have a one-to-one mapping. Before you proceed, read on to learn more about them from Supported Illustrator features.

Here are some of the additional limitations when working with Illustrator files in XD:

  • You cannot copy and paste an Illustrator artboard to XD.
  • When working with text elements, XD does not import a horizontal scale on fill.
  • You cannot populate repeat grids with vectors.

To ensure that you get a seamless experience when working with XD and Illustrator, we're making improvements to the interoperability workflows. Meanwhile, if you have any suggestions or feedback, do share them on UserVoice.

Ways to get Illustrator assets into XD

When your design is ready in Illustrator, here are some of the ways to get them into XD.  



Open or import Illustrator designs

 

Learn more

Copy vectors or SVGs from Illustrator

Learn more

Use assets from CC libraries

 

Learn more

With XD 57, Adobe has improved color management functionality in XD. You get consistent colors when you copy an asset with an sRGB color profile from Illustrator into an XD document with an sRGB color profile. If the XD document has an Unmanaged color profile, you get a message that prompts you to switch the color profile to sRGB.

Prototype imported artboards

After your Illustrator designs are imported into XD, let's see how you can use them to create a prototype.

When you work with Illustrator, you can create XD artboards by opening  Illustrator artboards directly in XD. Artboards in Illustrator are seamlessly imported into XD's artboard format. 

You also go back and forth between the two apps to make small adjustments to multiple visual elements on the go.

Looking to enhance your XD designs? apply XD-specific features such as Repeat Grids, States, Auto-animate, and Voice prototyping.

Share and collaborate with XD

Is your prototype ready for sharing?

One of the major advantages of using Adobe XD to design and create interactive prototypes is the ability to share your  designs and prototypes and get feedback from stakeholders.
Use the Share mode in XD to share your designs and interactive prototypes with stakeholders and seamlessly collaborate with them.
Invite your stakeholders to collaborate and simultaneously coedit your document, and yet maintain a version history of your design project!

Are you thinking whether the design resolution gets impacted after you share it from XD? The answer is No.

With XD 57 and later, you have the ability to provide a consistent color rendition for your stakeholders. To achieve this, switch the document’s color profile to sRGB. If you try to share selected artboards from a document having an unmanaged color profile, you get a message that informs you about a possible color discrepancy that your stakeholders might experience. For more information, see Color Management.

Your shared designs are optimized with no loss of fidelity, feedback from your stakeholders are available in real-time, and developers can download the shared assets and design specs for coding.

Video: How do I import Illustrator designs?

"Just like how you can import Photoshop files directly into Adobe XD, you can also import your Illustrator files. This is perfect for designers who want to bring in logos, icons, or any other elements to use in their UI or UX projects" — Howard Pinsky,  Senior XD Evangelist. 

To learn more about bringing your Illustrator designs into XD, watch this 2 minute video.

Frequently asked questions

How do I fix the distorted spacing issues between elements when I increase the size of my SVGs? 

Distortion occurs when XD considers imported or pasted SVG related objects as separate objects. To avoid distortion, ensure that Responsive Resize option in Property Inspector is set to OFF. 

Why are my design Icons exported from Illustrator to SVG seems distorted in XD?

Some Illustrator features are not compliant with XD and are transferred as vectors or not transferred at all. SVG has limited capabilities compared to Illustrator and features like freeform gradient cannot be expressed. For more information on the supported Illustrator elements in XD, see Supported Illustrator elements.

What's next?

We've got you started with working with design assets from Illustrator. Take a step forward and learn how to create interactive prototypes and share them with designers or stakeholders for feedback.

Have feedback? We're all ears.

Ask the Community

If you have a question to ask or an idea to share, come and participate in Adobe XD Community. We would love to hear from you and see your creations.

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