Inkscape import .AI file appears blocky

Question

I'm trying to import some vector images into inkscape to remove the background and crop them before converting to .svg. Problem is, when I import any of them, they appear really blocky and strange, regardless of which vector I import. I have tried importing .pdf, .eps and .ai. All of which have the same problem. The preview on the import looks wonderful and smooth, then when it actually gets imported... well... I'll let you see.

before:

then after:

I tried entering a higher precision for the gradient meshes (I don't even know what that means), but much higher than 60 crashes my PC and still looks like rubbish.

Answer 1

Inkscape has split your image to colored areas. Their edges actually fit well, but Inkscape renders the edges to have about 1 px wide transparent zone to avoid jagginess. that's called anti-aliasing. Unfortunately what's behind can be seen at the seams.

If you want to use it in Inkscape and not to rasterize it, you can make the following fixing attempts:

1. insert something approximately right colored behind the mouth, but above the background, maybe the same mouth, but a little shifted. A rasterized copy can also do the job.

2. blur the tiled red shapes in the lips, mask separately the lips, keep the white glosses, for every tooth make an union and fill it with white to grey gradient

Delete the original shadow. The shadow is easy to remake; it's a blurred partially transparent shape without a critical form.

Not asked: Rasterizing it in high resolution can be a good option. You will not finally lose the quality if you for example use it in a printed product and the print method doesn't absolutely require vector shapes. The gradients suggest that it will not be cut.