Another illustrator question

[MrSaLTy]

Ok I'm new to Illustrator so be kind......

How do you take vector files (like the ones in the vector artwork library) and paste em into my CP illustrator file.  I have tried just opening them and doing a copy of the whole thing and pasting it into my doc but.....

Although it looks like all the vector peices are there it has a raster blocky look to it.  Is there another way to do it?  What am I missing here?  I mean there has to be a way to take those files and place them in a new document right?

Any help would be appreciated.

[pgielen]

go to file then select the option place.
You can now select the AI file

[MrSaLTy]

I tried that too and it still looks more blocky then the original.  Does this put it in as raster?  Because there still seems to ba a quality difference.

[Veinman]

It should insert them as vector. I'm not 100% sure, but don't you have to press the checkmark (confirm) button before the file is totally placed? I seem to recall the placed artwork looking terrible prior to placement, but I might be thinking of photoshop.

[MrSaLTy]

DOH! I figured out the problem.  It had the pixel preview mode selected, which makes stuff show like raster.  I don't know how it ended up in that mode but setting it to overprint preview makes it look correct.  Thanks for the help. Now I feel all stupid.