Betreff: AEM (Adobe Asset Manager) and relinking assets in illustrator

[Cecijoy]

Our company is using AEM and it works great for Photoshop and InDesign, and great for storing assets for Illustrator, but if the illustrator file has links in it, I haven't figured out an easy way to link those assets. Before AEM, we had a server where all assets lived and links would not break if someone else opened your doc to edit it because we were all connected to that server. But with AEM, the links do not stay linked once you put the doc and the associated links on the DAM (we file linked assets in different "folders" than the actual illustrator/InDesign project docs). The only way I know to relink is this process, which is very convoluted and time consuming:

1. Open the illustrator file that the co-worker created
2. Write down the names of all the files that come up missing (because they all will if they have not been previously linked)
3. Connect with the DAM desktop app (server)
4. Go find asset #1 in the online Dam
5. Go back to your illustrator file
6. Click on asset #1
7. Navigate to the folder in the DAM desktop app where that one resides
8. Link it
9. Start over again at #4 for Asset #2
10. Repeat for every other link 

NOTE, when you open that file again, you also need to have the Dam app (server) connected on your desktop or it won't find your previously linked file.

I would LOVE to find out there is an easier way. We are using Adobe Asset Management system version 6 and the latest Illustrator CC or the next to latest.

[Adilos-Cantuerk · Accepted solution]

I can confirm your description and it seems to me like the extra work you will have with this will be unending, prone to manual errors and you run the risk of not getting a warning if an asset has expired/was changed.

Illustrator downloads the files inside a folder structure that is similar to your AEM but within your local harddrive. The connection to AEM is lost instantly.
Even the filename gets distortet into some very very long check number.
I even checked in CRXDE, AI Files do not have any content within jcr:content/related/links/sling:members

Would you had built it within InDesign, you have a function to relink files with AEM, and also check for Updates that had occured within the AEM. 
What are the reasons for using Illustrator instead of InDesign?
What function is missing within InDesign? 
Maybe the only option will be to convert your files...

I fear that the only way foreward i can recommend is to use InDesign as your Layout tool, since this is what it was built for. Illustrator might have some functionality as a layout tool, but it is not THE TOOL for the task. 

[Cecijoy]

Thank you for answering. I do know that InDesign seems to be better with AEM (with Asset Link) and I'm sorry to hear that you also think there is no solution. We do have asset link for illustrator, but only for actual illustrator files linked to InDesign files (drawings converted from CAD, logos, etc) The reason we use Illustrator is because some kinds of jobs work best in the Illustrator environment Examples: Tradeshow art, and packaging. And I don't always have control over what program is used. For instance, we recently had an agency update our brand, and although they created the brand guide in InDesign, they created ALL the art (including things that should have just been created right there in InDesign – like a page of photos!) in Illustrator. The file is like 100 pages long and some pages have multiple links, all to those illustrator files they created. I'm the senior designer in charge of brand, and when we decided to make some changes, I am tasked with doing that. Currently I have all the links on my local drive, and I've been trying to figure out how to make it work with the DAM. Now that we are using the DAM pretty much exclusively, this is our only place where we can share files. I don't want to keep it on my system in case (God forbid) something would happen to me – all the artists, 8 of us, work remotely ever since Covid, so it's not like someone can just easily access my computer if I'm gone.

Anyway, thanks for the response, even though it's unfortunately not the one I was hoping for. 

[Adilos-Cantuerk]

I don't want to convert you to the church of InDesign
...but... maybe we can have a chat someday ;D if you are interested.

In all my years, i did not have seen any layout work that was best made with Illustrator rather then InDesign. I am not saying that this cant be the case, but i have not seen it. Would be interested so see such a file.

Depending on the number of files you are looking at, this can be a lot of work but i don't see a way to get to your desired outcome within Illustrator alone.
You can have everything as a Illustrator file, the logos, the art, even the punch marks of your package design - and then import this into an InDesign file and arrange it the way you want.

As for the control of what program is used.
I created a guide "quality- and data standards" for our company that became part of the media creation contract we make with agencies, photographers and freelance designers. 
In there it is written out how everything has to be.
From naming conventions to file formats and much more.
This helped a lot.

