Extracting logos off an *.ai file

Someone sent me an file ending in the extentsion .ai. When I opened the file in Photoshop I think it was converted to a CYMK (I have no idea what that means...)file.

Anyway, so now I can see the logos on the .ai file but how do I extract them from that file so I can use them in my own design???
It seems like they're fixed on that layer...I can't move them around or copy/paste them...

Cheers in advance.

Those are Illustrator files. Does it ask you whether you want to merge or flatten the layers when you open it? If it does, then dont flatten them. You might have to have your friend re-send them but make sure each logo is on its own layer.

I would re-save it as a .psd file (ie a photoshop file) before making any changes to them.)

CMYK is a color mode. That is the mode you would send to a printer. You can switch it to RGB by going into color-->(drop down list.) RGB.

Some others may know better what is going on.

Illustrator ai. files are the native format and contain vector information. Photoshop is a bitmap editor and will therefore rasterize (turn into bitmap) any vector files. This would also be the case with PDF's.

Photoshop recognises the file but cannot translate the vector data - hence your flattened copy.

But it should ask about the layers, well at least when I have dragged over Illustrator work into photoshop. I am not sure about just opening it.
You might try importing it and see what happens.

You can import paths but not artwork as vector

Create a GIGANTIC new document, at high resolution.

Go to File---»Place... and navigate to the Illustrator document. It'll come in with a bounding box. Make it as big as you want, then hit "Enter". This will give you as much resolution as you can handle. It won't be vectors, but it should translate as smooth as you'll need it.

Now, extract the part you want, just like you would with any raster image.

You can downsize it later to suit your needs.

Maybe the layer was locked. After rasterizing, create a new document and drag the logo onto the new document. This will create a new layer so that you can move it around.

Thanks everyone. I re-opened the Illustrator file again and whaddyaknow - now I'm able to cut the logo off and onto another layer in my other file.

However it's about 4cm by 4cm but I need it to be about 1.5cm x 1.5cm. It's going on a 12cm x 12cm flyer. When I adjust the image size to make it smaller it looks pretty nasty - I assume this is cos it's rasterized.

How can I get around this? Do I need to get another copy from the original Illustrator work that's closer to my specs.

Cheers to everyone for all the above responses and cheers in advance for the next few.

In Photoshop, instead of placing the Illustrator image, just open it like a regular Photoshop file. When you open it Photoshop will ask you what size you want it to be when you open it. Put the size you are looking for there. Since it is a vector based image by nature it will open at the smaller size and still be very clean. But once you bring it in to Photoshop it will be rasterized so it will be difficult to resize it without it getting a little fuzzy (when you can't avoid that, just use the sharpen filter). Also, if you have a problem getting it to copy and paste (or drag over) to your project, just go Image>Mode>RGB. This will convert it to RGB mode and you will be able to drag it straight over.