The way you work in Illustrator, and especially the way you view artwork, can effect the performance of Illustrator. Modifying view options, linking images rather than embedding them, and optimizing scratch disk and startup options can all affect the speed of Illustrator and its memory usage.
OutlineView
Outline view hides paint attributes, displaying the artwork as unfilled paths. Working in Outline view can speed the display of complex artwork, such as objects containing gradients or patterns. Outline view can also make it easier to edit objects hidden behind other filled objects. In Illustrator, choose View > Outline to display a document in outline mode.
Custom Views
You can create custom views of your document, allowing you to quickly change the view mode, magnification, scroll position, and layer options by choosing a custom view from the View menu. To create a custom view, set the view attributes you want to save, and then choose View > New View and type a name in the New View dialog box. The custom view appears in the View menu.
Display performance
You can specify the quality and speed of the display when you use the Hand tool to move the artboard. To specify the display quality, choose Edit > Preferences > Units & Display Performance. Drag the Hand Tool slider to the left to improve the display quality when you use the Hand tool, or move it to the right to improve speed.
Raster effect resolution
You can change the resolution of raster effects to optimize the performance of Illustrator. To change the resolution of raster effects, choose Effect > Document Raster Effects Settings, do one of the following, and then click OK:
- If you are editing files, click Screen. Illustrator uses a resolution of 72 ppi for raster effects, increasing display speed.
- If you are printing files, click High. Illustrator uses a resolution of 300 ppi for raster effects, decreasing printing speed, but increasing print quality.
The Layers panel lets you easily organize and modify artwork. When you hide layers that contain complex artwork or high resolution bitmap images, Illustrator redraws the screen faster. To hide a layer, click the eye icon to the left of the layer name, deselect Show Layer, and then click OK. To hide all but the selected layer, Alt-click the eye icon.
Note: The Layers panel can display thumbnails for top-level layers, nested layers, groups, and objects. You can reduce the number of thumbnails so Illustrator redraws the screen faster:
1. Choose Panel Options from the Layers palette menu.
2. Reduce the number of thumbnails:
- To remove all thumbnails from the Layers panel, select Small in the Row Size section, and then click OK.
- To remove thumbnails for specific elements in the Layers panel, deselect Layers, Groups, or Objects in the Thumbnails section, and then click OK.
When you work with an embedded bitmap image and your system does not have enough RAM to perform an operation, Illustrator uses hard disk space as a scratch disk. Because it takes longer to access information on a hard disk than it does to access information in memory, using a portion of the hard disk as virtual memory can decrease performance. If you need more memory to work in Illustrator, Adobe Systems recommends installing more RAM.
By default, Illustrator uses the system drive as its primary scratch disk. You should change the Illustrator primary scratch disk setting to your fastest hard drive.
To change the scratch disk preference:
- Choose Edit > Preferences > Plug-ins & Scratch Disk.
- Choose a hard disk from the Primary pop-up menu. If you work with large images and have more than one hard disk, choose another disk from the Secondary pop-up menu.
- Click OK and restart Illustrator.
Note: Adobe recommends that you use a disk utility, such as Disk Defragmenter, to optimize and defragment your hard disk on a regular basis. For more information, see your Windows documentation.
Illustrator startup files
Document Profiles contain the default patterns, gradients, graph designs, colors, and color libraries that appear in new Illustrator documents. These files also determine zoom level, window size, viewing preferences, and scroll position for new documents. You can minimize the file size of new documents by removing unnecessary swatches and brushes from Illustrator startup files.
For instructions on creating custom startup files in Illustrator CS2, see Illustrator Help.
Templates
Templates let you create new documents that share common settings and design elements. For example, to design a series of business cards with a similar look and feel, create a template with the desired artboard size, view settings (such as guides), and print options. You can minimize the file size of new documents by removing unnecessary swatches, symbols, graphic styles, and brushes from templates.
Templates offer a powerful alternative to creating custom startup files. You can create an unlimited number of templates. In addition, you can store and access templates anywhere, as opposed to startup files, which must have a specific name and location.
Linked files
Embedded bitmap images (for example, TIFF, BMP, or Photoshop EPS) can dramatically increase the size of an Illustrator document, causing slower performance. To improve performance, select Link in the Place dialog box when you place a bitmap image. The Link option references the placed image on the hard disk. (If a service buereu requires embedded images, then save a copy f the file and select Include Linked Files in the Illustrator Native Format Options or EPS Format Options dialog box.)
EPS previews
If a document contains linked EPS images that have high-resolution previews, Illustrator may redraw the screen slowly as you edit artwork. To enable Illustrator to redraw the screen more quickly, use low-resolution EPS previews: Choose Edit > Preferences > File Handling & Clipboard, select Use Low Resolution Proxy For Linked EPS, and then click OK.
Show DCS Transparency Interactions option
The Links Panel Options dialog box includes a Show DCS Transparency Interactions option. If this option is selected, the Links palette displays a yellow icon to identify linked DCS EPS graphics that are transparent or overlap transparent objects. Because this option forces Illustrator to regularly determine if linked EPS files interact with transparency, it can reduce performance.
To disable the Show Transparency Interactions option:
1. Choose Palette Options from the Links palette menu.
2. Deselect Show DCS Transparency Interactions, and then click OK.
Navigator panel
The Navigator panel displays a thumbnail view of your current artwork for easy navigation. Depending on the complexity of your artwork, a substantial amount of processing time may be required to update the thumbnail each time you make a change. To improve screen redraw speed and performance in a complex Illustrator document, hide the Navigator panel by unchecking Navigator under the Window menu.
You can set up custom views to more efficiently zoom to particular areas of your document. See the Custom Viewssection of this document for more information.
Anti-Alias Artwork option
The Anti-Alias Artwork option smooths text and graphics by blending the color of an object's edge pixels with that of adjacent pixels. However, this process can cause slow screen redraw. To disable this option, choose Edit > Preferences > General; then deselect Anti-aliased Artwork and click OK.
Simplify command
The Simplify command reduces the amount of anchor points in paths and path shapes, reducing file size and increasing performance. To apply the Simplify command, select the desired path or object, and then choose Object > Path > Simplify.
Smart Guides
Smart Guides allow you to create, align, edit, and transform Illustrator objects relative to other objects. If you have a large number of objects in your artwork, Illustrator will require more time to display Smart Guides. To disable Smart Guides, uncheck Smart Guides under the View menu.
Windows resources
The following websites provide troubleshooting tips and general information about Windows.
Adobe Customer Support: www.adobe.com/support/
Microsoft Knowledgebase: http://support.microsoft.com
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