Hi Paul,
It is not compulsory to use Adobe Illustrator.
I use CorelDraw12, convert my texts to curves, then export to AI (version 7) and so far have not hit a single problem. Once in Invig or in ProAnim I would set the Spikebuster to 100 and choose the appropriate edges. All can be found under the Objects tab.
As for the version higher than AI (V9), I also use Adobe Illustrator CS and found no related issues with the either of these applications.
Hope this helps
Regards
MaxC