[Cecijoy]

Oh, you don't have to convert me to the church of InDesign. I'm already a member! lol. I used to freelance for 13 years, and one of the agencies I worked for there was a creative artist who did EVERYTHING in Illustrator. It was horrible working with her files...HORRIBLE... 

I'd be interested in how you set up your naming conventions and get everyone to use it. We have a naming convention for photos, but only one person who names them, so they are very consistent.

We've tried with illustrations, but we get CAD drawings from the drafting dept (in all caps of course) and have to convert them to format them to "our style". But they name them these big long names (as PC people often do) and sometimes it's very difficult to figure out what part of the name is important. So, unfortunately, it's a step that often gets put to the side. And we have many thousands of technical drawings for our datasheets and instruction manuals so it's not feasible to go back and rename everything.

We have a naming convention but it's difficult to get everyone (8 artists) to use it. 

[Adilos-Cantuerk]

How to set it up that everyone is able to do it right is easy - how to set it up so that everyone actually does it is a mix of carrot and stick. 
The carrot is, if you do the name right, it saves time later when the file needs to be put in the AEM. The stick is, if you don't do it right you get a new task "Clean this up".
It will not be put into the AEM as long as it named like this.

I have an excel power query set up, which will someday be automated by the aem..., that extracts certain information from the filename and asset path and distributes tags and keywords accordingly. 
So if a user creates the asset with the correct name, the aem metadata export import is able to do most of the work regarding the enrichment of metadata.

It looks a bit like this with some explanatory pictures that for example explain the difference between a feature picture and a detail picture (both are details, but one shows the function of a USP while the other might just be a close up of the material), all comes with a list of valid abbrevations. 
The naming conventions look pretty much like this:
Documents:

(Art.Nr.:)-(abbr.-Dokument-type)-(WxH in mm)-(abbr. Department)-(Art / Name)-(addition)-(LandOfDistribution)-(Version)

Visuals:

(Product name)-(Motive)-(abbr. Image type)-(pic-number)-(Version).

Product Pictures

(Product-name)-(color)-(abbr. Image type - perspective)-(Motive)-(numeration)-(pic-number)-(Version)

Illustrations - icons etc - are similar but a bit shorter 

[Cecijoy]

I'm not sure how to get the visuals to come through. They are coming through like this.

Documents:

(Art.Nr.:)-(abbr.-Dokument-type)-(WxH in mm)-(abbr. Department)-(Art / Name)-(addition)-(LandOfDistribution)-(Version)

I don't know if you can see it from your end.

[Adilos-Cantuerk]

I am sorry, i did not upload any visuals - it was just the text. 
In the original PDF it is also color coded but this is pretty much it.

There are also pictures in there, but it is mostly explained by text.

Now i think we hijacked this tread enough with my naming standards - but reach out to me on LinkedIn or via PN if you'd like to talk more about this topic that everybody except me finds super cool and important.

[Cecijoy]

Ah, now I get it. It WAS your naming structure, lol. I thought it was a way to get somewhere, like a path.

Thanks for all the help! Even though there is no good answer to my question, at least I know there is not.

[Adilos-Cantuerk]

That there is no hope in this direction might not be a pleasant answer,
but i would like to think that it is still a good answer to the question.

Yesterday or the day before the Asset Link got a new release that will fix some of the InDesign issues i am having with AEM. Maybe in the distant future there will be something like it for your task.
I have read the release notes and the comments on the plugin page - there was somebody expressing your exact situation. Maybe it was you

Try talking to your Adobe supplier - ask if the function you are missing might be already in production/in consideration... or if you can let go of that small hope as well and then move on:

Convert your Layout files into InDesign - use the right tool for the task.
Talk to your designers about it and build your own Quality- and Data standards. 

@ me on LinkedIn 

[Cecijoy]

No, that wasn't me so there is hope that others are looking for this feature. Thanks.

[Adilos-Cantuerk]

I figured the following out, thanks to you:
- Illustrator is able to use subassets in the way you described. -
Yet there is no real link to aem within the links - everything is local.